The National Migration Policy and its implementation framework: A precursor for a more effective migration governance in Nigeria
Posted: 30 October, 2015 Filed under: Uche Hilary-Ogbonna | Tags: access to education, disapora, health, human trafficking, IDP, implementation framework, international migration, legal frameworks, Mediterranean, migrant smuggling, migrants, Migrants and IDPs, migration, National Commission for Refugees, National Migration Policy, Nigeria, policy, refugees, rural-urban migration flows Leave a comment
Author: Uche Hilary-Ogbonna
Humanitarian Affairs Officer, United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, (UN OCHA) Abuja
Legal frameworks are the bedrock for any effective management system. They underscore the importance of articulating a set of aspirations in concise directives and regulations, offering guidance to the myriad of field operatives and interventions in the varied sectors of migration management, development or the society at large. For the migration sector in Nigeria, it has been a long, tough journey to the adoption of the National Migration Policy and its implementation framework. The Policy is widely considered a breakthrough piece of legal document which came to fruition on account of years of toil by a host of government functionaries, development actors, the academia and civil society organizations.
The Policy comes at a very important time in the global migratory scene with the rise in international migration across the Mediterranean resulting in multiple deaths. With over 170 million citizens, Nigeria is important in migration management as a country of origin, transit and destination for migrants. Nigeria faces challenges such as effective diaspora engagement and remittances, inter-regional, rural-urban migration flows, migration of highly skilled and unskilled labour, data generation, as well as trafficking in persons to mention a few.
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