The Federal Executive Council (FEC) has approved the Revised 2025 National Migration Policy (NMP), with the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction, Dr. Bernard Doro, describing the decision as a major milestone in Nigeria’s efforts to strengthen migration governance.
The policy was adopted at the FEC meeting on Wednesday, following an extensive review and consultation process aimed at updating the National Migration Policy first introduced in 2015.
In a statement issued on Thursday by his Senior Technical Adviser on Information Systems and Data Analysis, Dr. Abimbola Fasanu, Doro said the revised framework would strengthen the protection of migrants, expand opportunities for safe and regular migration, support return and reintegration, improve migration data and maximise the contribution of migration to national development.
The minister said the approval was particularly significant coming after 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 used the global platform to demonstrate progress in implementing the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM).
“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.
According to him, migration policies must ultimately deliver tangible benefits and protection for 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, protect those who move, support those who return, and harness migration as a force for national development,” Doro added.
The revised policy emerged from a broad consultation involving Ministries, Departments and Agencies, state governments, civil society organisations, academia, international development partners and other stakeholders within Nigeria’s migration ecosystem.
The review was led by the National Commission for Refugees, Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons (NCFRMI), in its coordinating role for migration management, with technical support from the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
The revised policy and its accompanying Integrated Implementation Plan were formally validated by stakeholders at the Technical Working Group on Migration and Development meeting in Abuja on April 29, 2025.
The framework seeks to strengthen institutional coordination, respond to emerging migration trends and align Nigeria’s migration priorities with regional and international frameworks, particularly the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration.
Doro commended the NCFRMI, government institutions, IOM, development partners, civil society organisations and other stakeholders whose technical work and consultations contributed to the policy’s adoption.
He said implementation of the policy would strengthen protection for Nigerian migrants, expand safe and regular migration opportunities, improve support for returning Nigerians, enhance migration and diaspora data and deepen coordination among federal, state and local governments.
The policy is also expected to provide a clearer framework for harnessing the economic and developmental contributions of migration and the Nigerian diaspora, while strengthening Nigeria’s response to irregular migration and other emerging challenges.
“The movement of people is a reality of our interconnected world. Our task as Government is not merely to manage movement, but to ensure that migration is safer, better coordinated and capable of contributing positively to the lives of our citizens and the development of our country,” the minister said.
The Federal Commissioner of NCFRMI, Dr. Tijani Aliyu Ahmed, also welcomed the FEC approval, describing it as the culmination of years of technical work, consultations and collaboration across Nigeria’s migration governance architecture.
Ahmed said the approval would provide renewed impetus for coordinated implementation at the federal, state and local levels, while strengthening Nigeria’s capacity to protect migrants and vulnerable populations and maximise the developmental benefits of migration.
With the policy now approved, attention will shift to implementation, monitoring and localisation to ensure that the framework remains evidence-based, rights-centred and responsive to national development priorities.
Doro said the milestone reflected President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration’s commitment to strengthening institutions and translating Nigeria’s international commitments into practical national action.
“This approval is not the end of the process. It is the beginning of the most important phase: implementation,” he said.
“Our responsibility now is to ensure that the policy moves beyond paper and becomes a living framework that protects Nigerians, strengthens coordination, creates safer migration pathways and enables our country to harness migration as an instrument of development.”
The minister pledged that under the administration’s Renewed Hope Agenda, the ministry would continue working with government agencies, state and local governments, development partners, civil society and the international community to build a migration governance system that works for Nigeria and Nigerians wherever they may be.
Comment here