Saturday, the 28th of August 2021 was a special day at Nnamdi Azikiwe University Awka Anambra state. It was the day the University’s Center for Migration Studies (CMS-NAU) rolled out red carpets to welcome visitors in commemoration of its third year anniversary. The anniversary which featured a daylong of activities started with a ceremonial planting of the Anniversary Trees executed the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Charles Okechukwu Esimone at the Centre’s office complex. The anniversary in addition featured the following events:
A Welcome Address by the Director of the Centre
Presenting his address of welcome, the Director of the Centre, Prof. Harris Ike Odimegwu thanked the dignitaries who in spite of their tight schedules honoured the Centre’s invitation to grace the August occasion. The erudite scholar used the occasion of the anniversary to pay his tribute of thanks to lecturers, students and staff of the Centre for their inimitable sacrifices and contributions these three years.
According to Prof. Odimegwu, the Centre which was born on the 28 of August, 2018 was the first of its kind in the Nigerian University System. It was also the first in Nigeria to launch a Master’s Degree Programme on Migration Studies.
Among other things the basic aims of the Centre include:
To use research and academic engagements to solve social problems
To bring the academia into Nigerian Migration Governance
Underlining Research, Teaching and Developments as the specific mandate of the Centre, Prof. Odimegwu disclosed that the Centre has made remarkable progress on these over this period of three years.
However, these feet wouldn’t have been possible without the sacrifices of a number of individuals and institutions. To this extent, the Director thanked, Profs. Ahaneku and Asimone, the two Vice-Chancellors under whose tutelage the Centre was planted and has grown and blossomed over the years. Prof. Odimegwu also thanked the Governing Council of the University, particularly for allocating a whole office building to the Centre. To Civil Society Organizations, Foreign Missions in Nigeria, especially the Swiss Embassy and everyone who has in anyway collaborated and supported the Centre Prof. Odimegwu was grateful and looked forward to more and better collaborations in the future.
The Vice-Chancellor’s Remark
The Vice-Chancellor of Unizik, Prof. Charles Esimone in his own remark expressed his unalloyed indebtedness to God for sustaining the Centre through these three years in spite of the initial teething problems and fear that the Centre might not be able to make it through the first few months of its establishment.
He however observed that the way the Centre has blossomed over the years should not come as a surprised to anybody because Nnamdi Azikiwe University like Anambra state, which produced the Great Zik of Africa as the First Governor General of Nigeria, has been the pacesetter in Nigerian University System.
Prof. Esimonye remarked that the partnership between other departments of the University and the Centre has been a fruitful and promised to do all he could to sustain the partnership. According to the academic Don, though the Centre has made enormous progress on its given mandate, “there is still the need to do more because the vision of the Centre is bigger than what it is at the moment.” He said he would not hesitate to approve a Ph.D. Programme for the Centre as soon as the management “is able to get the necessary things in place.”
The VC thanked the Director, Prof. Odimegwu and everyone who has contributed to making the Centre come this long, and promised that the University will not slack in its efforts to make the Centre the pride of centres in Nigeria.
Roundtable Discussions
The climax of the anniversary was a roundtable meeting which discussed the theme: ‘Migration and Strategic Partnership’ under the anchored by Rev. Fr. Emeka Obiezu. Among others, the key discussants in the meeting were:- Prof. Tracy, Nkiru Chinwe Uzochukwu,, Dr. Uju, Dr. Martha Egenti, and Anambra State Controller of Migration, Mr. Dan Echie.
The discussions centered on how the Centre has contributed to migration governance in Nigeria through strategic partnership. In her own contribution, Prof. Tracy spoke on strategic partnership for effective migration. She noted that a lot has been happening on migration in Nigeria without the active involvement of the Academia. This, she explained was why internationally, Nigeria has been lagging behind countries like Ghana and Mali because without the participation of the Academia, migration dynamics cannot be properly documented. This lack of involvement by the Academia in Nigerian migration governance was what the Centre for Migration Studies was created to remedy and the Centre has not disappointed on that in these past three years.
She thanked the VC for ensuring that a general workshop was organized in Enugu to prepare the lecturers in the Centre for the task ahead before the commencement of lectures. She also appreciated the Director of the Centre for his innovations that have helped to improve lectures at the Centre. Prof. Tracy was proud that the Master Degree Programme run by Centre was of the best international standard. Also, there has been effective coordination between the university community, state and non-state actors in helping the Centers to live up to its targets. This was why registration for the Master Degree Programme was higher now than it was when the Programme started because the students were the ones advertising it. Prof. Tracy concluded by saying that if things go as planned the Centre’s Ph.D. Programme would soon start.
Dr. Martha on her part praised the pattern of lecture delivery at the Centre. The pattern according to her was student centered and involved all-encompassing mode discussions. She also praised the fact that those who lecture at the Centre were drawn from different faculties of the university making it a comprehensive encounter for the students involved.
Dr. Egenti who underlined the collaborative spirit existing among lecturers and students of the Centre said that such created an enabling atmosphere for learning. She suggested the incorporation of that kind of cordiality into other departments in the University.
Contributing as well, Prof. Nkiru Melu said that when she saw the curriculum of the Centre at the outset, she noticed that Security Studies was not included. Believing that Security Studies should be an integral part of Migration Studies, she called the attention of the Director, and had it included and this has made the curriculum more comprehensive. Prof. Melu was optimistic that the Centre would make enormous impacts on migration governance in Nigeria particularly with regards to influencing establishment of consultancy, Non-governmental Organizations with interest on migration.
Coming into the discussion, Prof. Uche Okoye noted that the center has been the case of hitting the ground running.” He appreciated the management for the inroad made so far and proposed that the interactive method of teaching which the Centre was using be adopted by other departments in the university
Mrs Amaka in her own impute, thanked the Director and Deputy Directors of the Centre for their innovativeness. She indicated that the Center was designed to work on continuous self-improvement disclosing that the management “is currently working on improving their teaching method for optimal result. In her view, this practice was what made the Centre unique and ever progressive.
The Anambra state Controller of Migration, Mr. Dan Echie, was happy that the Centre extended an invitation to him to be a part of the anniversary. He observed that there was no involvement of the Academia in migration governance when they started. To that extent, he said that the recent involvement of the Academia pioneered and championed by the Centre showed that the system was growing especially on the issue of partnership.
The migration boss noted that migration was a complex process that involved the movements of people and goods from one place to another. This type of movement sometime turned out to be good for both the sending and the receiving communities but it could also turn out bad especially when it involved the movement of illegal and dangerous materials such as hard drugs and arms. These according to him were why migration required inter-agency collaboration and why Agencies such as his collaborate with a wide-range of other departments. He congratulated the institution for their wonderful initiative and indicated his intention to enroll as a student into one of the programmes of the Centre.
Speaking on the theme, ‘How Civil Society Conceive Partnership’, Nkiru Okoye, a representative of ‘Intercom Africa’, a Civil Society Organization explained that her organization was concerned with the documentations of what people go through while migrating from one place to another. They partner with other agencies to help those who get into trouble while on migratory transit. According to her, “Intercom Africa is 12year old this year and has been in the field all along to sensitize they would be migrants on the dangers that illegal migration could engender. Their primary job was to provide the raw materials for the academia.
Paul Nwankwo, who worked with ‘Humanity Foundation’, disclosed that his organization undertook investigative documentation of the experiences and situations of Nigerian migrants overseas. His Organization just concluded a report on how to help Nigerian migrants stranded in Saudi Arabia. He noted that institutions like his, out there in the field to gather raw data, relied on the Academia to validate what they were doing. He was happy to be invited for the occasion, was impressed by what he saw and would soon be returning to the Centre to further his studies.
Prof. Denis Aribodor, the Director of Students Industrial Work Experiences Scheme (SIWES) in his own contribution observed that research activities at the University have been drastically enhanced as a result of inspiration from the Centre. For instance, while the Centre started to transmit lectures during the heat of the Covid-19 Pandemic, the rest of the University on the inspiration of the Centre started much more later. This showed that the Centre has been a pacesetter for other departments in the University. He eulogized the management of the Centre encouraging them not to relent in the good work they were doing. He assured the management of the continued support of the school in whatever capacity possible.
Summarizing, Fr. Obiezu the moderator of the discussion, underlined that all the achievements the Centre has made in these three years was made on the petal of partnership and collaboration. This on his account underlined that importance of partnership in migration governance and why the roles of the academia cannot be overemphasized.
After featuring other interesting events, including drama and dances, the anniversary dismissed with a vote of thanks to the esteemed guests, a toast proposed by Prof. Tracy and a closing prayer offered by Fr. Obiezu for the progress and development in the Centre.
