The National Policy on Labour Migration addresses the following three broad objectives:

• Promotion of good governance of labour migration;
• Protection of migrant workers and promotion of their welfare and that of families left behind;
• Optimization of the benefits of labour migration on development while mitigating its adverse impact

Specific objectives
Governance

• Enact legislative framework as foundation of national labour migration governance;
• Strengthen rules and regulations for effective and efficient administration of labour migration;
• Strengthen existing institutional framework for labour migration and enhance coordination with all concerned ministries and agencies across all levels of government;
• Ensure full participation of social partners as key labour migration stakeholders in policy elaboration, implementation and evaluation;
• Build migration-related knowledge and database for good policy and effective administration;
• Cooperate with ECOWAS towards full implementation of relevant protocols;
• Ensure gender-responsive policy and its implementation at all levels, by government, social partners and other relevant actors;
• Ensure competency and capacity of all concerned staff of government and of social partner officers, to effectively and knowledgeably conduct their responsibilities.

Protection and social welfare

• Promote right to decent work, including access to social protection for female and male migrant workers;
• Ensure non-discrimination and equality of treatment for all workers, migrants, and nationals abroad and at home;
• Ensure that all employment of migrant workers is subject to labour standards and code of ethics;
• Equip workers to make better-informed decisions on migration for employment;
• Promote and protect the rights of labour migrants in recruitment for employment abroad through supervision and monitoring of recruitment activities;
• Promote consular and diplomatic services to protect migrants and oversee their welfare;
• Strengthen policies and programmes for welfare of migrants, return migrants and families left behind;
• Ensure the voting rights of migrant workers.

Promoting employment and development benefits of migration

• Integrate migration issues into national planning and Decent Work
• Country Programmes (DWCPs), and promote decent work at home;
• Link migration and employment in policy and practice;
• Upgrade skills and vocational training in Nigeria to meet assessed and anticipated domestic and foreign labour market needs, in harmony with international qualifications standards;
• Promote development based on funds coming into Nigeria as remittances;
• Create environment conducive to attracting migrant remittances, diaspora investments and technology transfers;
• Create environment conducive to attracting return of Nigerian talent;
• Attract migrant expertise for domestic development, using the new skills of returned migrants, as well as utilizing at home the high skills of those still in diaspora;
• Negotiate bilateral agreements and Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) with major origin and destination countries.