Alex Otti, governor of Abia State, has declared open the inaugural South East Migration Dialogue 2026 with a call for participants and stakeholders to translate the national migration framework into practical outcomes for the people of the South East. Otti, while declaring the event open at the Government House, Umuahia, Wednesday, emphasised the need for stronger collaboration among governments, development partners, and other stakeholders to promote safe and regular migration.
Governor Otti, represented by his Deputy, Ikechukwu Emetu, said that migration should be orderly and stressed the need for a result-orientated outcome at the end of the dialogue. “The message for us is clear: migration must be orderly, lawful, protected and accompanied by social cohesion and opportunities for host communities. “This should not remain a resolution on paper. We should identify who will act by when, with what resources and against what measurable indicators.
“The states do not seek to supplant the constitutional responsibilities of the federal government in immigration and foreign affairs. Rather, we seek to complement national policy through state-level skill development, data, investment, facilitation, migration protection and diaspora engagement. “We should fear a system that allows our people to travel without skills, protection, strategy and/or connection to home. The southeast does not merely want its people to succeed abroad.
We want their success abroad to be strengthened in the prosperity of the communities and the country they call home,” Otti stated.
Otti, who further urged participants to pursue five practical outcomes, including a regional framework, building digital skills, promotion of safe migration, diaspora development and protection and reintegration of returnees, which Abia is already doing, commended the organisers for convening the programme at a time “when migration has become not merely a matter of human mobility, but a strategic question of human capital, economic development, national security,