Recent official data reveals that between January 2013 and December 2024, Canada rejected asylum claims from 13,171 Nigerians seeking refugee protection.
In 2024 alone, 811 Nigerians who applied for refugee status received denials from the Canadian government.
The statistics indicate that Nigeria ranks fifth among countries with the highest number of rejected claims, as per the Refugee Protection Division of the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada. Other countries on the list include Mexico with 2,954 rejections, India (1,688), Haiti (982), and Colombia (723).
The Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB) grants refugee protection in Canada when the Refugee Protection Division (RPD) confirms that an applicant meets the United Nations definition of a Convention refugee or qualifies as a person in need of protection.
An officer assesses whether the claim merits referral to the IRB. If deemed eligible, the claim is referred to the RPD to initiate the refugee protection process.
The year 2019 marked a peak in denials, with 3,951 Nigerian applicants turned away.
A closer look at the rejections from 2013 onward reveals that 127, 241, and 248 Nigerians were denied protection in 2013, 2014, and 2015, respectively, following reforms in the refugee protection claim process that commenced on December 15, 2012. In subsequent years, the rejections progressed as follows: 476 in 2016, 917 in 2017, and 1,777 in 2018. More recently, the numbers included 1,770, 1,686, 728, 439, and 811 denied protections in 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024, respectively.
Despite these challenges, Canada granted refugee status to 10,580 Nigerians over the decade, with at least 2,230 receiving protection from January to December in 2024.
Imaobong Ladipo-Sanusi, Executive Director of the Women Trafficking and Child Labour Eradication Foundation, weighed in on the issue, noting that economic hardship drives many Nigerians to pursue irregular migration, which is often the foremost reason for their asylum rejections.
“Frequently, individuals miss the mark because they are not aware of the laws surrounding refugee status in their chosen destination. Every country has its own set of regulations for integrating people into its system," he explained.
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