The Centre for Migration Studies has expressed worry about the lack of data and information on migration in the country.
According to the centre, the lack of commitment by successive governments to ensure a reliable and consistent source of data on migration is making the government lose money on unaccounted investments of migrants.
In a Citi News interview at the 2nd MADE WEST AFRICA – Migration and Development Partnership For Rights Based Migration and Mobility Governance Workshop in Koforidua, Professor Mariam Awumbila the coordinator and lecturer at the University of Ghana Centre for Migration Studies called on the government to address the challenges and take advantage of investments of migrants.
“The lack of accurate and reliable data on migration is a key problem for many African countries. Estimating how many Ghanaians who are outside is very difficult. If you read different books you will get different results. It differs all over. Some say one million, others say two million and the Ghana Statistical Service also has a different figure. We do not even know how many foreigners are residing here in the country and when you do not have all these data, it is difficult to plan.”
She added that, “Africa has a lot of issues with undocumented migration. People are moving but no one is capturing, and planning becomes a problem.”
She said “Their contribution to development is also not captured. Most of these people move with their remittances outside Africa and countries are not benefiting from their businesses and investments. So data of migration is very critical if we really want to make an impact.”