The Nigeria Immigration Service has declared that 3,112 Nigerians were restricted from travelling outside the country in 2020 due to the COVID-19 lockdown.
The NIS also stressed that 3,563 foreigners were also denied into the country for a similar reason.
Addressing journalists, Assistant Comptroller-General, Planning, Research and Statistics, Bimbola Ojo stated that the pandemic caused a sharp reduction in the movement of people into the country by land and air.
Ojo also disclosed that during the period under review, Nigeria deported 64 irregular immigrants and repatriated 1,132 others.
He, however, acknowledged that there was a huge rise in the number of immigrants through sea borders.
“In 2019, 40,872 immigrants made their way to the country through the sea. The figure shot up to 213,116 immigrants in 2020. This represents an increase of 13.5 per cent in 2020 compared to 7 per cent in 2019.”
The agency recorded a 68.7 per cent decrease in the total number of immigrants last year.
ACJ Ojo added that the agency recorded a decrease in the number of asylum seekers in 2020 due to the pandemic.
Furthermore, the total number of passports issued in 2020 for Standard, Official and Diplomatic was 764,294 compared to 1,198,275 in 2019.
