JUST IN: UK announces actual number of Nigerians seeking asylum, see details

• The UK Home Office reports 22,619 asylum applications from Nigerians betwixt 2010 and 2024, with a important emergence successful 2024
• Nigeria ranks 11th among countries submitting asylum claims, with a 2024 surge driven by governmental instability, insurgency, and economical hardship
• Analysts pass that the increasing fig of Nigerians seeking asylum could lend to a "brain drain," arsenic professionals question amended prospects abroad

The United Kingdom’s Home Office has confirmed that 22,619 Nigerians sought asylum successful the UK betwixt 2010 and 2024, a statistic which reveals the standard of Nigerian migration successful caller years.

Asylum applications from Nigerian nationals accounted for 1 successful each 30 claims submitted during this period, placing Nigeria 11th successful the UK’s recently released year-end Asylum and Resettlement statistics.

UK Releases Actual Number of Nigerians Seeking Asylum
Source: Getty Images

A singular summation successful asylum claims from Nigeria was recorded successful 2024, with 2,841 Nigerians applying for refuge, astir treble the 1,462 applications filed successful 2023.

The information points to a wider planetary trend, arsenic 2024 saw the highest fig of asylum applications successful the UK’s history, totalling 108,138 claims.

This represents a 378% summation compared to 2010, with astir asylum seekers hailing from South Asia and the Middle East.

Why the surge successful Nigerian asylum applications?

Nigerians are present among the apical contributors to the UK's asylum applications, mostly driven by governmental instability, insurgency, banditry, and a collapsing economy, exacerbated by the devaluation of the naira successful 2023.

Analysts suggest that these factors person forced galore Nigerians to look for a safer and much unchangeable beingness abroad.

Charles Onunaiju, Research Director astatine the Centre for China Studies successful Abuja, highlighted the progressively inhospitable conditions successful Nigeria, peculiarly for young people.

He argued,

“There is simply a desperation to spell overseas due to the fact that of the deficiency of opportunities. Nigeria is nary longer offering the aboriginal that galore young Nigerians had hoped for.”

In particular, the emergence successful asylum claims has been attributed to the expanding difficulties faced by young professionals successful Nigeria. While immoderate initially entered the UK done skilled idiosyncratic visas, an expanding fig are opting to question asylum erstwhile they arrive, citing threats specified arsenic kidnapping and communal unit successful their applications.

Factors Behind the Asylum Claims

The reasons down these asylum claims often see fears of governmental persecution, peculiarly nether Nigeria’s cybercrime laws, arsenic good arsenic favoritism based connected intersexual orientation, which are recognised arsenic valid grounds for asylum nether the Refugee Convention.

Applicants indispensable show a "well-founded fearfulness of persecution" based connected race, religion, nationality, governmental opinion, oregon rank successful a peculiar societal group.

According to the Home Office, asylum decisions are initially made by UK officials, with antagonistic decisions perchance taxable to appeal.

The UK's Illegal Migration Act 2023 aims to restrict asylum seekers who walk done a “safe 3rd country,” but its implementation, peculiarly regarding the Rwanda deportation deal, remains mired successful ineligible challenges.

The Impact of Nigerian Migration

Dr. Aliyu Ilias, a improvement economist based successful Abuja, spoke to The PUNCH astir the broader implications of Nigerian emigration. He highlighted concerns implicit the nonaccomplishment of skilled labour, noting that galore of Nigeria’s professionals, specified arsenic doctors and engineers, are present choosing to settee permanently successful the UK. He emphasised the important fiscal concern Nigeria makes to bid these professionals, which is mislaid erstwhile they permission for amended opportunities abroad.

“Its decidedly a origin of interest due to the fact that this includes our professionals who are moving. It takes a batch to bid these individuals. In the aesculapian sector, Nigeria subsidises a batch to get radical trained. You can’t get trained arsenic a aesculapian doc oregon technologist overseas for a cheaper outgo than successful Nigeria,” Ilias explained. “It’s a full encephalon drain successful the agelong run, which reduces our GDP.”

Ilias further expressed that the nonaccomplishment of skilled workers to imperishable migration severely impacts the Nigerian economy, with galore Nigerians choosing to enactment overseas and lend to their adopted countries alternatively of returning to Nigeria.

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Source: Legit.ng