The Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada has granted asylum to a minimum of 1,467 Nigerians who sought refugee protection between January 2023 and March 2024.

This decision raises the total number of accepted asylum applications from Nigerians to 11,370 since 2012 through the first quarter of 2024, according to data from the Refugee Protection Division of the Board.

The Board provides refugee protection in Canada when it is confirmed that an applicant meets the United Nations definition of a Convention refugee, which is integrated into Canadian law, or if the individual is deemed to be in need of protection.

The 1951 UN Convention on the Status of Refugees characterizes refugees as individuals who have a well-founded fear of persecution based on race, nationality, religion, political opinion, or membership in a specific social group. Such groups may encompass sexual orientation, gender identity, women, and individuals living with HIV/AIDS.

Nonetheless, those seeking protection in Canada must present evidence indicating a threat of torture, a risk to their life, or the possibility of cruel and unusual treatment or punishment if they return to their home country.

Generally, these protection claims are initiated when immigrants inform the Border Services Agency at any entry point upon their arrival in Canada or when they report to an immigration officer.

“The officer decides whether the claim is eligible to be referred to the IRB. If the claim is eligible, it is sent (‘referred’) to the RPD to start the claim for refugee protection process,” an application guideline by the Refugee Board reads.

From January 2023 to March 2024, the Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB) denied 589 asylum applications submitted by Nigerian nationals, raising the total number of rejections to over 12,600 since January 2013.

In contrast, a significant number of Nigerian nationals were granted asylum during the period between 2012 and 2022. Specifically, 20,308 individuals were granted asylum in 2012, followed by 308, 394, and 389 in 2013, 2014, and 2015, respectively.

The years 2016 to 2019 also saw a substantial number of Nigerian nationals receiving asylum, with 389, 764, 755, and 1,733 individuals being granted protection in those respective years. Furthermore, in the subsequent years of 2020, 2021, and 2022, 1,534, 2,302, and 1,315 persons were granted asylum, respectively.

In 2023 and the first quarter of 2024, 1086 and 381 Nigerian nationals were accepted for protection, respectively.

In a recent interview with Saturday PUNCH, the Executive Director of the Women Trafficking and Child Labor Eradication Foundation, Imaobong Ladipo-Sanusi, characterized the acceptance rate as satisfactory, attributing the primary cause of rejections to irregular migration.