The European Union (EU) and the Dutch government have pledged to support Nigeria’s job creation push towards tackling poverty and irregular migration, the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation said yesterday.
It was learnt that that the commitment followed a meeting at The Hague, The Netherlands, between top representatives of Federal Government and EU officials.
Present were the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation Dr. Betta Edu; EU Commission’s Director-General for International Development Erica Gerrestsen; Minister for Justice and Minister of Security Netherlands; Netherlands Secretary-General Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Paul Huijts; Netherlands Special Envoy for Migration Peter Schuurman, Head of Section Sahel, West Africa and Great Lakes Tijmen Rooseboom, among others.
Deliberations at the meeting centred on areas of immediate support to Nigeria on jobs creation for its teeming youths to fight poverty, unemployment and irregular migration in line with President Bola Tinubu’s renewed hope agenda.
The Netherlands and EU leadership promised to demonstrate their commitments with a visit to Nigeria for situation analysis and stakeholders’ engagement.
Other areas of support include the implementation plan for poverty alleviation in Nigeria and the return of long-stay visa issuance from The Dutch Embassy in Ghana back to The Netherlands Embassy in Nigeria, amongst others.
In the Nigerian government delegation were the Ambassador of Nigeria to The Netherlands, Dr. Eniola Ajayi; Federal High Commissioner on Refugees, Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons, Tijani Ahmed; the representative of the Minister of Interior, Olubumi Tunji-Ojo; Mrs Dukpe; Representative of the Comptroller-General (CG) of the Nigerian Immigration Service, amongst others.
