During a meeting with President Bola Tinubu in Abuja on Tuesday, the German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, revealed that more than 14,000 Nigerians residing in Germany are facing potential deportation.
Scholz attributed this development to the significant increase in the number of Nigerians seeking asylum, many of whom lack proper identification cards.
The German Chancellor said that around 12,500 Nigerians are currently under a tolerance status in Germany due to the Nigerian government’s hesitating to accept individuals who lack essential identification documents.
“The current spike in Nigerians filing initial asylum claims in 2023 has sparked worries. Nearly 14,000 Nigerians might be deported, and the great majority of them do not have the necessary identification cards.
“We are prepared to collaborate in order to enhance migration,” Schulz stated. President Bola Tinubu affirmed that Nigeria was prepared to welcome them back as long as they behaved well.
This development follows the decision of Chancellor Olaf Scholz and the 16 state governors of Germany to implement stricter measures to manage the high number of migrants entering their country. The official statistics revealed a 73% surge in the number of new asylum applications by the end of September compared to the same period last year.
On Tuesday, the German federal and state governments reached an agreement to modify the financing system for asylum seekers’ expenses. Beginning next year, the federal government will provide a fixed annual amount of 7,500 euros per asylum seeker, replacing the previous total annual sum of approximately 3.7 billion euros.
