The Government of India deported at least 2,356 Nigerians between 2019 and 2024, with removals quadrupling from 339 in 2021 to 1,470 in the 2023-2024 fiscal year.
This is according to data obtained by The PUNCH from India’s Ministry of Home Affairs.
The figures were drawn from three separate MHA annual reports for which Nigeria-specific data is publicly available.
In the most recent reporting period from April 1, 2023, to March 31, 2024, Nigerians emerged as the most deported nationality from India, accounting for nearly two-thirds of all foreign nationals removed from the South Asian country.
Indian authorities deported over 2,331 persons during the period, with Nigerians representing 63 per cent of all removals carried out by the Foreigners Regional Registration Offices across seven major Indian cities.
They include: Kolkata, Mumbai, New Delhi, Chennai, Amritsar, Bangalore, and Hyderabad.
The figure places Nigeria ahead of neighbouring Bangladesh, which recorded 411 deportations (17.6 per cent), and Uganda, with 78 deportations (3.3 per cent).
Breaking down the annual figures, an average of 122.5 Nigerians were deported monthly from India during the 2023-2024 review period, translating to approximately four deportations per day.
A review of available MHA data shows that the trend of Nigerians topping India’s deportation list is not new but has worsened.
In 2019, India deported 547 Nigerians out of a total of 1,233 foreign nationals removed, 44.3 per cent of all deportations that year.
Bangladesh ranked second with 230, and Afghanistan third with 94.
In 2020, deportations dropped due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with only 258 foreigners deported between April and December.
However, Nigeria did not feature among the top three nationalities for that period.
By 2021, as international travel resumed, 339 Nigerians were deported out of 821 total removals, representing 41.3 per cent. Bangladesh again ranked second with 246, and Afghanistan third with 105.
Deported Nigerians rose from 339 in 2021 to 1,470 in 2023-2024, representing a 333 per cent increase.
Also, Nigeria’s share of total deportations rose from 44 per cent in 2019 to 63 per cent in 2023-2024.
The data shows Uganda as the only other sub-Saharan African country among the top three deported nationalities in the latest report.
Recent data put the total number of Nigerians living and working in India at over 60,000, making it the largest West African community in the country.
However, the high deportation numbers have emerged against the backdrop of strengthening diplomatic ties between the two countries.
President Bola Tinubu visited India in September 2023 to attend the G20 Summit in New Delhi as a guest nation, where he met with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to discuss bilateral cooperation in defence, agriculture, trade, and investment.
Just over a year later, in November 2024, Prime Minister Modi made his first visit to Nigeria in 17 years, the first by an Indian prime minister since 2007.
During the two-day visit, Modi was conferred with Nigeria’s second-highest national honour, the Grand Commander of the Order of the Niger, making him only the second foreign dignitary after Queen Elizabeth II to receive the award.
The leaders signed three Memoranda of Understanding on cultural exchange, customs cooperation, and survey cooperation, and discussed expanding the India-Nigeria Strategic Partnership established in 2007.
Also, in November 2024, the National Security Advisers of both countries convened for the India-Nigeria Strategic and Counter-Terrorism Dialogue, where they addressed shared threats from terrorism, organised crime, and illicit activities impacting bilateral relations, including those linked to irregular migration and drug networks involving Nigerian nationals in India.
Indian companies have invested $27bn cumulatively in Nigeria, with 200 companies operating in the country.
Bilateral trade between India and Nigeria stood at $7.89bn in 2023-24, down from $11.8bn in 2022-23, primarily due to reduced crude oil imports from Nigeria.
The GOI says most of the deportations were tied to expired visas and drug trafficking cases.
The Ministry of Home Affairs report indicates that deportation typically results from entering the country without valid documentation or remaining after visa expiration, with many Nigerian deportees having originally entered India on student visas that subsequently expired.
Data from India’s Narcotics Control Bureau showed that some deportations were based on drug-related cases.
In its 2024 annual report, unveiled by Union Home Minister Amit Shah at the second National Conference of Anti-Narcotics Task Force heads, the NCB disclosed that 106 Nigerians were arrested in India for drug trafficking offences in 2024, making them the second-highest group of foreign nationals implicated after Nepalese citizens, who topped the list with 203 arrests out of a total of 660 foreign drug arrests that year.
In December 2025, Indian authorities deported 32 Nigerians following a multi-state narcotics raid in Delhi by the EAGLE anti-narcotics unit.
The operation saw 124 EAGLE officers and 100 Delhi Crime Branch personnel raid locations across Delhi, Greater Noida, Gwalior and Visakhapatnam on November 27, 2025, arresting 50 Nigerians allegedly linked to a transnational drug trafficking and money-laundering syndicate.
Of the 50 arrested, 32 were deported within 10 days “on priority,” while seven remain in custody facing prosecution after drugs were recovered from them. The remaining suspects may also be deported pending documentation review.
Weeks earlier, in November 2025, Hyderabad police deported Onyeukwu Victor, who had entered India on a student visa in 2021 but remained after it expired in 2024.
The Hyderabad Narcotics Enforcement Wing alleged he coordinated drug supplies to customers in Hyderabad and Bengaluru, though no drugs were found on him at arrest.
Another Nigerian, Victor Obasi, was deported from Hyderabad in January 2026 for illegal stay and alleged drug trafficking links. Indian authorities described his continued presence as “a potential threat to public safety and national security.”
Hyderabad’s specialised H-NEW narcotics unit disclosed in November 2025 that it had deported 56 foreigners since 2022, including 35 Nigerians.
Twenty were deported for drug trafficking, and 15 for overstaying without valid documents.
In October 2022, the western coastal state of Goa, a popular tourist destination, disclosed that approximately 650 Nigerians had been deported from the state between 2019 and 2022.
In April 2025, India’s Parliament passed the Immigration and Foreigners Act, 2025, which replaced four colonial-era laws: the Foreigners Act of 1946, the Passport (Entry into India) Act of 1920, the Registration of Foreigners Act of 1939, and the Immigration (Carriers’ Liability) Act of 2000.
The new law, which came into force on September 1, 2025, increased the penalty for unauthorised entry or stay to five years’ imprisonment or a fine of up to 500,000 rupees (approximately N4.3m), mandated the establishment of holding centres in every state, and required educational institutions to report foreign student admissions to immigration authorities.
India received 9.84 million foreign visitors between April 2023 and March 2024, with Bangladesh accounting for the highest number at 2.1 million arrivals, followed by the United States (1.7 million) and the United Kingdom (900,000).
Speaking with our correspondent, Research Director, Centre for China Studies, Abuja, Charles Onunaiju, argued that a lack of local opportunities was driving Nigerians abroad.
He said, “We have a challenge. Since Nigeria is becoming inhospitable, especially for young people with no opportunities, there is desperation to go abroad.”
Meanwhile, the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission said it is ready to welcome Nigerians deported from anywhere in the world.
“The Federal Government has set up an inter-agency committee, comprising the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, NiDCOM, Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Office of the National Security Adviser, for mass deportations of Nigerians from anywhere,” NiDCOM’s Director of Media and Corporate Affairs, Abdur-Rahman Balogun, said in an interview.
punch.ng
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