More than 840,000 foreigners are currently overstaying their visas in Nigeria, according to Interior Minister Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo. He disclosed the figure during a live appearance on Channels Television's Politics Today on Tuesday, attributing the data to Nigeria's recently upgraded immigration tracking system. Tunji-Ojo described the number as a significant migration challenge requiring urgent policy attention. The minister did not specify the nationalities involved or provide a breakdown by state or entry point. He emphasized that the government is reviewing its immigration enforcement protocols to address the lapse. No timeline was given for when new measures would be implemented. The Nigerian Immigration Service has not released an official statement to corroborate the figure independently.
A minister citing a new tech system to reveal 840,000 visa overstayers — yet no arrests, no nationalities, no plan. If the data is accurate, Nigerians are living alongside a vast, unmonitored foreign presence; if not, the claim risks being noise masked as insight. Either way, Tunji-Ojo's disclosure changes nothing on the ground today.
