Addressing irregular migration via youths’ education and innovation

BY JACINTA NWACHUKWU

The increasing number of young people engaging in irregular migration around the world is eliciting concerns from critical stakeholders.

Conceptually, irregular migration is the movement of persons that takes place outside the laws, regulations, or international agreements governing entry into or exit from the state of origin, transit, or destination.

In other words, it is the crossing of an international boundary without a valid passport, or a properly approved travel document or fulfilling of necessary administrative procedures and requirements for leaving and entry/residing in another country.

The absence of proper approval for migration has made the migrants vulnerable to all sorts of abuse, discrimination, and exploitation.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), Nigeria has a yearly rate of 40 per cent irregular cases of migrants from Sub-Sahara Africa to Europe, with economic reasons perceived to be the driver of irregular migration.

Several reports indicate that some irregular migrants, in a bid to evade justice, forged passports, visas, and other travel documents, engage in marriage under pretences, claims of asylum, among others.

In response to this development, Nigeria’s Government took a lead role in the Rabat Process, a key Euro-African dialogue on migration and development, to seek regional collaboration and coherent policy to enhance migration governance and sustainable solutions.

Alhaji Tijani Ahmed, the Federal Commissioner, National Commission for Refugees, Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons (NCFRMI), said effective collaboration among actors would strengthen migration governance and ensure that migration contributed positively to national and regional development.

“The country’s leadership aims to enhance cooperation between African and European partners to tackle pressing migration challenges while promoting opportunities for youths, diaspora engagement and regular migration pathways.

“With strong backing from the nation’s international partners, Nigeria’s chairmanship of the Rabat Process marks a new era of strategic migration dialogue, shaping policies that benefit both migrants and host communities.’’

According to him, Nigeria’s leadership will focus on three core thematic areas: Regional Cooperation, Inclusive Migration and a Balanced and Humane Approach.

He said that Nigeria’s leadership would promote safe, legal, and beneficial migration pathways, with particular attention to youths and innovation.

“It will also address challenges such as missing migrants, climate-induced mobility and human trafficking, while ensuring sustainable reintegration,” he said.

Ahmed said Nigeria envisioned tangible progress in stronger regional and bilateral cooperation, adding that it would foster collective action on migration governance at the end of its tenure.

He advised Nigerian youths on safe travel and digital qualifications, emphasising on the importance of educating youths on the right ways to travel and acquire skills for economic growth.

Ahmed called for more advocacies through media, universities, and industries to reach out to young people and provide them with the necessary information.

Similarly, the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction, Prof. Nentawe Yilwatda, at the first thematic meeting of the Rabat Process, identified three key steps to take in addressing the menace of irregular migration from Africa to Europe.

In tackling the challenge, the minister said there was a need to create spaces for digital skills, ownership, and migration literacy across Africa and Europe.

“The second priority is developing a harmonised migration policy framework to ensure qualification and reduce irregular migration.

“The third priority is to establish youth innovation funds to support enterprises and returnees,” Yilwatda added.

He, therefore, sought the collaboration of partners on migration governance to co-create youth innovation hubs, harmonised migration policies, and establish youth innovation funds to reduce irregular migration.

He said that the Nigerian Government was committed to implementing sustained youth-centred policies to end irregular migration and its attendant dangers.

Yilwatda assured that the government would prioritise skills, mobility and dignity, advancing innovation in migration governance, to nip irregular migration in the bud.

He described the exploration of youths, innovation and education as drivers of sustainable migration systems.

The minister also reaffirmed Nigeria’s dedication to lead the Rabat process with empathy, data and integrity, emphasising the need for effective partnerships to achieve the desired migration governance.

“The Rabat Process thematic meeting has addressed the influence of conflict, climate change and economic disparity on migration, emphasising the need for a more just and humane future for migration in Europe and Africa.

“In the meeting, I acknowledged the hard truths about migration, including the global narrative that casts migration in the language of fear and the limited opportunities for young people.’’

He said that migration should be seen as legal, dignified and voluntary, with skills shared and youths running towards purpose, rather than from lack.

Yilwatda also urged the development partners and the private sector to support skills programmes that linked education with employability, especially in fragile and climate-affected regions.

He, then, called for shared frameworks that recognised qualifications return talents and open safe pathways for migration.

According to him, migration should be seen as the expression of choice, ability and vision, not the consequence of despair.

He stressed the need to give youths more than sympathy as they need structures and access.

The minister described migration as a strategy for peace, prosperity, and survival, not just for Nigeria but for the entire world.

He said migration, when governed, could contribute to development, knowledge exchange, and cultural resilience.

Yilwatda emphasised the need for education and training for better opportunities in changing the lives of many young people.

In the same vein, Pilar Jimenez, Ambassador-at-Large- for Migration Affairs of Spain, promised to keep exploring ways to make more sustainable youths’ participation in the Rabat process.

Jimenez said that there was a need to move from inclusion to the co-creation of a space of dialogue in migration governance.

“The representatives of the Nigerian youth said that they are a part of a solution; I think that youths are the solution.

“Youth is the driver of the future, and the future just started here in Abuja within the Rabat process.”

She said that Spain’s migration policies were designed with active listening to the needs and concerns of African foreigners, their governments, and societies.

She recalled that the Spanish Prime Minister unveiled the new Spain-Africa strategy in December 2024. According to her, the agreement seeks equal partnership between Spain and Africa, and inspires the entire Europe-Africa relationship.

“The strategy includes promoting regular migration, sustainable development, and shared prosperity,” Jimenez said.

She added that Nigeria’s leadership in the Rabat process, focusing on youth education, innovation, and regular pathways to prevent irregular migration was apt.

More so, Gautier Mignot, Head of European Delegation to Nigeria, said that the EU supported awareness-raising campaigns and community-based programmes to inform young Nigerians about the risks of irregular migration.

“EU promotes a comprehensive approach to migration, working with partner countries like Nigeria.

“Also EU is committed to supporting Nigeria in migration management and legal migration processes,” Mignot said.

Observers say only few countries have national mechanisms to adequately deal with the complex nature and variations of migration.

As a result, stakeholders say the international community must adapt attitudes and systems to deal appropriately and effectively with the rapidly evolving nature of migration.

They say there is need to leverage existing tools and best practices to address irregular migration, including trade, compacts, the private sector, civil society, policy, and diplomacy.