NO fewer than 1,100 Nigerian migrants have arrived in Kano from Agadez in Niger Republic by road, the Nigeria Immigration Service said on Friday.
News Point Nigeria reports that the agency disclosed that personnel from several federal and state institutions were on ground to process, counsel, and facilitate the reintegration of the returnees with their families.
The Commandant of the Immigration Training School, Kano, Anthony Akuneme, who shared details and videos of the arrival with journalists, explained that the migrants were being documented through the Migration Information and Data Analysis System at the Migrants Arrival, Knowledge and Information Area before proceeding to the International Transit and Stay of Knowledge centre for final profiling, psychosocial counselling, and reintegration support.
“Personnel of KNSC, MAKIA and ITSK are fully on ground with other relevant federal and state agencies to ensure hitch-free and safe processing,” Akuneme stated in a brief statement titled: “1,100 Nigerian returnees from Agadez, Niger Republic, just landed in Kano by road.”
The Kano Nationality Sortation Centre, MAKIA, and ITSK currently serve as the processing corridor through which returning migrants are received, profiled, and connected with reintegration services.
According to the report, the reintegration framework is jointly operated by the Nigeria Immigration Service, the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons, the International Organization for Migration, and relevant state government agencies.
Friday’s arrival follows a recurring pattern of assisted and spontaneous returns from Agadez, a northern city in Niger Republic that has served for decades as a major transit point for West African migrants attempting the overland route to Libya and eventually across the Mediterranean Sea to Europe.
Agadez became one of the world’s most critical migration hubs, with hundreds of thousands of migrants passing through the city annually at the peak of the West Africa-to-Europe migration movement between 2015 and 2018.
However, Niger Republic later enacted anti-smuggling legislation under international pressure, a move that significantly reduced formal transit flows through the corridor.
Despite the crackdown, reports indicate that irregular migration through the Agadez corridor has never completely stopped.
The July 2023 coup in Niger Republic, which removed President Mohamed Bazoum from office and led to the withdrawal of French and United States forces, has also reportedly weakened the security structure supporting migration management across the Sahel region.
According to data from the International Organization for Migration, there has been renewed movement along the corridor in recent months.
Nigerians continue to constitute one of the largest nationality groups among returnees from the Agadez migration route.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, in its April 2026 data, stated that at least 269,010 Nigerians displaced by conflict in the North-East are currently taking refuge in Niger Republic’s Diffa region.
The IOM also disclosed that its operations in Niger Republic have facilitated voluntary humanitarian returns for thousands of stranded Nigerians since 2017, with most of them being young men from northern states who intended to travel to Europe but became stranded in Niger due to lack of funds, detention, or the collapse of smuggling networks.