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Ghana urbanising at rapid rate

Ghana urbanising at rapid rate

Ghana is urbanising rapidly, resulting in the concentration of the population in urban areas such as Accra, Kumasi and Sekondi/Takoradi.

However, government institutions currently lack the capacity and resources to cope with rising social service needs and the socio-economic consequences of rapid urbanisation, a sensitisation workshop on the National Migration Policy in Sunyani, has indicated.

The National Immigration Policy for Ghana document also revealed that only one per cent of Ghanaians are naturalised citizens, while only 2.9 per cent of the national population hold dual nationality.

 

The document indicates further, that the population of immigrants in Ghana declined from 12.3 per cent in 1960 to 2.4 per cent in 2010.

Aims of the policy

The National Immigration Policy of Ghana aims at developing an effective response to urbanisation through the allocation of adequate resources for the implementation of local economic policy.

That, according to the policy, would enhance the capacity of the metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies (MMDAs) to manage migration and urbanisation.

Mainstreaming migration issues

Addressing participants, who were selected from the Brong Ahafo, Ashanti and Western regions, the Deputy Minister of the Interior, Mr James Agalga, said migration issues would be mainstreamed into the country’s sectorial development plan.

According to him, the ministry was collaborating with the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC) to infuse the National Migration Policy into its medium and long-term development agenda.

“I am hopeful that with the implementation of these strategies, government is in the right direction to deal with the myriad of problems posed by migration of all forms”, he stated.

Statistics

In his remarks, the National Project Officer of the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), Mr Daniel Kweku Sam, said between January and October, this year, 3,869 Ghanaians arrived in Italy via the sea.

Out of the figure, 3,286 were men, 133 were women, 243 minors, while 207 were unaccompanied minors.

For the entire Europe, Mr Sam stated that 670,685 migrants from different parts of the world arrived in Europe using the Mediterranean Sea, while 4,466 migrants worldwide had either been reported dead or missing.

He commended Ghana for emerging as one of the few African countries with a migration policy and gave an assurance that the IOM would support the country to achieve its set goals.

B/A Regional Minister

In his address, the Brong Ahafo Regional Minister, Mr Eric Opoku, said the region was known as a major contributor to the number of Ghanaian youth who travelled by irregular means to seek greener pastures in North Africa and Europe.

He said available reports indicated that most of the youth were from families that relied largely on subsistence agriculture for a living.

Mr Opoku added that the issue of irregular migration was a major challenge since the country was losing its exuberant youth and skilled professionals to migration.

He, therefore, expressed the hope that the migration policy would assist in addressing problems associated with irregular migration in the country and the sub-region.

 

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