1,100 Nigerian Migrants Return From Niger Republic By Road – NIS

The Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) has confirmed that more than 1,100 Nigerian migrants have returned to Kano from Agadez in Niger Republic by road.

Anthony Akuneme, commandant of the Immigration Training School in Kano, disclosed this on Friday along with videos showing the migrants arriving in the state.

According to him, officials from several federal and state agencies are currently handling the registration, counselling and reintegration of the returnees to help reconnect them with their families and communities.

The migrants are first being documented through the Migration Information and Data Analysis System at the Migrants Arrival, Knowledge and Information Area before moving to the International Transit and Stay of Knowledge centre for further profiling, counselling and support services.

“Personnel of KNSC, MAKIA and ITSK are fully on ground with other relevant federal and state agencies to ensure hitch-free and safe processing,” Akuneme wrote in a terse statement titled ‘1,100 Nigerian returnees from Agadez, Niger Republic, just landed in Kano by road.’

Akuneme said personnel from the Kano Nationality Sortation Centre, MAKIA and ITSK, alongside other government agencies, are working together to ensure the process is smooth and safe.

These centres currently serve as the main processing points for Nigerians returning from migration routes through Niger Republic.

The reintegration programme is being managed jointly by the NIS, the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), the International Organization for Migration (IOM), and state authorities.

Agadez has long been a major transit point for West African migrants trying to travel through Libya and eventually cross the Mediterranean Sea into Europe.

Between 2015 and 2018, the city became one of the busiest migration centres in the world, with large numbers of migrants passing through every year.

However, stricter anti-smuggling laws introduced in Niger reduced official migration activities in the area, although illegal migration reportedly continued.

The political crisis in Niger following the 2023 military coup and the withdrawal of French and US troops also weakened security systems used to manage migration in the Sahel region.

The IOM has reported renewed movement along the Agadez route in recent months.

Nigerians remain one of the largest groups among migrants returning from the corridor.

According to April 2026 data from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, over 269,000 Nigerians displaced by conflict in the Northeast are currently living in Niger’s Diffa region.

The IOM also said it has assisted thousands of stranded Nigerians to voluntarily return home since 2017, especially young men from northern Nigeria who became stuck in Niger while trying to reach Europe.

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