The United Kingdom Home Office received 22,619 asylum applications from Nigerian nationals from 2010 to 2024.
During this period, Nigerians made up one in every 30 asylum claims in the UK, placing them 11th in the Home Office’s newly released year-end Asylum and Resettlement statistics.
As reported by Punch, the number of Nigerian asylum applicants nearly doubled in just one year, from 1,462 in 2023 to 2,841 in 2024.
Overall, 2024 marked a record high in UK asylum applications, with 108,138 people seeking refuge—a staggering 378% increase from 2010. Most of these were first-time claims by nationals from South Asia and the Middle East.
Iran led the list with 75,737 applications, likely driven by increased repression of dissent. Pakistan followed with 57,621 claims, including 10,542 in 2024, amid post-election instability, high inflation, and a surge in blasphemy-related prosecutions.
Afghanistan registered 54,363 asylum claims over the period. In 2024 alone, 8,508 Afghans sought asylum in the UK—continuing a trend that began after the Taliban’s ouster of the Karzai government in 2022. That year saw 11,358 applications, followed by 9,710 in 2023.
Other top countries of origin included Albania (50,944), Iraq (45,711), Eritrea (37,687), Syria (34,997), and Bangladesh (31,744). Asylum claims from Bangladesh rose from 5,097 in 2023 to 7,225 in 2024, coinciding with the political upheaval surrounding former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s exit. Sudan and India rounded out the top ten, with 30,897 and 30,179 applications respectively.
Nigeria’s total of 22,619 filings placed it just ahead of Sri Lanka (22,059) and ahead of Vietnam, China, and Turkey. Countries like Brazil, Kuwait, Yemen, Colombia, and Jordan contributed fewer than 6,500 claims each.
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Analysts link Nigeria’s rising numbers to worsening domestic conditions—such as insurgency, banditry, kidnapping, and the sharp decline in purchasing power after the 2023 naira devaluation.
In an interview with The PUNCH, Charles Onunaiju, Research Director at the Centre for China Studies in Abuja, said, “We have a challenge. Since Nigeria is becoming inhospitable, especially for young people with no opportunities, there is desperation to go abroad.”
Reports suggest that young Nigerian professionals, once likely to use skilled worker visas, now increasingly turn to asylum applications, either upon arrival or after entering Europe irregularly. Claims often cite risks like kidnapping, communal violence, political repression under cybercrime laws, or persecution based on sexual orientation—grounds that fall within the UN Refugee Convention’s protections.
As the Home Office explains, UK asylum law requires applicants to prove a “well-founded fear of persecution” due to race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership in a particular social group. Initial decisions are made by the Home Office, with appeals heard by the Immigration and Asylum Chamber.
Although the Illegal Migration Act 2023 renders arrivals via a safe third country inadmissible, the government’s flagship deportation plan—relocating asylum seekers to Rwanda—remains stalled by legal challenges.
As a result, most new arrivals in 2024 and 2025 continue to go through the regular asylum process.
Dr. Aliyu Ilias, a development economist based in Abuja, warned that the ongoing exodus of Nigerians—especially skilled professionals—represents a major loss for the country.
“With worsening economic and security conditions at home, the British asylum route, though uncertain, still appears more promising,” he said. “It’s definitely worrying because we’re losing the very professionals we invested in training.”
“In the medical sector, Nigeria subsidises a lot to get people trained. You cannot get trained as a medical doctor or an engineer abroad for a cheaper cost compared to what we get in Nigeria.
“So, it is total brain drain in the long run and for the economy, it is reducing our GDP. The appalling part is that most of our Nigerian brothers and sisters who go out do not return. They get permanent residency, and they become valuable to the immediate country.”
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