African scholars unveil Africa's true migration story

Accra, June 2, GNA - A book that addresses international migration issues from African perspective with extensive empirical evidence and credible statistics, has been launched in Ghana in honour of Dr Kwame Nkrumah, Africa's illustrious son and Pan Africanist. Titled the "International Migration Within, To and From Africa in a Globalised World", the book embodies the works of nine African scholars and edited by Africa's foremost renowned expert on Migration, Professor Aderanti Adepoju of Nigeria.

"It was Dr Kwame Nkrumah's Pan African stance that inspired me and the Network of Migration Research on Africa (NOMRA) to write this book," Prof. Adepoju said on Wednesday during the launch in Accra, Ghana. NOMRA, an African organsiation, is a centre of excellence and a policy think tank for the study of migration and development in Africa with a mission to build a regional migration research network and capacity in order to advance knowledge on migration dynamics and policy making. The 263-page, beautifully designed cover in deep and sea blue colour showing the world map and depicting Africa's migrants' destinations, is currently said to be the only comprehensive and well research literary piece on migration in Africa.

Migration scholars say it is a master piece for many governments, international organizations, educational institutions and students. "At the time of writing this book there was a lot of myths and misconceptions about the subject of migration in Africa," Prof. Adepoju noted and said the book addresses most if not all of the negative perceptions about migration.

Reviewing the book, Dr Stephen Owusu Korankye of the University of Ghana said: "Until today, we did not have a comprehensive research document on such a topic.

"It is useful and timely especially coming at a time when many African governments are formulating or thinking of formulating national policies on migration."

Agreeing in many respects with the content of the book, Dr Korankye, said despite the numerous challenges of migration Africa is beset with, the current wind of democratization on the continent was likely to reverse the trend of migration in the near future. "It is a book that provides a snap shot of all aspects of migration in Africa," he said and urged all in Africa to read every page of it because it gives illuminating information on many different shades of migration in Africa.

In future, Dr Korankye urged NOMRA to research into other areas such as the linkage between internal and international migration as well as reexamine the role of migrant Diasporas.

The starting point of development, according to Professor Kwame Serbeh-Yiadom, Rector of the University College of Agriculture and Environmental Studies in Ghana, is populations but noted that in Africa adequate and reliable information and statistics was a great headache. As a result, he said: "Africa seems to have porous borders and uncontrolled movement of people, which is the biggest challenge for the continent now."

Chief Otunba Dele Momodu, Publisher, Ovation International Magazine launched the book and expressed the belief that African governments have not taken the full advantage of migration because there seemed to be too much concentration on the negatives of migration. Mrs Elizabeth Adjei, Director of Ghana Immigration Service observed that there have been over dramatization of migration from south to north by the international media but indicated that available statistics presented a contrary position. She said the picture was actually different because more and more people migrate south-south. 3 June 10