CSOnetMADE coordinator scores 2026 Nigeria Voluntary National Review of GCM  high

Civil Society Network on  Migration coordinator Fr. Emeka Chris-Obiezu has scored the  Voluntary National Review on the implementation of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM) ahead of the 2026 International Migration Review Forum (IMRF) very high.   

Fr Emeka who doubled as the  facilitator for Nigeria Voluntary National Review for International Migration Forum 2026 said the just concluded event places Nigeria on the right pedestal to excel at the global event. 

He described  the VNR  as an enormous three days of active engagement in reviewing Nigeria’s implementation of the global compact for safe, orderly and regular migration,  and  assessing its progress since 2022 International Migration Forum Review.

He said: “We engaged in structural activities that focus on tracking Nigeria’s progress, underscoring our challenges and highlighting lessons learned and reviewed Nigeria’s pledges in 2022 and how much those have been implemented.

“And of course, we  had the opportunity to repledge for 2026. In a nutshell, I think it was a very successful engagement. The active participation was great and the outcome was also significant. Yes, I would mark it 100%.”

Speaking on the success that Nigeria had recorded after the last review, Fr Emeka said “the country  has improved a lot in data management and has improved a lot in governance systems. We’ve aligned most of the GCM  objectives and principles in our national migration policies. We’ve also improved in bilateral relationships, and  in coordination within the government and non-government actors. We’ve also made some tremendous records in strengthening regular migration pathway for  mobility of labour and protecting migrants’ rights, and as much as the fact that some challenges still remain.”

He noted that the  best practices “we have seen and that we identified in these three days include strengthened migration coordination by the NCFRMI, effective collaboration between government and non-government actors, as well as structural engagement by stakeholders from international partners. I think they also came up as significant areas that migration has improved in terms of governance in Nigeria. We are very much good to go  as far as the 2026 IMRF is concerned.

We have our national report to be submitted to the  UN system. We  will have Nigerian talking points at the round tables in New York.  We have Nigeria’s side events figured out.

 We have reviewed and repledged Nigeria’s commitments to implementing the GCM. So we are good to go. We are waiting for May 5th to 8th to go to New York and deliver Nigeria’s position.”