The Presidency has defended the Memorandum of Understanding, MoU, signed by Nigeria and the United Kingdom, U.K., for partnership on Migration. 

The State House, Abuja, became perturbed by the 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 Tinubu’s historic state visit to the UK.

The Presidency, in a statement, indicated that 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 established 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.”

The partnership MoU provides that 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. 

The Presidency declared: “Law enforcement officers in each country will take the necessary action to protect the interests and well-being of citizens of either party and to mitigate conflict triggers related to migration matters".

Another provision is that where a return is being considered, and the person has made a claim under relevant domestic or international human rights legislation, that claim will be considered in line with the provisions under the party’s respective domestic legislation. 

The appeal may relate to circumstances in which the foreign nationals have been lawfully resident in the territory of the requesting party for most of their lives and socially and culturally integrated in the territory of the requesting party. 

Another ground of appeal may be where the nationals would face significant obstacles to their integration into the country to which they are to be deported.

Article 9 of the MoU sets out the conditions for the migrant’s return. 

The requesting party will coordinate all returns with the officers of the requested party. 

The MoU, similar to those signed in 2012, 2017, and 2022, is for an initial period of five years, renewable for a further five-year period, as may be agreed by the parties.