Awards: JIFORM Hails Bio, Keyamo, Ocansey, Timbo, Banda As Africa’s Pride

The Journalists International Forum For Migration (JIFORM) has congratulated Nigeria’s Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Chief Festus Keyamo, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN); member of the African Union Labour Migration Advisory Committee, Dr Princess Asie Kabuki Ocansey from Ghana and Alpah Timbo, the Minister of Labour and Social Security, Sierra Leone for emerging winners of the 2021 African migration awards.

The trio and the duo of President Julius Maada Bio of Sierra Leone and the former President of Malawi, Dr Joyce Banda won the African Decent Work Crusader, Legendary Decent Work Service, Distinguished Ministerial Service, African Presidential Migration Champion and the Africanstateswoman Decent Work awards respectively on June 8, at Freetown during the launching of the decent work project, the African Leadership Forum and a book authored by Amazon’s best-selling author,  Ocansey on decent work.

Ajibola Abayomi, the President of JIFORM in a statement described the awardees as pride of Africa shifting the paradigm of labour migration to benefit the continent through their advocacies that favaour orderly, safe, regular and decent migration from the continent.

“We are proud of Kayamo, a seasoned lawyer and human right activist championing regulated migration and proper documentation of migrants in Nigeria. We appreciate the vigour with which you speak to protect the weak, and the vulnerable migrant-workers at all times. Ocansey, a principal labour consultant to the Sierra Leonean government occupies a special place in our heart with her commitment and struggle to liberate Africans from slavery. Obviously, history will be kind to Timbo for his efforts leading to the lifting of the ban on labour migration in Sierra Leone and for supporting positive migration.

“We also salute President Bio, who is a role model on women rights and decent labour migration. That is why today thousands of the Sierra Leonean women are being trained by Ocansey to be fixed on decent job contracts in the Middle East, a departure from the abuse and inhumane employment systems Africans were being subjected to in the region. Thank you, your excellency, Dr Banda for standing up for African women at all times. We are proud of your tenacity and the courage on labour migration issues” the JIFORM President said.

The Transfer To Transform Project/ African Leadership Forum On Decent Work’s launch was powered by the JIFORM with over 300 journalists across the globe covering migration matters headquartered in Lagos, Nigeria; Nekotech Center of Excellence, Ghana and proudly supported by the United Nations Ghana Youth Association with over 10,000 members and enddeadlyworkcoalition, USA.

According to Ajibola, Sierra Leone would host the maiden edition of the African Leadership Forum tagged the Freetown Dialogue between August 17-18, 2021 with the participation of heads of government, ministers, and other stakeholders to brainstorm on the modalities of multiple-bilateral platforms aimed at negotiating decent work especially for the African women in the Middle East.

The event is one of the series of the initiatives of the JIFORM and Nekotech Center of Excellence, the organizers of the maiden African Migration Summit held in Ghana between February 25-26, 2021.