FG, Development partners dialogue to promote better management of migration.

Report from National Planning Commission.

Stakeholders in migration matters, have held their second Sector Policy Review Committee (SPRC) meeting on migration to discuss ways to better promote management of migration in Nigeria.

Under the coordination of the National Planning Commission, a dialogue session to review the migration policy as it affects Nigeria was held in Abuja, Thursday, 20th February, 2014.

The relevant/key stakeholders involved in the meeting were: Ministry of Interior, National Population Commission, the European Union, International Organization for Migration, (UNODC).

While speaking at the event, the Supervising Minister of National Planning, Ambassador Bashir Yuguda said that migration plays a critical role in national development in the contemporary world and also international migration has become a major aspect of international economic relations and an important component of a global world.

The Minister said that “best estimates indicate that, in 2013 over 5 Million Nigerians lived abroad. On the other hand, after the oil- boom led economic growth that began in 1975, Nigeria became a country of immigration, and by 2013, well over 100,000 were resident in Nigeria, most of who originated from West Africa countries. The importance of labour mobility has long been recognized as key in obtaining economic integration and advancement across the ECOWAS.”

When he was explaining the significance of the stakeholders meeting on migration, Amb Yuguda, said that the meeting would offer a unique opportunity to have a retrospective appraisal of how far the country have come in developing a National Migration Policy; a necessary and correspondent action for better migration in Nigeria.

Accordingly, he stated that the vision is to take advantage of the opportunity provided by the phenomenon of migration to enhance the pace of national development as well as achieve a more equitable, just and egalitarian society.

He pointed out that the efforts invested in the development of a comprehensive National Policy on Migration is in line with the country’s national development priorities and also mentioned that the adoption of the policy is expected to harness the benefits of migration through its improved management which can enhance the inflow of remittances which stood at $21 billion in 2012

Other benefits of migration management policy he added, are: a boost to employment generation, improve the image of the country with a better equipped crop of migrants leaving the country as well as enhance the country’s relationship with others.

Amb. Yuguda also praised the EU for their efforts towards supporting Nigeria’s drive to improve her management of migration and also demanded more from the EU in areas of better funding for the National Commission for Refugees, Migrants and Internally Displaced persons, training capacity and also in the area of data collection.

Head of European Delegation, Michael Arrion said that Nigeria is a strategic country and would want to develop strategic dialogue with Nigeria covering trade, economic, diplomacy etc, expressing hope that, the deliberations from the meeting will feed the global dialogue.

Mr. Arrion also stated that the four main objective policies that they will like to share with Nigeria are: to organize better illegal migration policy and foster better migration policy, to fight and combat illegal migration, to be fully compliant with asylum and refugees and
to ensure that migration must remain a development in Nigeria and not a brain drain.

When he was contributing to the dialogue, Professor Aderanti Adepoju of the Network On Migration Research on Africa (NOMRA), urged the Federal Government to quickly adopt the Draft National Migration Policy, which he described as the first comprehensive, articulated and inclusive migration policy in Africa.

Professor Adepoju also called for synergy in approach amongst MDAs charged with the issue of migration in Nigeria, explaining that issues of funding, training and re- training of staff must be addressed, while urging the relevant MDAs to analyze and use relevant data available.