The United Kingdom has received 22,619 asylum applications from Nigerian nationals between 2010 and 2024, The PUNCH has learned from newly released figures by the UK Home Office.
Nigerians accounted for one in every 30 asylum claims within this 14-year period, placing the country 11th on the Home Office’s Asylum and Resettlement statistics. In 2024 alone, the number of Nigerian asylum applicants nearly doubled, rising from 1,462 in 2023 to 2,841.
The surge in Nigerian applications contributed to the UK’s highest recorded number of asylum requests in a single year—108,138 in 2024—a 378 per cent increase from 2010. Most of these were first-time claims, primarily from South Asian and Middle Eastern nationals.
Leading the asylum claims were Iranians with 75,737 applications, followed by Pakistanis (57,621), and Afghans (54,363). Other countries in the top ten included Albania, Iraq, Eritrea, Syria, Bangladesh, Sudan, and India.
Analysts attribute Nigeria’s rise on the list to worsening insecurity, economic hardship, insurgency, banditry, and the devaluation of the naira in 2023. Many applicants reportedly cite kidnapping threats, communal violence, and political persecution under cybercrime laws or discrimination based on sexual orientation as reasons for their asylum bids.
“There is desperation to go abroad,” said Charles Onunaiju, Research Director at the Centre for China Studies in Abuja. “Nigeria is becoming inhospitable, especially for young people with no opportunities.”
Local reports suggest a growing number of young professionals now enter the UK on legal grounds but later seek asylum. Others arrive irregularly via continental Europe and switch to asylum procedures.
Under UK law, asylum seekers must demonstrate a “well-founded fear of persecution” based on race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or group membership. Although the Illegal Migration Act 2023 deems arrivals via third countries inadmissible, most new applicants still go through the regular process due to legal delays in the UK’s controversial deportation deal with Rwanda.
Abuja-based economist Dr. Aliyu Ilias warned that the mass exit of skilled Nigerians represents a deepening brain drain. “It takes a lot to train professionals in Nigeria. When they leave, it reduces our GDP and harms the economy,” he said. “Most don’t return. They get permanent residency and become valuable to the receiving countries.”
Nigeria’s tally of asylum claims sits just above Sri Lanka’s 22,059 and ahead of Vietnam, China, and Turkey, with fewer claims from countries like Brazil, Kuwait, and Jordan.
As the exodus continues, experts stress the need for urgent domestic reforms to improve security and economic conditions and stem the outflow of talent.
