By Titilope Adako
Canada has rejected asylum claims from no fewer than 13,171 Nigerians who applied for refugee protection between January 2013 and December 2024, according to data from the Refugee Protection Division (RPD) of the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (IRB).
This development places Nigeria among the top five countries with the highest number of rejected asylum claims, ranking 5th after Mexico with 2,954 rejections, India (1,688), Haiti (982), and Colombia (723).
The RPD offers refugee protection if an applicant meets the United Nations definition of a Convention refugee, which has been incorporated into Canadian law.
Under the 1951 UN Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, refugees are individuals with a well-founded fear of persecution due to their race, nationality, religion, political beliefs, or membership of a particular social group.
Social groups considered under this definition include sexual orientation, gender identity, being a woman, and individuals living with HIV/AIDS.
Applicants must also prove they face the risk of torture, threats to life, or the possibility of cruel and unusual treatment if returned to their home country.
Protection claims are typically initiated when immigrants notify the Border Services Agency upon arrival at any Canadian port of entry or report to an immigration officer.
According to the Refugee Board’s guidelines, the officer decides whether the claim is eligible for referral to the RPD for further processing.
Within the period under review, 94 claims by Nigerian passport holders were abandoned due to incomplete documentation or failure to attend hearings.
Another 78 claims were withdrawn, representing instances where applicants chose to discontinue their asylum process, while 19,889 claims remain pending.
A breakdown of the rejections shows that 127 Nigerian asylum claims were denied in 2013, rising gradually to 248 in 2015.
Rejections surged to 917 in 2017 and reached a peak of 3,951 in 2019 before declining to 1,770 in 2020.
In recent years, the figures stood at 1,686 in 2021, 728 in 2022, 439 in 2023, and 811 in 2024.
Despite the high rejection rates, Canada granted asylum to 10,580 Nigerians over the same period, with at least 2,230 successful claims recorded between January and December 2024.
Nigeria also ranked 8th among the top 10 countries with the highest number of accepted asylum claims.
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).
Records show that Nigerian asylum acceptance figures were fewer than 20 in 2013 but gradually increased to 1,733 in 2019.
The numbers dropped to 1,534 in 2020 but peaked again at 2,302 in 2021 before falling to 1,315 in 2022 and 2,230 in 2024.
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