• Processed 9.386m Arrivals In 4 Years

Data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Friday showed that the Nigerian Immigration Service generated a total of N36.175bn from within Nigeria and $53.785m as offshore revenue last year.
The report, Immigration Statistics (2013-2016) also showed that revenue from Combined Expatriate Residence Permit and Aliens Card (CERPAC) Revenue fetched N19.953bn; followed by N13.361bn from issuance of passport booklets. Address Verification yielded N1.397bn; while the NIS recorded N1.245bn from Extension of Visitors Pass (E-PASS); followed by Non-Refundable Revenue from Operations yielded N169.501m; and revenue from Emergency Travel Certificate (ETC) and Ecowas Residence Card (ERC) fetched N48.27m.
Meanwhile, the bulk of offshore revenue came from Passport Revenue of $37.712m; followed by Visa Issued at Nigerian Missions worth $14.912m; and the $1.116m earned from Carrier Liability/Visa on Arrival.
Also, the NIS processed a total of 9,386,354 arrivals into Nigeria and 9,616,620 departures between 2013 and last year, broken down into 6,437,419 Nigerians and 2,948,935 non-Nigerians within the period.
While 2015 recorded the highest number of arrivals at a total of 3,275,929, comprising 2,401,383 Nigerians and 874,546 foreigners; there were 2,534,796 in 2013 made up of 1,578,714 Nigerians and 956,081 non-Nigerians. 2014 recorded the lowest number of arrivals at 1,753,128 broken down into 1,247,424 Nigerians and 505,704 non-Nigerians; followed by the 1,209,897 Nigerians and 612,604 foreigners that brought the 2016 total to 1,822,501 arrivals.
Also, a breakdown of the number of departures within the period revealed that 6,943,829 were Nigerians, 2,672,791 were foreigners; while 2015 witnessed the highest rate at 3,600,934 of which 2,640,508 were Nigerians and 960,426 foreigners. It was followed by 2,621,770 persons in 2013 made up of 861,240 non-Nigerians and 1,760,530 Nigerians; while 2016 was the lowest at 1,659,624 people made up of 1,181,211 Nigerians and 478,413 non-Nigerians. It was followed by 1,734,292 departures from Nigerian in 2014, comprising 1,361,580 Nigerians and 372,712 non-Nigerians.
The report showed that 26,965 persons (Nigerians and non-Nigerians) were refused departure and entry in 2016.
While 21,443 Nigerians were stopped from departing the country’s shores last year, 5,522 foreigners were denied entry.
Meanwhile, 13,601 Nigerians were refused entry abroad from 2013 to 2016, with the highest recorded last year when 10,981 or 80.73% of the four-year total were affected; followed by 1,241 refusals in 2013; while 2015 was the lowest with 278.
In the four years under review also, 14,024 foreigners were repatriated by the NIS, while 14,569 Nigerians were deported from abroad.
Of those foreigners repatriated out of Nigeria, 4,706 of them occurred in 2013; followed by 3,799 in 2015; while 2,454 were booted out of Nigeria in 2014; while 7,390 Nigerians or 50.72% of the total were deported from abroad in 2013; followed by 3,457 deportees in 2016; and 3,409 persons in 2014; while 313 were deported in 2015.
Within the period under review also, Nigerian immigration issued a total of 38,631 ECOWAS Travel Certificates (ETC), with the 2016 as the peak when 18,599 booklets were supplied; followed by 7,369 issues in 2013; and 6,349 the following year.
The data also revealed that 841,506 passports (diplomatic and standard) were issued between January and December 2016, with Ikoyi (Lagos) issuing the highest number 119,668 passports; followed by 74,996 booklets by FCT Abuja; 60,442 were issued by NIS’ Alausa office (Lagos); ahead of 59,845 booklets by Festac office; among the top-10 office.
Also, between January and November last year, Nigeria’s foreign mission issued 172,824 passport booklets; with London (UK) accounting for 42,049 booklets; while Atlanta and New York (both in the USA) recorded 15,030 and 14,338 booklets respectively; while Washington DC, also in the USA issued 13,991 and Rome (Italy), 10,965 passport booklets.