Return, Precarity and Vulnerability in West Africa: Evidence from Nigeria

Abstract

This chapter analyses how return and reintegration programmes for irregular migrants and rejected asylum seekers construct and create vulnerabilities. The chapter analyses the lived experiences of returnees in Edo state, Nigeria. It examines the experiences of irregular migrants and rejected asylum seekers who were returned to their places of origin through AVRR programmes or other forms of return assistance programmes. First it examines the context of return migration in Nigeria and the legal-bureaucratic construction of vulnerability in the Nigerian context. Then it proceeds to analyse the efforts of the Nigerian state in implementing return and reintegration programmes. Based on 15 in-depth interviews with returnees, civil society organisations and government officials, it examines the experiences of returnees and their perspectives of vulnerability and precarity in returning to their communities of origin. The research finds that poorly implemented return programmes, may worsen the vulnerabilities of migrants instead of promoting their integration. However, migrants may reinforce their vulnerabilities in order to benefit from perceived advantages offered by the state or international organisations. Lastly, family and community efforts help migrants cope with the vulnerabilities they are exposed to in their communities of origin.