The EU sealed a migration deal with Nigeria. But what did Abuja get in return?

Details of the EU's “milestone” migration deal with Nigeria remain unclear, two days after it was signed in Abuja by EU Commissioner Magnus Brunner and Nigeria's Foreign Affairs Minister, Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu.After a decade of negotiations, Nigeria agreed on Tuesday to readmit its nationals residing illegally in European countries, as the EU seeks to speed up the return of irregular migrants.The agreement establishes “rapid and effective procedures” for returning Nigerians who have no right to stay in an EU country, a pressing issue for the bloc, since only one in three irregular migrants is actually sent back.Accounts vary over what Nigeria secured in return for the agreement.According to local press, the EU pledged almost €100 million in additional funding for migration management and security cooperation.The Nigerian newspaper The Sun, in a report shared on X by the EU delegation in Abuja, attributed the pledge to Johannes Luchner, deputy director general of the Commission’s department for Migration and Home Affairs.According to these reports, the money would finance legal migration pathways for Nigerians into the EU, as well as anti-trafficking and anti-drug initiatives.The Commission maintains that the agreement is not “a transactional exchange of concessions.”“It is part of a broader mutually beneficial partnership between the EU and Nigeria. [...] This is one important step in strengthening our partnership, which is based on mutual…