Austria country’s Director-General, International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD), Mr. Michael Spindelegger has disclosed that Austria has completed the process of organising skills acquisition programmes for at least 1000 Nigerian irregular migrants in Austria before their repatriation.
Spindelegger made the disclosure at a meeting with Foreign Affairs Minister Geoffrey Onyeama in Abuja.
He said the programme was to prepare the migrants for gainful employment with some Austrian companies that would kick-start latter in Nigeria adding that the proposed programme would also facilitate reversed migration of the irregular migrants, who had no likelihood of being given legal residents in Austria.
Spindelegger also said the programme is a new idea on how to combine future investment in Nigeria with the return of irregular migrants.
He noted that the idea is to train irregular migrants before repatriating them so that they will have something to do when they return, adding that several companies are interested in investing in Nigeria because of its market.
In his remarks, Onyeama said the initiative would not only have Nigerians coming back home to contribute to national development but also stood to benefit from foreign investors.
Onyeama said that the present administration had already put in place mechanism to address irregular migration and promote the concept of reverse migration.
He reiterates that Nigeria was in full support of the scheme and would ensure its success, saying that government had made a huge investment in social intervention programmes and was having such similar scheme partnership with Germany.
The minister, however, dismissed the fears of likely ploy to deport Nigerians in the country through the process, saying the country has the right to deport irregular migrants.
He assured that Nigerians stands to benefit from the training and guaranteed employment with the companies that would be coming to invest in Nigeria,’’.
He also maintained that efforts are being made to convince companies involved in the programme to come and invest in Nigeria.
