Migration Profile on Nigeria - IOM Publications - International ...

also highly skilled migrants in sectors such as science and technology and in
professional categories such as management. Labour market shortages often
arise from an under-funded Nigerian education system that fails to produce and
retain the human capital needed to fill these shortages. The number of Nigerian
students who prefer to study abroad has dramatically increased in recent years,
with many of these students becoming permanent emigrants. According to
census-based data in receiving countries, a substantial proportion of the highly
skilled persons who were trained in Nigeria work abroad. This high emigration
rate among the highly skilled, especially in the medical sector, can potentially have
negative implications for the economy and public services. Efforts to promote
greater engagement of the diaspora in development needs to take account
of the fact that Nigerians migrate to an increasingly diverse set of destination
countries. Besides going to the United Kingdom and the United States, Nigerians
also emigrate to Australia, Greece, Japan, New Zealand, Portugal and Spain.
Most of the Nigerian migrants (61%), however, stay within the region.
The complex migration patterns involved require a coherent and
comprehensive approach to migration. Part E described the present form
of migration management in the country and provided insights into how this
management could be made more effective. A brief description of the key
institutional actors revealed that different institutions handle different aspects of
the management of migrants, data and information in and outside the country.
Part F dealt with the coordination of the diverse activities of the key
institutions, which is paramount to the effective implementation of a national
policy on migration. The built-in provision for a central agency or commission
responsible for the draft national policy on migration for Nigeria is an indication of
the implementation of proper policy coordination. Both the positive and negative
elements of the national migration policy were examined. Ways of improving on
and benefiting from migration management include harnessing the potential of
the Nigerian diaspora and encouraging regional and international cooperation on
regulating trafficking in persons. Therefore, the framework correlated effective
migration with efficient management, thus clearly emphasizing the cross-cutting
nature of migration matters and the need for pooling resources for the good
of all: the migrants, the destination countries and the source country, namely
Nigeria.
g.2 recommendations on improving migration statistics
As migration data management is vital to effective policy development, this
section provides a framework whereby migration data and information can be
92 <strong>Migration</strong> in Nigeria: A Country <strong>Profile</strong> 2009