They were also taught how to acquire a Ghanaian passport and other relevant travel information as well as the mandate, duties and responsibilities  of the GIS.

In an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) on the sidelines of the programme at Chemu Senior High School, the Tema Regional Public Relations Officer (PRO)  of GIS, Deputy Superintendent of Immigration (DSI) Mercy Budu, advised Ghanaians to "desist from travelling irregularly; it means desist from using illegal ways of travelling, using fake documents, travelling through middle men, etc."

"If you want to travel, go to the embassy with the right documents and go through the processes, and if the visa is granted, then you can travel safely. If you don't do that and you are found at the wrong place you will find yourself wanting," she informed.

DSI Budu observed that people who travelled illegally ended up at wrong destinations and then they would call on their home countries to help them return home.

The PRO said the sensitization programme was necessary because the young ones would soon be out of school and the temptation may fall on them to seek greener pastures elsewhere.

She advised them to take their studies seriously because those who failed to make something meaningful out of their lives became vulnerable and therefore susceptible to the desire to seek greener pastures elsewhere.

Assistant Superintendent of Immigration (ASI) Richard Owusu-Brinfour of the Migration Management Unit, GIS Headquarters, Accra, in a presentation, said the sensitization was helping because the number of Ghanaians travelling abroad illegally had decreased according to European Union (EU) report, and that Ghana was not mentioned among the countries whose citizens were currently trying to reach Europe by illegal means.

ASI Owusu-Brinfour said European countries were experiencing socio economic challenges and wanted to send back illegal migrants to their home countries "so why do you want to go there undocumented."

In reacting to the question of what awaited illegal migrants in other countries, ASI Owusu-Brinfour retorted, "Death; you either die or come back seriously injured because of some of the hazards some emigrants experience".

He advised parents to desist from sponsoring their children on dangerous trips just because they felt a better life awaited them.

Superintendent Lambert Akangaba of the Tema Regional Command, GIS, educated the students on the processes in acquiring Ghanaian passports and the need to avoid the services of middle men in the acquisition of passports.

He urged the students to follow due process in acquiring a passport because it was possible for one to get a passport at a shorter period if one went through the right process.

The sensitization programme took a personal and more revealing form when one George Boateng, an electric welder from Brong Ahafo, took the stage to tell of his horrible experience in attempting to travel illegally to Libya.

Mr. Boateng said that after he had sold his possessions including his welding shop and equipment, he ended up  tortured and imprisoned in Libya with some of his colleague migrants losing their lives or sustaining serious injuries in the process.

As part of the presentation, the officers showed video footage of persons who lost limbs while they stole their way out of their countries while some migrants were dehumanised.

The sensitization programme is an attempt by the Public Affairs Unit of the Tema Regional Command, GIS, under the leadership of the Tema Regional Commander of Immigration, Assistant Commissioner of Immigration (ACI) Samuel Basintale Amadu, to reach out to thousands of young people who may be harbouring the urge to travel illegally.

So far, the Public Affairs Unit of the Tema Regional Command has visited Tema Secondary School and Chemu SHS with plans of reaching out to all second cycle schools within the Tema region by close of 2019.