A Non-Governmental Organisation, Adolescent Health and Information Project (AHIP), has partnered with Resilient Opportunities for Outreach, Trade and Sustainability (ROOTS) project to promote safe migration, climate resilience and gender inclusion in Kano State.
The Chief Executive Officer of AHIP, Hajiya Mairo Bello, disclosed this during a media engagement and training on returnees and free movement projects in Kano on Tuesday.
Bello said the training was aimed at increasing public awareness, effective advocacy and community engagement on safe migration and reintegration issues.
According to her, the ROOTS project is being implemented across communities identified as being significantly affected by unemployment, irregular migration, climate-related challenges and migration pressures.
The communities were located in Dala, Ungogo and Bunkure Local Government Areas of the state.
On her part, the Project Manager of ROOTS, Hajiya Halima Kasim, said the programme was designed to increase agricultural resilience and inclusive livelihood opportunities for vulnerable communities.
She explained that the intervention would help reduce migration-related risks among youths through sustainable empowerment opportunities, improved governance, coordination and institutional capacity of state and non-state actors in migration management and livelihood initiatives.
She added that the project focuses on addressing the root causes of irregular migration through climate-smart agriculture, economic empowerment, gender-responsive governance and improved migration management systems.
Kasim noted that the intervention followed growing concerns that Kano State had increasingly become a major transit route for irregular migration, particularly among adolescents and young people seeking better opportunities abroad.
She disclosed that the programme targets 70 per cent women and 30 per cent men, reflecting the organisation’s focus on supporting groups most vulnerable to economic hardship and migration pressures.
According to her, AHIP is working with media practitioners, using radio programmes, media engagements and community outreach to amplify messages discouraging unsafe migration practices.
The training also featured a paper presentation titled “The Roles of Media in Preventing Irregular Migration” by a former Chairman of the Kano State Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Comrade Abbas Ibrahim.
