OVER 600,000 Nigerians applied for asylum in other countries between 2016 and 2023, during the tenure of former President Muhammadu Buhari.
Buhari served as president from 2015 to 2023 and transferred power to President Bola Tinubu, who was inaugurated on May 29, 2023, after winning the general elections held that year.
According to a report released yesterday, July 17, 2024, by Statisense, a data collection organisation, of a total of 664,384 in eight years, 355,792 persons sought asylum between 2016 and 2019 while 308,592 sought asylum between 2020 and 2023.
Breaking it down year by year, there were 66,862 asylum seekers in 2016, 91,924 in 2017, 84,624 in 2018, 112,382 in 2019, 73,233 in 2020, 83,105 in 2021, 83,402 in 2022, and 68,852 in 2023.
The numbers reflect a significant increase compared to the previous 12 years from 2004 to 2015 when only 204,791 Nigerians sought asylum in foreign countries.
In total, 869,175 Nigerians sought asylum over the past 20 years, particularly from 2004 to 2023.
The report was published on the organization’s X platform @StatiSense, citing the United Nations Refugee Agency.
Another report shared by the organization highlighted that the Republic of Niger had the highest number of Nigerian refugees in 2023, with approximately 200,497 Nigerian nationals and a total of 1,268,464 Nigerian refugees between 2015 and 2023.
Niger, a neighboring country sharing borders with Nigeria’s northern region, has seen challenges such as insecurity including banditry, terrorism, and conflicts between herdsmen and farmers.
Furthermore, another report indicated that Nigerians were the largest group of asylum seekers from African countries in Canada in 2023, with around 10,111 applicants, followed by Kenya with 1,345 asylum seekers. It mentioned that 1,345 Nigerians also sought asylum in the United Kingdom and 5,136 in the United States of America.
