According to a report by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, there are currently 339,669 Nigerians living as refugees in Chad, Cameroon, and the Niger Republic as a result of the country’s heightened instability in various regions.
Sadiya Farouq, the minister of humanitarian affairs, disaster management, and social development, had reported the figure as 322,000 in September 2021, indicating a rise of roughly 17,000 since then.
However, as of November 30, 2022, 187,130 Nigerians were seeking asylum in the Niger Republic, 132,151 in Cameroon, and 20,388 in Chad, according to data published by UNHCR on “Nigerian refugees by nation asylum.”
This scenario was not unrelated to the killings and kidnappings that had occurred around the nation and caused numerous individuals to be relocated.
This report was despite the promise by the Nigerian government to immediately prioritize the safe return of Nigerians displaced by the insurgency in the North-East from Cameroon, Niger and Chad earlier in March.
President Muhammadu Buhari had in February this year inaugurated a Presidential Committee on the Repatriation, Returns and Resettlement of Displaced Persons.
Speaking at the first meeting of the Committee in March, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo reiterated the urgent repatriation of Nigerians taking refuse in other countries.
“We should immediately do whatever it takes to commence the process of repatriating our people back home. Already there are several initiatives,” Osinbajo said.
The Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect bemoaned the escalating death toll brought on by insurgency in the nation in a publication titled “Nigeria: Populations At Risk” published on December 1st, 2022.
The group said that numerous individuals had been forced to flee their homes across the nation, particularly in the Northwest, Northeast, and North-Central, due to the long list of murders carried out by bandits and rebels.
