Presidency clarifies Nigeria-UK migration partnership

Tinubu and Charles

By JAMIU JAMODU

It has become necessary to debunk the raft of misinformation assailing the migration partnership between Nigeria and the United Kingdom, as contained in the Memorandum of Understanding signed by the two nations on the sidelines of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s historic state visit to the UK.

The memorandum on immigration cooperation, like other memoranda signed, aimed to strengthen the partnership between Nigeria and the United Kingdom.

Nigeria’s Minister of Interior and the Secretary of State for the Home Department of the Government of the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland signed the Migration MoU.

The MoU establishes a framework to facilitate a regulated and safe migration flow between the two countries and to encourage further bilateral cooperation in the fight against irregular migration and associated acts by citizens of each country, in accordance with their respective immigration and citizenship laws and extant international treaties, conventions, protocols, agreements, and charters.

Nowhere in the 12-page memorandum is Nigeria required to accept foreign nationals other than Nigerians. Nationals to be repatriated must have undergone multiple levels of identification and verification, and, where errors occur, they are returned to the requesting country at the requesting country’s cost.

Under the agreement, Nigeria and the United Kingdom will work together to secure the dignified return of their nationals who do not, or no longer, have the right to enter or remain in the territory of the other country.