Border Tightening: What Does the Deportation of 828 Mean for Future Policies

The Federal Government claims that as part of its stepped-up measures to improve national security and fight irregular migration, it deported 828 illegal immigrants in 2024.

At a press conference in Abuja on Tuesday, Interior Minister Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo revealed this.

“In the last year, 137 victims of trafficking were intercepted, and in 2024 alone, 828 foreigners were repatriated by the Nigerian Immigration Service,” the minister said, highlighting the government’s accomplishments.

The administration took steps to modernize immigration and border operations as part of larger reforms.

These include creating a centralized Visa Approval Center in Abuja to expedite the visa application process and linking Nigerian passports with the International Civil Aviation Organization Public Key Directory, which would enable smooth verification globally.

An 8.3-petabyte data center, the biggest in Nigeria, has been built to assist these efforts, and solar-powered infrastructure has been implemented to guarantee continuous operations.

To improve surveillance capabilities, a Command and Control Center now offers real-time monitoring of all air and land entrance points.

According to the minister, the NIS also granted 1,836,533 passports in 2024 after clearing a backlog of "200,000 passport applications within three weeks in 2023."