In a trend of deportations spanning several European countries, no fewer than 170 Nigerians have been deported from Germany, Sweden, Lithuania and others in nine months in 2023, according to report.
This is according to a compilation of reports and data sourced from the websites of migration agencies of the respective countries.
In May, four siblings aged between 11 and 17 and their mother were deported alongside 35 others to Nigeria.
The return is part of a growing trend of minors being deported from Germany in recent months.
Between late May and July 4, Germany deported 80 Nigerian migrants, including children battling severe health challenges requiring surgeries.
In the following months, 50 others, comprising 48 males and two females, were deported from Switzerland, Sweden, Luxembourg, Austria, Belgium, Spain and Hungary.
This, according to findings, reflects a larger picture of the migration trend and policies enforced across European borders.
Germany, noted for its stringent migration policies, has significantly contributed to this figure. According to the German Federal Office for Migration and Refugees, otherwise known as BAMF, stringent evaluations have been taking place in the past few months to process cases of irregular migrants. This includes asylum applications, which now take about eight months of processing time for Nigerian applicants.
In March, the German interior ministry stated that the duration of regular asylum proceedings in Germany increased to more than a year for Nigerians and that it took an average of 7.6 months for a decision to be made by the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees.
According to the ministry, the procedures for people from Nigeria took more than a year, while asylum applicants from Somalia and Ghana would wait for 11 months each for a response.
Similarly, Sweden’s migration agency, Migrationsverket, has indicated a rise in the return of Nigerian nationals as the country tightens its policies on asylum seekers. Lithuania, too, has been actively participating in this effort, as per statements available on the Lithuanian Migration Department’s website, which showed that the measures were not isolated.
In early June, EU interior ministers took steps that rights groups say abandoned the right to asylum for refugees.