The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction, Dr. Bernard M. Doro, has described the Federal Executive Council’s adoption of the Revised 2025 National Migration Policy as a major step towards strengthening Nigeria’s migration governance and protecting Nigerians at home and abroad.
The policy was adopted at the FEC meeting on Wednesday, August 19, 2026, following an extensive review and consultation process to update the National Migration Policy first adopted 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 approval provides a stronger national framework for protecting migrants, promoting safe and regular migration, supporting return and reintegration, improving migration data and harnessing migration for 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 the Nigerian delegation to the forum and served as Co-Chair of Roundtable 3, said Nigeria used the global platform to demonstrate its 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.
The Minister stressed that the ultimate measure of the policy would be its impact on Nigerians, particularly those who migrate and those who return to the country.
“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 said.
The Revised National Migration Policy emerged from an extensive consultation involving Ministries, Departments and Agencies, state governments, civil society organisations, academia, development partners and other stakeholders in Nigeria’s migration sector.
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 validated by stakeholders at the Technical Working Group on Migration and Development meeting in Abuja on April 29, 2025.
According to Doro, the framework is designed to improve 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.
He commended the NCFRMI, government institutions, IOM, development partners, civil society organisations and other stakeholders for their contributions to the policy review process.
Doro outlines benefits for Nigerians
Doro said implementation of the revised policy would go beyond improving government coordination, noting that it would strengthen protection for Nigerian migrants and expand opportunities for safe, orderly and regular migration.
He said the framework would also improve support for Nigerians returning home, strengthen migration and diaspora data and enhance coordination among federal, state and local governments.
The policy is also expected to provide a clearer framework for maximising the contribution of migration and the Nigerian diaspora to economic and national development, while enabling government to respond more effectively to irregular migration and 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,” he 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, consultation and collaboration across Nigeria’s migration governance architecture.
Ahmed said the approval would provide fresh impetus for coordinated implementation across 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 adopted, attention is expected to 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 demonstrated President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration’s commitment to strengthening institutions and translating Nigeria’s international obligations 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 added that the government would continue working with its agencies, state and local governments, development partners, civil society and the international community to build a migration governance system that serves Nigeria and Nigerians wherever they may be.
