Nigeria’s National Commission for Refugees, Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons (NCFRMI) and IOM have awarded grants to four civil society organisations (CSOs) to run projects aligned with Nigeria’s recently adopted National Migration Policy Action Plan.

The award of the grants is in the framework of the National 10th European Development Fund project “Promoting Better Management of Migration in Nigeria”, which is funded by the European Union and implemented by IOM.

The recipients of the grants are the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), the Network of Migration Research on Africa (NOMRA), Policy Consult and the Women Consortium of Nigeria (WOCON).

The four projects, which will all run for a maximum of six months, will focus on educating the general public about migration policy, creating awareness about the dangers of migrating irregularly, advocacy against trafficking and capacity-building on migration issues. The projects will be run in collaboration with IOM and NCFRMI, which is the coordinating agency on migration issues in Nigeria.

The organisations awarded the grants were selected through a transparent process involving the review of over 20 proposals submitted after a call for proposals launched in January 2015.

Nigeria is a country of origin, transit and destination for migrants. As the most populous country on the African continent, it struggles with challenges arising from a wide range of migration issues including the migration of both highly skilled and unskilled labour, trafficking in persons, effective Diaspora engagement and remittances.

In order to effectively manage migration in a more efficient and coherent manner through the provision of policy frameworks to offer direction and guidance to all actors, the Nigerian Government adopted the National Migration Policy along with an Action Plan in May 2015.

•Photo shows CISLAC Executive Director, Auwal Ibrahim Musa Rafsanjani.

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