The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction, Dr Bernard Doro, has described the Federal Executive Council’s adoption of Nigeria’s Revised National Migration Policy as a major milestone in efforts to strengthen migrant protection, support the reintegration of returning Nigerians and harness migration for national development.

🇳🇬 Here's What Happened

The policy was adopted at the Federal Executive Council meeting on Wednesday, following an extensive review and consultation process involving government institutions, state governments, civil society organisations, academia, development partners and other stakeholders in Nigeria’s migration sector.

In a statement issued on Friday by his Senior Technical Adviser on Information Systems and Data Analysis, Dr Abimbola Fasanu, Doro said the revised policy would provide a stronger national framework for translating Nigeria’s international migration commitments into coordinated action.

“The framework would strengthen the protection of migrants, expand opportunities for safe and regular migration, improve support for Nigerians returning home, enhance migration and diaspora data, and maximise the developmental contributions of migration,” he said.

📌 Key Details

The minister said the adoption was particularly significant following Nigeria’s participation in the 2026 International Migration Review Forum (IMRF), held at the United Nations Headquarters in New York in May.

Doro, who led Nigeria’s delegation to the forum and served as Co-Chair of Roundtable 3, said the country had used the global platform to demonstrate progress in implementing the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration.

“Our participation at the International Migration Review Forum demonstrated Nigeria’s commitments to the world. The adoption of the Revised National Migration Policy brings those commitments home and provides the national framework for translating them into coordinated and measurable action,” he said.

The minister stressed that the success of migration governance should ultimately be measured by its impact on Nigerians at home and abroad.

“Migration should not become a journey into vulnerability. Our responsibility is to build systems that enable Nigerians to migrate safely and regularly, protectg those who move, support those who return, and harness migration as a force for national development,” Doro said.

The Revised National Migration Policy is the product of a whole-of-government and whole-of-society consultation process coordinated by the National Commission for Refugees, Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons ,with technical support from the International Organization for Migration .

📰 Source: Punch Nigeria