A significant new agreement between the Home Secretary and Nigeria will see the two nations collaborate to address shared migration issues.
As a result of the agreement, the UK and Nigeria will work more closely together to encourage legal immigration, combat illegal immigration, and expedite the deportation of foreign criminals. The promise is already bearing fruit: On June 30, a chartered flight was used to remove 13 Nigerian foreign nationals who had no legal right to be in the UK.
Eight Ghanaian foreign nationals who had no right to be in the UK were returned to Ghana after the flight left Nigeria.
Our mutually beneficial bilateral economic interests will be furthered by the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) we signed with Nigeria.
The agreement satisfies the British people’s top priorities of border control and a fair but strict immigration system.
Home Secretary Priti Patel said:
“It is an important development that the UK and Nigeria have signed an agreement to co-operate on migration issues, to tackle illegal migration and the significant threat it poses to both nations.
“The deal will mean that operational teams in both countries will share their expertise to take the fight to criminal people smugglers who are responsible for a wider range of criminality and put profit before people while undermining the security of our two countries. This landmark agreement will increase the deportation of dangerous foreign criminals to make our streets and country safer.
“This is our New Plan for Immigration being put into action.”
Today’s meeting between the Home Secretary and Sarafa Tunji Isola, the Nigerian High Commissioner to the UK, will focus on the growing cooperation between the two nations and their shared interests.
The Home Secretary visited Ghana for two days last year in an effort to strengthen the security cooperation between the UK and Ghana.
While there, Priti Patel unveiled the Ghana Immigration Taskforce Office, which fights organised immigration crime and is funded by the Home Office.
The flight to Ghana today demonstrates how the partnership is delivering for the British public.
The UK-Nigerian MoU will:
- promote the economic activities of citizens in both countries
- develop better working relationships and expertise on tackling illegal migration
- speed up the removal of FNOs from the UK to Nigeria and vice versa. Through the agreement, emergency travel certificates or temporary passports will be issued to individuals being returned within five working days of receipt of their passport or biometric details
- see the countries work together to support those who choose to come to each country legally and safely
Last week’s returns flight removed:
- 8 foreign national offenders to Nigeria
- 5 immigration offenders to Nigeria
- 3 foreign national offenders to Ghana
- 5 immigration offenders to Ghana
The combined prison terms for the foreign national offenders exceed 64 years.
The agreement builds on a joint communique that the UK and Nigeria signed in February, which strengthened their security and defence cooperation and reaffirmed agreements with Serbia and Albania.
A ground-breaking partnership migration agreement was signed between the UK and India last year that hastens the deportation of illegal immigrants.
The recently passed Nationality and Borders Act will also make it easier to remove people who are unlawfully living in the UK by discouraging illegal entry and disrupting the business model of people smuggling networks.