ICMPD and the Oyo State Government signed a Memorandum of Understanding in Ibadan on 18 September 2026, formalising cooperation on the Denmark-funded Youth Empowerment and Reintegration Project (YERP), which builds agricultural livelihoods for 700 returnees and rural youth in Oyo State.
On 18 September 2026, the Oyo State Government and the International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in Ibadan, formalising a strategic partnership to support the implementation of the Youth Empowerment and Reintegration Project (YERP). The MoU sets out a framework for cooperation across land access, training and capacity development, market linkages, community engagement, and long-term project sustainability.
Funded by the Government of Denmark under Pillar II of CAPACITY — the Danish Migration Management Programme, YERP is a four-year initiative running from January 2025 to January 2029. It is designed to build sustainable agricultural livelihoods for 700 young Nigerians in Oyo State, with a particular focus on returnees and unemployed youths from rural communities in the State, and to contribute to reducing the incidence of irregular migration. Under the agreement, participants will receive climate-smart agricultural training, market development support, opportunities to organise into youth-led cooperatives, and secured land tenure through a ten-year lease as the foundation on which the rest is built.
Signing on behalf of Oyo State was the Honourable Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, Barrister Olasunkanmi Olaleye. He described YERP as an important intervention to address youth unemployment, support the sustainable reintegration of returning migrants, and stimulate economic development in rural communities.
YERP is an important intervention designed to support teeming youth, particularly rural young people and returning migrants, by creating sustainable opportunities for them through agriculture and related economic activities.said Barrister Olasunkanmi Olaleye, Honourable Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development.
A partnership built for young people
At the heart of YERP is a simple proposition: that young Nigerians deserve real opportunities to build meaningful economic futures at home. The project brings together the elements needed to make that possible: training in modern, climate-smart agricultural practice; access to markets that can absorb what participants produce; cooperative structures that let them pool resources and negotiate collectively; and secure land tenure that gives them the confidence to invest for the long term.
The 700 participants comprise Nigerians returning home from abroad and unemployed young people from rural communities across Oyo State, with at least 40 per cent women. Beyond crop production, YERP will provide mechanisation support, digital soil testing, cooperative development, climate-smart agronomy training, and structured market linkages that connect participants to local, regional and international markets.
Under the agreement, the Oyo State Government is providing farmland in Awe and Ilero communities to support participants, alongside community mobilisation, local security cooperation, and coordination through the state's agricultural extension system.
Representing ICMPD at the signing, Marcello Giordani, Portfolio Manager for the Pan-Africa Region, described Nigeria as a key partner for ICMPD's work across the continent and characterised YERP as an evidence-generating, action-research model.
The signing of this Memorandum of Understanding marks an important milestone in our shared commitment to the sustainable reintegration and economic empowerment of young people in Oyo State.Giordani said.
Through YERP, ICMPD and the Oyo State Government are working together to create meaningful opportunities for young people, strengthen livelihoods, and contribute to more resilient and inclusive communities while reducing the incidence of irregular migration. We greatly value the leadership and commitment of the Oyo State Government and look forward to translating this partnership into tangible results for the young people and communities we serve.Marcello Giordani, Portfolio Manager for the Pan-Africa Region at ICMPD
Commitments beyond the project's lifecycle
The MoU sets out commitments that reach past the project's completion in 2029. Oyo State will pursue legislation to protect YERP from political transitions, provide extension advisory services to participants after the project ends, and leverage Amotekun — the security outfit operating across the six states of Nigeria's South-West, and other local security structures to safeguard project activities in the implementing communities. A steering committee bringing together the Government of Denmark, Oyo State, ICMPD and NCFRMI will oversee implementation.
YERP is designed as an action-research initiative. Its delivery will be studied for what it reveals about sustainable reintegration in practice, generating evidence to inform rural livelihoods and reintegration policy in Nigeria and beyond. Baseline and endline assessments will feed into state and national policy, with the potential to shape how similar programmes are designed elsewhere in the region.
Land allocation and participant enrolment begin in the coming months. Agricultural training, cooperative development and market linkages will be delivered through a local implementing partner selected competitively, a deliberate choice to anchor delivery in Nigerian expertise, strengthen the local agricultural ecosystem, and build the institutional relationships that will carry results forward beyond January 2029.
For more information, please contact Tunde Omoyeni, Project Manager