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UN plans global framework for safe, orderly migration processes 

By Nkechi Onyedika-Ugoeze, Abuja
12 February 2018   |   4:17 am
The United Nations (UN) has planned a global framework for safe, regular and orderly migration processes to forestall the situation whereby migrants, especially from Africa...

PHOTO: AFP/Getty Images

The United Nations (UN) has planned a global framework for safe, regular and orderly migration processes to forestall the situation whereby migrants, especially from Africa, risk their lives while trying to migrate to Europe and other Western countries.

The UN Youth Envoy, Jayathma Wickramanayake, who disclosed this yesterday while speaking with journalists in Abuja, said the body had already opened negotiations for global compact on migration, adding that the negotiation is being co-chaired by governments of Switzerland and Mexico.

Wickramanayake, who was on a two-day working visit to Nigeria, said she had discussed with the Minister of Foreign Affairs on how the voices of Nigerian young people could be channelled to the process and that the minister had offered to consider it.

She stressed the need for Nigerian government to invest heavily in the education of its teeming youths to minimise the chances of young people risking their lives while trying to migrate to Europe.

The UN envoy stated that there is a huge mismatch between the skills that young people come out with from school and the skills that are needed in the labour.

Wickramanayake noted that youths in the world have capacity to participate in the political process but there are structural and legal processes impeding them.

She, therefore, called on the state Houses of Assembly in Nigeria to adopt and pass the bill seeking to reduce the age-limit for seeking political offices.

Also, UN Resident/Humanitarian Co-ordinator and UNDP Resident Representative in Nigeria, Edward Kallon, has urged policy-makers at both state and federal levels to ensure increased investment in youths, especially in the areas of health and education.

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