New Report Shows Hardship Forces Nigerians In Saudi Arabia, Benin To Return

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has revealed that hardship drove many Nigerians that travelled to Saudi Arabia and Benin Republic back to Nigeria.

In a report titled; ‘Awareness and Perception of Intending and Returned Migrant on the Dangers of Irregular Migration 2022,’ the NBS said hardship, deceit and crime were factors that made most Nigerian migrants return home.

NBS stated that Hardship accounted for 48.0 per cent as the major reason for the return of migrants, deceit was next at 20.1 per cent and crime was the least with 1.7 per cent. 

The report, which surveyed a total of 2,400 households, was collated to examine the sentiments of Nigerians about the country of their destination before they left Nigeria and when they started living there.

Saudi Arabia and Benin Republic were the top destinations for migrants, while Kano and Lagos States were the preferred destination upon the migrants’ return to Nigeria. 

“Returned migrants are persons returning to their country of origin having migrated to another country other than that of their origin or citizenship (migrants whether on short-term or long-term). These categories of people can differentiate between their earlier beliefs about their countries of destination before crossing the international borders and what they saw upon arrival. 

“Figure 5.1 shows the percentage distribution of returned migrants per state. The distribution indicates that Kano State had the highest percentage of Returnees, with 39.0 per cent, followed by Lagos state, with 20.7 per cent. Benue state had the least percentage of returned migrants with 3.9 per cent,” the report reads. 

However, regardless of the hardship, about 52.4 per cent of the returned migrants from Edo state told NBS they don’t mind going back to the foreign country, while migrants in Lagos were next on the list, as 14.3 per cent shared the same sentiment with those of Edo State. 

Note that they all returned to Nigeria for various reasons, while 90.9 per cent of the migrants voluntarily returned and 5.9 per cent were forced to return. 

Further breakdown showed that 24.9 per cent travelled for business purposes and work accounted for 22.6 per cent.