A major centrepiece
A good bilateral cooperation in migration affairs between Nigeria and Switzerland has been ongoing for many years. It has been institutionalized by a Migration Partnership established between the two governments in February 2011, in the form of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). The Swiss State Secretariat for Migration (SEM) is the focal agency for migration issues and works closely with the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), the Human Security Division (HSD) and the Sub-Saharan Africa and Francophonie Division (SAFD) of the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) as well as the Federal Office of Police (fedpol) and the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO).
The main partners on the Nigerian side are the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), the National Commission for Refugees, Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons (NCFRMI), the National Agency for the Prohibition of Traffic in Persons (NAPTIP), as well as the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).
The present cooperation includes, but is not limited to technical assistance in document fraud detection and data management, mutual study visits to enhance the cooperation in the fight against transnational crime, modern border management, support to reintegration of victims of human trafficking, cooperation in the field of vocational training and agriculture, awareness campaigns on the adverse effects of irregular migration. The SEM also supports the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in the field of the return of irregular migrants to Nigeria, as well as partners like the Country Office in Nigeria of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and NGOs.
