Post-Return Practices and Experiences of Returnees in Nigeria

Authors:

Ngozi Louis Uzomah, Lucy Dim, Eberechukwu J. Eze, Ignatius Ani Madu, Chukwuedozie K. Ajaero, | University of Nigeria

Executive Summary:

This country survey report examines post-return experiences of Nigerian migrants within the GAPs project, drawing on a mixed-methods study of 288 surveyed returnees and 21 key stakeholders in Lagos, Abuja, Benin, and Owerri. It shows that while national policies and institutions provide a formal framework for return and reintegration, limited coordination, funding, and community engagement undermine their effectiveness, leaving many returnees in conditions of economic precarity despite relatively high levels of reported hope and resilience. The analysis highlights how family and religion function as core psychosocial resources, how detention, stigma, and misunderstandings of depression shape returnees’ well-being, and why many maintain strong aspirations for legal re-migration, leading the report to call for trauma-informed, psychosocially-led reintegration policies that better align governance practices with returnees’ lived realities.

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