The German government is seeking skilled labour from Nigeria, the Minister of State in the Federal Chancellery and Federal Government Commissioner for Migration, Refugees and Integration, Annette Widmann-Mauz, has said.
Widmann-Mauz disclosed this on Wednesday when she led a German delegation on a visit to the office of Federal Commissioner of National Commission of Refugees, Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons (NCFRMI), Sen. Basheer Mohammed.
While speaking through a translator, the German Commissioner for Migration, Refugees and Integration said: “The African continent is important to Germany and European politics and economy.
“Only recently, we have passed some immigration Acts where we are purposely looking for skilled labour outside of the European Union.
“Nigeria is such a young country [country with large number of young persons], such a dynamic country and we have future doctors, engineers and other skilled professions [in Nigeria].
“So, we are looking carefully about possible ways of informing them properly” on how to migrate regularly to Germany.
She stressed that “as you have a lot of young people in your country, you also are facing questions of large numbers of people looking for asylum in Germany, many of them reached Germany through irregular ways of migration.”
While disclosing that the meeting with the Nigerian authorities was to make clear the criteria for skilled labour from Nigeria to migrate to Germany.
She said: “We would like to support Nigerian youths in migrating to Germany and it’s important for us to inform them about regular migration”, adding that the German government will establish advice centres across Nigeria to train Nigerians on how to migrate to the European country regularly.
In his response, the NCFRMI Federal Commissioner said Nigeria had keyed into the Global Compact for safe, orderly and regular migration, adding that government will continue to monitor and regularly assess the implementation of its migration policies.
“With the visit of your Delegation, we will continue to advocate for joint bilateral agreements with the government of Germany for the promotion of more regular migration,” he said.
The NCFRMI Federal Commissioner however, said the government had setup an internal national mechanism that actively harnesses and curates local opportunities within the country’s various sectors.
“The chief message of the Commission in 2020 is developing messages that addresses and directs citizens to the various opportunities they can take advantage of in Nigeria,” Sen. Mohammed said.
