As a way to address the weaknesses in migration management, the United Nations, alongside the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and key border management agencies, has begun moves for a coordinated referral system designed to replace fragmented institutional responses with a structured protection mechanism.

The initiative emerged during a specialised training on a human rights-based approach to border management in Sokoto under the PROMIS project, where participants agreed that vulnerable migrants should be identified early and referred to appropriate protection services rather than treated solely as immigration offenders.

The project was organised in collaboration with the NHRC, the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), and civil society organisations.

Opening the training, NHRC Executive Secretary, Dr Tony Ojukwu, SAN, said the programme demonstrates Nigeria’s commitment to ensuring that border security and human rights reinforce, rather than undermine each other.

He disclosed that the commission, working with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and other partners, has been building the capacity of border officials to integrate international human rights standards into daily border operations, following earlier training and border assessment missions at Seme and Idiroko.

According to Ojukwu, the Sokoto training extends the initiative to Nigeria’s North-West border corridor, to be followed by community engagement programmes and a human rights assessment of the Illela International Border.

Ojukwu stressed that every individual encountered at Nigeria’s borders, regardless of nationality or migration status, possesses inherent dignity and is entitled to constitutional and international human rights protections.

Consequently, stakeholders agreed to establish a coordinated referral mechanism, nominate referral focal persons across participating institutions, develop a comprehensive referral directory and create an inter-agency communication platform for rapid response to protection cases.

They also adopted standard operating procedures for handling suspected trafficked victims, smuggled migrants and other vulnerable persons intercepted at border points.

Participants tested the proposed framework through a simulation involving a young Nigerian girl travelling to Ghana after being lured by a stranger with promises of financial gains.

The NHRC also introduced a human rights monitoring and investigation checklist for use at Nigeria’s land, air and sea borders to document alleged abuses against migrants and assess detention conditions.

Separate interview templates for community leaders and migrants were also developed to capture migration trends, trafficking patterns, protection gaps and the effectiveness of referral systems, with findings expected to strengthen protection at strategic border locations, particularly Illela.

Representative of the OHCHR, Esther Sawa, said the engagement forms part of the PROMIS project to strengthen community-based prevention, early identification, safe reporting and referral of victims of trafficking, smuggled migrants and other vulnerable persons.

She urged participants to adopt practical solutions guided by dignity, confidentiality, non-discrimination and the principle of “do no harm,” confident that the new referral pathways would improve protection for vulnerable migrants while strengthening accountability at Nigeria’s borders.