The Nigeria Immigration Service and the Challenges of Immigration (1986-2012)

ABSTRACT What informed this study is the changing trends and developments in international migration

and its challenges to the Nigeria Immigration service whose institutional role it is to manage

international migration as it concerns Nigeria. In its efforts over the years to control criminal

activities associated with international migration, the Nigeria Immigration Service is yet to

succeed. Nigeria is an important destination country for migrants in the West African subregion.

The latest available figures indicate that the number of immigrants residing in Nigeria

has more than doubled in recent decades, from 477,135 in 1991 to 971,450 in 2005 (NPC,

1991). The number of immigrants is expected to increase to 1.1 million in 2010 (UNPD,

2009). However, immigrants make up only 0.7 per cent of the total population. The majority

of immigrants in Nigeria are from neighboring Economic Community of West African States

(ECOWAS) countries (74%), in particular from Benin (29%), Ghana (22%) and Mali (16%)

(DRC, 2007). Resident permit data from ECOWAS indicate that the share of ECOWAS

residents has increased considerably over the last decade, from 63 per cent in 2001 to 97 per

cent in 2005 (ECOWAS, 2006). Refugees constitute a small proportion of the overall

immigrant stock (0.9% in 2007), the majority of whom are Liberians. The majority of

asylum- seekers are from the Great Lakes Region (65%) (NCFR, 2008). Relatively few

foreigners have been identified as being the victims of trafficking (2,537) in the past four

years (NAPTIP, 2009). Nigeria is also a destination country for highly skilled migration.

According to the latest data, immigrants figure prominently in categories such as general

managers (2.73%), corporate managers (0.89%), and physical, mathematical and engineering

science professionals (0.43%), and less so in clerical work such as customer service clerks

(0.21%) or manual work. Most of the immigrants working in the professional/technical and

related workers‘ group are from Europe (47.37%), while most of the immigrants working