National Statistics Bureau: How Hardship Forced Nigerian Migrants' Return

There is little doubt about the impacts of hardship upon people globally; this reality does not exclude Nigerians abroad based on how many of these migrants that returned recently.

Based on a report by the National Bureau of Statistics, about 48 per cent of migrants have disclosed that hardship drove them back to Nigeria.

This statistic is contained in a report on Wednesday titled ‘Awareness and Perception of Intending and Returned Migrant on the Dangers of Irregular Migration 2022’.

The report featured a total of 2,400 households, who were sampled from six purposive states from each geopolitical zone, namely: Anambra, Edo, Lagos, Benue, Gombe, and Kano. 

It was created to collect data and provide evidence on the awareness and perception of intending and returned migrants on the dangers of irregular migration as well as government efforts towards combating the prevalence of irregular migration in Nigeria.

The report also contained data on house help and Almajiri. On the reason for migrants coming back to Nigeria, it stated, “Some of the major factors that cause the return of migrants are captured in figure 5.6. Hardship accounted for 48.0 per cent as the major reason for the return of migrants, followed by deceit at 20.1 per cent, while crime was the least with 1.7 per cent.”

The report noted that Kano State had the highest number of returnees, then Lagos. 

“Returned migrants are persons returning to their country of origin having migrated to another country other than that of their origin or citizenship (migrants whether on short-term or long-term).

“These categories of people can differentiate between their earlier beliefs about their countries of destination before crossing the international borders and what they saw upon arrival.

It was also noted that 24.9 per cent of them travelled for business while 22.6 per cent travelled for work. 

In addition, the report showed that about 90.9 per cent of the migrants returned voluntarily, while 5.9 per cent were forced to return, and only 3.2 per cent returned voluntarily, assisted and reintegrated into society.

On the preferred destination of returned migrants, many of them prefer Saudi Arabia and Benin Republic. 

It was further revealed that about 52.4 per cent of the returned migrants from Edo State would want to travel back despite the risk suffered during their journey.

This was followed by returnees from Lagos state with 14.3 per cent.