Nigeria and its partners in the Rabat Process have agreed to deepen efforts towards ensuring that migration remains safe, legal, dignified and voluntary across Africa and Europe.

The commitment was reaffirmed yesterday at the closing session of a meeting of the Rabat Process held in Abuja with the participation of African and European delegates, including youth representatives and civil society actors.

Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction, Professor Nentawe Yilwatda, said the Abuja meeting signaled a new chapter in the global migration conversation focused on shifting the narrative from fear to opportunity. He emphasised the importance of youth empowerment, education and innovation as the cornerstones of sustainable migration governance.

“We have collectively explored how youths, innovation, and education are not just policy topics but the very drivers of sustainable migration systems,” Yilwatda said, “Migration should never be the consequence of despair. It must be the expression of choice, ability and vision.”

He said although over 80 percent of migration out of Africa remained regular, public discourse and global policy often paint migration in negative terms. The minister stressed that Nigeria, in its current chairmanship of the Rabat Process, was committed to promoting youth-centered policies, skills recognition and stronger diaspora engagement.

“To our European partners, we invite you to invest more in mobility pathways and join innovation hubs that empower rather than exclude,” he said, “To development partners and the private sector, we urge support for skills programs that connect education with employability, especially in climate-affected and fragile regions.”

Yilwatda also used the platform to celebrate Nigeria’s hospitality and culture, urging participants to return not just as delegates, but as friends and partners in progress.

Spain’s Ambassador-at-Large for Migration Affairs, Pilar Mendez Jimenez, who co-chaired the meeting, praised the inclusion of youth and civil society organisations in the Rabat Process for the first time in its nearly two-decade history. She described the Abuja session as one of the most dynamic in recent years.

“During these two days, we exchanged on how to unlock the power of youth through education and innovation. We also explored how to sustainably engage the diaspora and how to empower women through initiatives like the Spain-Morocco EU-funded Wafida project,” she said.

Jimenez commended the participation of youth groups such as Africa’s Young Changemakers, whom she described as “not just part of the solution—but the solution itself.” She reiterated that future migration policy must move from mere inclusion to co-creation, where all stakeholders share equal space in shaping decisions.

Delegates from across Africa, including Cameroon, Tunisia, Ghana, Uganda, and Kenya, shared insights and successful practices in areas such as digital innovation, diaspora partnerships, and labor migration. The NELEX digital platform developed in Nigeria was highlighted as a key innovation aligned with Europe’s talent pool initiatives.

Discussions also touched on the importance of countering misinformation about migration, with examples from Germany, Switzerland, and the EU on the establishment of Centers for Migration and Development.

Jimenez emphasised the need to harness intra-African talent and called for deeper collaboration between African countries and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) which is currently hosting a parallel session on labor migration in The Gambia.

The Rabat Process, established in 2006, serves as a platform for dialogue and cooperation on migration and development between countries along the West African migration route to Europe. The Abuja meeting marked a major milestone by mainstreaming youth voices and expanding the focus to include innovation, climate impacts and skills development.