The number of newly arrived asylum-seekers into Nigeria rose by 322 persons, amounting to a 21 per cent increase in the first quarter of 2026, Sunday PUNCH can report.
This was as the backlog of refugees awaiting formal registration dropped by 3,613 within the same period, according to the latest data from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. The figures are contained in successive monthly dashboards published by UNHCR Nigeria, which tracks the total population of refugees and asylum-seekers in the country from December 2025 through March 2026, and obtained by Sunday PUNCH.
The dashboards are produced jointly by UNHCR and the Federal Government through the National Commission for Refugees, Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons, drawing on registration records, biometric enrolment data, and field assessments conducted across hosting states.
They include the population of refugees and asylum seekers hosted by Nigeria, including countries of origin, demographic profiles, geographic distribution, and new arrival trends.
As of December 31, 2025, Nigeria hosted 1,528 asylum-seekers and individuals whose claims had been lodged but not yet determined. By February 1, 2026, the figure rose to 1,705, and by March, it stood at 1,850, showing a net addition of 322 persons over the quarter.
However, the total refugee and asylum-seeker population in the country shrank from 142,064 in December 2025 to 138,900 by March 2026, a reduction of 3,164 persons.
The drop came largely from a clearing of the backlog of persons awaiting registration. The backlog, which stood at 16,672 in December 2025, fell to 16,582 in February and then dropped to 13,059 by March.
According to the report, the Anglophone crisis in Cameroon, the armed conflict between government forces and separatist groups that has displaced over 584,000 people internally, is the dominant driver of refugee flows into Nigeria.
Cameroonians accounted for 119,521 of Nigeria’s total refugee and asylum-seeker population in December 2025, rising slightly to 119,641 by March 2026. Cameroonians represent 86 per cent of the total refugee population, the highest share recorded across the three dashboards.
An estimated 1.8 million of the four million people in the Anglophone region need humanitarian support, while about 250,000 children are still affected by school closures as a direct result of the conflict, which has now entered its ninth year.
