Edo State Governor, Mr Godwin Obaseki, said his administration’s job creation initiatives and entrepreneurship programmes have helped to address the scourge of illegal migration and human trafficking among youths in the state.
Obaseki, who spoke to journalists in Benin City on Monday, pledged that his administration would sustain efforts at ensuring that Edo youths were adequately empowered to live life to the fullest.
The governor said his administration had made remarkable success in tackling human trafficking and illegal migration, noting that the government traced the root causes to address the problem.
According to him, before 2015, the image of Edo State was bad and synonymous with trafficking as Benin City was referred to as the capital city of prostitution.
Obaseki stated, “For every boat that capsized, there was one Edo person there and every Edo girl that tried to travel was a suspect. Edo had about 30,000 of its citizens in Libya trying to cross to Europe.
“Our young people were in a hurry to leave the country and it became a problem for my administration in restoring the hope of Edo youths.
“Lack of job increased the problem of human trafficking. So, while campaigning, I did what most politicians would not do; I campaigned with job creation, promising to create 200,000 jobs. Five years running now, we have done well in terms of job creation for Edo people.
“For any community to be great, the young people must be very hopeful. Edo produced some best-quality manpower; there are more hopes. We will continue to invest in the state’s skills development agency, Edojobs, and attract more investors into the state to develop Edo.”
