Nigeria and the EU Are "Advancing Talks" on Migration, Using an Agreement That Started Discussions in 2016

At UNGA this week, Nigeria's Foreign Minister and the EU's migration commissioner sat down in New York to "deepen cooperation" on migration. Sounds promising, right? Except the actual centerpiece of the conversation is something called the EU-Nigeria Re-Admission Agreement, which was initiated in 2016. That's not a typo. Ten years. This agreement has been "in discussion" longer than some Nigerian marriages, and it still hasn't been signed.

Here's the part worth paying attention to: the EU Commissioner stressed that finalising the readmission deal, meaning Nigeria formally agreeing to accept back Nigerians the EU wants to send home, would "provide a basis for broader cooperation... on migration." Translation: sign the part that helps us deport your people more efficiently first, and then we'll talk properly about the part where your people can come here legally. Nigeria, for its part, is asking for the good stuff too, reintegration support, infrastructure help, and actual "structured and lawful mobility opportunities," which is diplomatic-speak for "let our people japa with paperwork instead of a boat."

The EU's sweetener is something called "talent partnerships," where Nigerian professionals get legal pathways abroad to fill Europe's skills shortages. Which, to be fair, is just formalising something that's already happening anyway, every Nigerian nurse, engineer, and techie currently filling out a UK or German visa form is doing this exact talent partnership by themselves, unofficially, one Skilled Worker visa at a time. The EU just wants to put its logo on it.

And the cherry on top: Commissioner Brunner says he wants to visit Abuja in November to continue the conversation, "although the date is yet to be finalised." So the follow-up meeting to the ten-year-old agreement doesn't even have a confirmed date yet.

At this rate, the Re-Admission Agreement might get finalised right around the same time Nigeria's population hits that projected 400 million. Perfect timing, honestly.