Nigeria ready to chair Euro-African Dialogue on Migration — FG

Nigeria is ready to take leadership of the Euro-African Dialogue on Migration and Development, also known as the Rabat Process, from January 2025, the Federal Government has said.

Aliyu Tijani Ahmed, Federal Commissioner of the National Commission for Refugees, Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons (NCFRMI), disclosed this when he received a delegation of the International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD) at the Refugee House in Abuja.

The delegation was led by Jean-Charlse de Cordes, the Coordinator of the Rabat Process Secretariat Migration Dialogues and Cooperation Unit. 

“Now that you see the ICMPD here today with us, this marks the preparation towards Nigeria’s eventual taking over as the leadership of Rabat Process, one of the most greatest migration organisations in the global space.

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“Rabat Process is more concerned about issues of regular and irregular migrations and ICMPD is in the centre, or the organisation that normally coordinates these issues as it affects all the 57 countries who are members of this Rabat Process, of which Nigeria is one,” Ahmed said.

According to him, “Nigeria is ready to advance migration governance, Nigeria is ready to look into issues as it relates to irregular migration. This is one of the key issues in migration governance. 

“I want to assure you that Nigeria as a government, is ready to look into this issue of irregular migration with a view to see that certain policies are being put in place.

He said Nigeria was ready for the three high-level meetings ahead of the take-off of the leadership of the Rabat Process.

On his part, Jean-Charlse de Cordes said ICMPD is a growing organisation created in 1993 to come up with solutions and to advise states to better handle their migration policies. 

“We are evolving in different continents, but especially in Africa, and in Africa in particular, through our dialogues, like the Rabat Process, and is probably the biggest migration dialogue in the world, because it gathers 57 partner countries. 

“What we do is gather the 57 countries along the migration routes between Western Central and Northern Africa and Europe, and to try to have a sort of inclusive approach, in order for these partner countries to meet on a regular basis to exchange good practices, to reflect on the challenges they are facing, to come up with solutions to help all our partner countries to better handle migration issues,” he said.