Nigeria: Information on the treatment of persons who have defected, claimed asylum or sought refugee status abroad, upon their return to Nigeria
| Publisher | Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada |
| Author | Research Directorate, Immigration and Refugee Board, Canada |
| Publication Date | 1 February 1995 |
| Citation / Document Symbol | NGA19860.E |
| Cite as | Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Nigeria: Information on the treatment of persons who have defected, claimed asylum or sought refugee status abroad, upon their return to Nigeria, 1 February 1995, NGA19860.E, available at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae6aae390.html [accessed 27 December 2015] |
| Disclaimer | This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. |
A response to the general question of treatment upon returnto Nigeria after defecting or seeking asylum abroad could not be found among the sources consulted by the DIRB. Information on possible mechanisms in place by the Nigerian government to determine which citizens have sought asylum while abroad could not be found either among the available sources.
The attached documents do not specifically address the above question, but provide some related information that may be of interest. One of the documents refers to a Nigerian government protest regarding the situation of Nigerians who had sought asylum in Germany and were apparently mistreated by German authorities (Africa Research Bulletin 1-30 November 1994, 11663). The attached section of the World Refugee Survey 1993 discusses Germany's possible consideration of Nigeria as a safe country for returning rejected asylum seekers (1993, 124).
The report "Nigeria: 'The Dawn of a New Dark Age'" mentions in page 11 the seizure of the passport of a political economist "who had just returned from a lengthy visit to the U.S. and Europe" (Human Rights Watch/Africa Oct. 1994), although no reference to a defection or attempt to obtain asylum abroad is included in the report. Finally, the two attached West Africa reports refer to the return of Nigerians who fled Sierra Leone or were deported from Gabon (see list of attachments).
This response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the DIRB within time constraints. This response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. Please find below the list of sources consulted in researching this information request.
References
Africa Research Bulletin: Political Series [London]. 1-30 November 1994. "Protest to Germany."
Human Rights Watch/Africa [New York]. October 1994. Vol. 6, No. 8. "Nigeria: 'The Dawn of a New Dark Age'."
World Refugee Survey 1993 [Washington, DC]. 1993. Louis A. Wiesner and Steve Edminster. "Asylum Seekers, Other Foreigners, and Neo-Nazi Violence in Germany."
Attachments
Africa Research Bulletin: Political Series [London]. 1-30 November 1994. "Protest to Germany," p. 11663.
Human Rights Watch/Africa [New York]. October 1994. Vol. 6, No. 8. "Nigeria: 'The Dawn of a New Dark Age'," p. 11.
West Africa [London, UK]. 11-17 January 1993. "Mass Deportation," p. 24.
_____. 28 December 1992-10 January 1993. "War Refugees," p. 2248.
World Refugee Survey 1993 [Washington, DC]. 1993. Louis A. Wiesner and Steve Edminster. "Asylum Seekers, Other Foreigners, and Neo-Nazi Violence in Germany," p. 124.
Sources consulted
Africa Confidential [London]. Weekly.
Africa Events [London]. Monthly.
Africa Report. [New York]. Bi-monthly.
Amnesty International Report. Yearly. New York: Amnesty International.
Bulletin of the International Commission of Jurists [Geneva]. Monthly.
Centre for the Independence of Judges and Lawyers Bulletin [Geneva]. Monthly. Centre for the Independence of Judges and Lawyers.
Country Reports on Human Rights Practices. Yearly. U.S. Department of State. Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office.
Critique: Review of the Department of State's Country Reports on Human Rights Practices. Yearly. New York: Lawyers Committee for Human Rights.
Current History [Philadelphia]. Monthly.
Documentation-Réfugiés [Paris]. Weekly.
Encyclopedia of the Third World. 1992. Edited by George Thomas Kurian. New York: Facts on File
Human Rights Watch World Report. Yearly. New York: Human Rights Watch.
Index on Censorship [London]. Monthly. Writers and Scholars International Ltd.
Keesing's Record of World Events. Yearly. Edited by Roger East. London: Longman.
La lettre de Reporters sans frontières [Paris]. Monthly.
New African [London]. Monthly.
News From Africa Watch [New York]. Monthly.
West Africa [London]. Weekly.
World Refugee Report [Washington, DC]. Yearly.
Material from the Indexed Media Review (IMR) or country files containing articles and reports from diverse sources (primarily dailies and periodicals) from the Weekly Media Review.
Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS) Reports. Daily.
Newspapers and periodicals pertaining to the appropriate region.
On-line searches of news articles.
Note on oral sources:
Oral sources are usually contacted when documentary sources have been exhausted. However, oral sources must agree to be quoted in a publicly available Response to Information Request. If they refuse, the Response will read "no information currently available." Contacting oral sources is also subject to time constraints; for example, there are periods of the year when academics are unavailable.
Note on contacting foreign diplomatic representatives in Canada:
Embassies and high commissions are not usually called for security-related questions such as location of military bases or the functioning of secret services. Ability to obtain information from diplomatic representatives depends on availability of information and cooperation from individual countries.
Note:
This list is not exhaustive. Country-specific books available in the Resource Centre are not included.
