Follow Us on Google
Nearly 64,000 Nigerians have fled their communities and crossed into neighbouring Niger Republic since January 2026 to escape attacks by Islamist militants and armed criminal groups, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has said.
The agency disclosed that the latest arrivals had pushed the number of Nigerians seeking refuge in Niger to about 327,500, as insecurity continues to force families from their homes in search of safety.
According to a report monitored on Radio France Internationale’s Hausa Service, Niger currently hosts more than 500,000 refugees and asylum seekers. Several hundred Nigerians have also reportedly crossed into Benin Republic.
UNHCR said most of the new arrivals in Niger settled in Diffa and Tahoua. More than 23,000 people, over two-thirds of them children, have arrived in Diffa since January.
The agency warned that many displaced families were living in makeshift shelters without adequate food, clean water and healthcare. It also reported rising cases of malnutrition and respiratory infections among the affected population.
Only about five per cent of Nigerians who arrived in Niger this year have been formally registered, according to UNHCR, a situation that limits their access to humanitarian assistance and essential services.
The agency appealed for $11.4m to support its humanitarian response in Niger, Nigeria and Benin, including $2m for urgent food, water, shelter, healthcare and protection needs.
Meanwhile, the Federal Government, UNHCR and the German government have launched a mobile service delivery programme to address documentation challenges affecting an estimated 3.7 million Nigerians displaced by conflict, insecurity and natural disasters.
Under the initiative, tagged One Motor, Plenty Services, 10 specially equipped mobile centres have been handed over to selected state governments to take essential services to internally displaced persons, refugees and vulnerable people in remote communities.
The mobile centres will provide National Identification Numbers, birth certificates, Bank Verification Numbers, SIM registration, bank accounts and enrolment in the National Social Register.
Speaking at the handover ceremony, Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction, Dr Bernard Doro, said the initiative would help vulnerable Nigerians who struggle to access government services because of displacement, distance and lack of identity documents.
“For millions of our citizens, the problem is not merely that services do not exist. The problem is that those services most often do not reach them,” Doro said.
“They are invisible to the very system that has been designed to care for them. So today, we are changing the narrative. We are changing the direction of travel. When people cannot reach essential services, we must bring those services directly to them,” he added.
The minister described identity documentation as a necessary requirement for accessing economic opportunities, government assistance and social protection.
“You cannot be paid if you cannot be identified. You cannot be protected if you cannot be counted. Every NIN issued and every account opened from these vehicles is a person moving from the margins into the system,” he said.
Doro warned the beneficiary states against abandoning the mobile centres, insisting that the vehicles must be maintained and deployed regularly to reach displaced families and underserved communities.
“Today, we hand you more than vehicles. We hand you a responsibility. These units must not sit in government car parks. They must be fueled, maintained, secured and kept on the road, reaching the last camp, the last village and the last family,” he said.
