The European Union (EU) delegation in Ghana says the rapid decline in the number of Ghanaians illegally migrating into Europe across the desert and the Mediterranean Sea is as a result of the several social intervention programmes of the Akufo-Addo led administration aimed at getting the youth of the country engaged in profitable work.

The European Union made the observation when the delegation held a Ghana-EU Dialogue on Migration with their Ghanaian counterparts at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration on Wednesday, 16th of January 2019.

According to statistics from the International Organization for Migration (IOM) Ghana, migration across the desert and the Mediterranean Sea to Europe in 2016 was 5,756. In 2017, it decreased to 4,046 and from January to July 2018, it decreased drastically to 497.

Addressing the Press after the Dialogue session, Chief Director of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional, Ambassador Albert Francis Yankey, said, during the meeting, the EU delegation observed that government’s flagship programmes such as the Nation Builders Corps (NABCO), Free SHS, Planting For Food and Jobs, Recruitment into the Security Agencies, amongst other have created avenues for the Youth of the country, making the often dangerous perilous journeys through the Sahara Desert to seek economic opportunities in Europe gradually unattractive.

“One of the most interesting agreements we reached was they (EU) believe that the government’s flagship projects will strengthen the tide, it will provide jobs, it will better our lives, and therefore reduce the tide of illegal flow,” Ambassador Albert Francis Yankey said.

The Chief Director further noted that Carpenters, Blacksmiths, Electricians and other artisans are known to be those who usually embark on irregular migration. The dialogue reached a conclusion that going forward, proper data will be generated as far as “Secular Migration” is concerned.

This data he says will assist the country and the EU to have a structured secular migration programme that will be mutually beneficial to both Ghana and the European Union.

On the issue of support for Ghanaians who are expelled from Europe to Ghana, Ambassador Yankey, indicated that the EU has developed a settlement and reintegration programme that the ministry has a vested interest in and will be working closely with the European Union to ensure that the resources being invested into the programme are optimized to reintegrate, settle and make productive, all returnees.