Thousands of failed asylum seekers and criminals face deportation from UK to Nigeria below new deal
Britain has secured a new deal with the Nigerian government which will make it easier to deport thousands of failed asylum seekers and criminals.
The Home Office announced it had signed an agreement with Nigerian officials during this week’s state visit by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
UK ministers hope the deal will see Nigeria agree to receive more deportations from this country, with less red tape.
Currently there are 961 Nigerian failed asylum seekers in this country who have exhausted their rights of appeal, it is understood.
It means they have definitively been ruled to have no claim to refugee status in the UK.
There are also 1,110 foreign national offenders from Nigeria who the Home Office is waiting to deport.
Both groups are now more likely to be kicked out of Britain.
The agreement will also be used to return Nigerians who overstayed work or visit visas.
It will see Nigeria accept diplomatic notes – known as ‘UK Letters’ – in lieu of travel documents such as passports during the deportation process.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer greets Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu at Downing Street this morning
Currently, one of the main barriers faced by the Home Office in its bid to deport a foreign national is waiting for their home country to issue a passport or other travel papers, which are essential for a deportee to be put on a plane home.
The agreement was signed by Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood, and Nigerian interior minister Dr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo.
Home Office minister Alex Norris said: ‘Today’s agreement is another step in our mission to restore order to the border by ensuring those who have no right to be here are swiftly removed.
‘Nigeria is a key partner in our work to tackle illegal migration, as the UK’s largest African visa market and home to thousands of Nigerians who have built their lives here. We owe everyone across the system fairness.’
Dr Tunji-Ojo said the Nigeria was ‘totally committed to being a responsible country in fulfilling our core obligations’ and added: ‘Hopefully, this strengthened partnership will be a template for other bilateral understandings.’
Further elements of a wider deal will see action to tackle cybercrime and fraud.
The state visit included a banquet at Windsor Castle last night, where King Charles greeted President Bola Ahmed Tinubu
A significant proportion of international fraudsters targeting British victims operated from West Africa, including Nigeria.
The two countries have agreed a ‘crackdown on criminal gangs abusing visa routes’, including a a new document‑checking system which will verify the authenticity of applications.
As part of the deal Nigeria will also review its laws to tackle immigration crime, including potential tougher sentences.
Britain has pulled out all the stops for the Nigerian president’s official visit this week including a lavish state banquet at Windsor Castle on Wednesday evening.
In a speech at Windsor, King Charles described Nigeria as an ‘economic powerhouse, a cultural force and an influential diplomatic voice’.
The banquet menu featured a quail egg tartlet, followed by fillet of turbot with lobster mousse wrapped in spinach; beurre blanc sauce; sprouting broccoli; pea and broad bean fricassee; and Jersey Royal potatoes.
Dessert was an iced blackcurrant souffle with red fruit coulis.
A mocktail called ‘crimson bloom’ was also on offer, blended using the West African beverage Zobo, English rose soda and hibiscus and ginger syrup.
President Tinubu and First Lady Oluremi Tinubu privately visited St George’s Chapel, at Windsor, to lay a wreath on the tomb of Queen Elizabeth II.
The state visit, which continues today, is Nigeria’s first to the UK for 37 years.
President Tinubu met Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer at Downing Street this morning.
