Over 100,000 Nigerians are refugees in Cameroon – FG

The Federal Commissioner and Chief Executive Officer of the National Commission for Refugees, Migrants, and Internally Displaced Persons (NCFRMI), Aliyu Tijani Ahmed, has disclosed that an estimated 145,000 Nigerians are currently refugees worldwide.

He disclosed this on Friday while addressing a press conference ahead of the 2026 World Refugee Day in Abuja.

He said, “Nigerians who are now refugees in other countries of the world, we have them mostly across the West African countries, particularly in Niger, in Cameroon, and in Chad.

“Of course, we have many of them in Libya, and also in South Africa, we have a lot of them there too. We have at least 145,000, because from our last count in Cameroon, we have over 100,000 Nigerians who are in Cameroon.

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“Through the support of the UNHCR and the Borno State Government, we were able to bring about 10,000 of them in 2021, an additional 7,000 from Chad, and then 3,000 from Cameroon.

“So, not less than 20,000 of them have been repatriated within the last 3-4 years back to Nigeria,” he said.

The Commissioner said the Federal Government had not been able to repatriate many of them because their return must be voluntary, saying, “Not until a refugee decides or has decided to return to his country home, you cannot just go forcefully and return him to the country”.

“Also, to return a refugee to the country, even with the willingness of that refugee, there are certain provisions or conditions which you must have to meet.”

On the other hand, he said Nigeria is currently experiencing a flood of refugees from other nations, saying a lot of them are coming from Cameroon, the Central African Republic and Sudan.

“By rough estimate, in Nigeria today, we have not less than about 150,000 refugees who are mostly living around our coastal areas, in Calabar, Akwa Ibom, Ogoja, and also in some parts of Benue State,” said Ahmed.

He expressed the commitment of the Federal Government to ensure that refugee management in Nigeria is not hindered by emerging economic realities.

On her part, Bernadette Muteshi, UNHCR Deputy Representative to Nigeria, said the World Refugee Day 2026 theme is “Until Everyone is Safe”, adding that it was coming at a time when the right to seek asylum is under growing pressure in many parts of the world.

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