Ghanaian youth who desire to seek greener pastures abroad have been advised to acquire appropriate travel documentation instead of using unauthorised routes to travel.
According to the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS), the practice where some youth travelled through the desert and Mediterranean Sea to Europe was becoming a death trap with many lives lost.
The Officer-in-charge of the Bono Regional Migration Information Centre of the GIS, Superintendent Kofi Apau, who made the call at a sensitisation campaign at Sunyani in the region, entreated the public to access institutions such as the Migration Information Centre, for all travelling information.
The campaign, held on the streets of Sunyani to highlight the negative impact of irregular migration, was in commemoration of the 2023 World Migration Day celebration.
The Day is set aside to create awareness about the difficulties immigrants face in their quest to seek greener pastures abroad and encourage regular migration.
“We are not against the idea of people travelling but doing so on the right way must be a priority. People travel for various purposes such as education, medical, tourism among others but what is predominantly here in the Bono Region is travelling to seek greener pastures,” Supt Apau said.
Touching on other factors fuelling the activities of irregular migration, Supt Apau mentioned the prevalence of unlicensed travel and tour agencies and cautioned the youth against patronising their services.
He said by patronising such unlicensed travel and tour agencies, they were not only throwing their money away but they were also endangering their lives as they could fall prey to organ harvesters and other dangerous people.
According to him, the Migration Information Centre was also educating senior high school students against the phenomenon as a way of discouraging the practice in the Bono Region.
That, he said was part of activities to promote safe and orderly migration as the Bono Region continuous to dominate in terms of irregular migration to Europe through the Sahara desert.
He revealed that irregular migration through Libya and Agadez, enroute to Europe was the preferred choice of many in that part of the country
FROM DANIEL DZIRASAH, SUNYANI
