Assisted Voluntary Return and Reintegration

Assisted Voluntary Return and Reintegration (AVRR) supports a variety of migrants who wish to return home, including those who traveled for economic reasons, unaccompanied children and victims of trafficking. IOM interviews them and assists with travel logistics and flights. Once in Nigeria, the most vulnerable are offered additional support through in-kind reintegration assistance to start businesses, study, pay medical fees, etc.

To date, IOM has facilitated returns of over 14,216 migrants to return home safely under the EU-IOM Joint Initiative for Migrant Protection and Reintegration. Since April 2017, IOM has been implementing the Joint Initiative to address the protection needs and facilitate return and reintegration of stranded Nigerian migrants in the transit countries. To date, 7,511 beneficiaries have received business skills training.

In addition to this, in February this year, IOM Nigeria started the DFID-funded project ‘Protection and Reintegration of Nigerian Migrants Returned from Libya under Federal Government of Nigeria-Facilitated Charter Flights’, and UK Home Office-funded project titled ‘Strengthening Direct Assistance for Victims of Trafficking in Nigeria through a Victim Centered Approach.’

The DFID-funded project provides reintegration assistance to migrants returned by the Government of Nigeria. Over a period of 24 months, the overall objective of the project is to improve access to sustainable reintegration support to 1,700 Nigerian migrants returned from Libya to Port Harcourt in January 2018, by providing socio-economic reintegration services and MHPSS. So far, over 550 beneficiaries have successfully participated in business skill training and have been capacitated on setting up and running small businesses.