Ghana’s migration trend reversing – Prof Millar

Prof. David Millar, Pro Vice Chancellor of the University for Development Studies (UDS) has said migration to the country has taken a different dimension with many people moving from the south to the north.

He said “more people were now trooping from the southern sector of the country to the north to seek greener pastures in the mining and the forest sectors of the economy”.

Prof. Millar said this in Tamale on Tuesday, during a consultation workshop on the National Migration Policy.

He said due to the way more people were migrating from one place to the other, especially the shift from south to the north of the country for different purposes, there was the need for policy formulation on migration.

He said a Draft on National Migration Policy (NMP) has however been put up by the Centre for Migration Studies (CMS)- University of Ghana, in consultation with the National Migration Unit of the Ministry of Interior to help streamline the issue of migration.

He said such a migration would help harness the potentials and economic opportunities in the north and called on the government to create an enabling economic environment in the north to attract investors.

“The people who migrate from the south to the north are seeking greener pastures in the mining and the timber industry in the north”, he explained.

He has also advised the country’s policy makers not to expel the Fulani herdsmen but rather the herdsmen should be properly registered and captured in the tax net to generate more revenue for development.

Prof. Mariama Awumbila, Director of the Centre for Migration Studies, said the aim of the NMP was to bring about guidance for a holistic migration in Ghana.

The workshop which was sponsored by the International Organization of Migration (IOM) was attended by participants from different organizations and departments who had a role to play in migration in the country, and students from CMS of the University of Ghana.

Mr. Daniel Kweku Sam, speaking on behalf of the IOM, said the organization was to develop mechanisms for the migration development and urged all participants to encourage and promote the Migration Policy.

Prof. Stephen Owusu Kwankye, a consultant on the Drafting National Migration Policy, said in their implementation of the third draft, some organizations were consulted together with Ghanaians in the Diaspora especially in Italy and the United States.

He said that their vision was to promote the benefits and minimize the costs of internal and international migration through legal means.