More than 13,171 Nigerians who applied for refugee protection in Canada between January 2013 and December 2024 had their claims rejected.

This figure includes 811 Nigerians whose claims were denied in 2024 while 94 claims from Nigerian passport holders were abandoned.

Data from the Refugee Protection Division (RPD) of the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (IRB), Nigeria ranks among the top five countries with the highest number of rejected claims, placing 5th.

Other countries with high rejection rates include Mexico, with 2,954 rejections, India (1,688), Haiti (982), and Colombia (723).

Additionally, 78 claims were withdrawn, representing cases where “the claimant does not continue with their claim,” while 19,889 claims were still pending.

A breakdown of the rejections since 2013 shows that 127, 241, and 248 Nigerians were denied refugee protection in 2013, 2014, and 2015, respectively, under the new system for determining refugee protection claims, which took effect on December 15, 2012.

Rejections rose to 476 in 2016, 917 in 2017, and 1,777 in 2018. In 2019, the highest number of Nigerian claims were denied, with 3,951 applicants rejected. The figures dropped to 1,770 in 2020, 1,686 in 2021, 728 in 2022, 439 in 2023, and 811 in 2024.

Despite the high rejection rates, 10,580 Nigerians were granted refugee status over the past decade, including at least 2,230 successful claims from January to December 2024.

Nigeria also ranked among the top 10 countries with the highest number of accepted claims, placing 8th. Other countries on the list include Turkiye (4,866), Mexico (4,363), Colombia (3,340), Iran (3,200), Pakistan (2,556), Haiti (2,211), Afghanistan (1,921), and Kenya (1,653).

Acceptance figures for Nigerians include fewer than 20 in 2013, 308 in 2014, 394 in 2015, and 389 in 2016. The numbers increased to 764 in 2017, 755 in 2018, and 1,733 in 2019. In 2020, 1,534 claims were approved, followed by 2,302 in 2021, 1,315 in 2022, and 2,230 in 2024.