UK strikes deal with Nigeria to speed up return of migrants
The agreement will mean the UK will no longer have to wait for Lagos to issue emergency travel documents
The Government has struck a new agreement with Nigeria aiming to ease the return to the country of migrants with no right to remain in the UK.
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The West African nation has agreed to recognise UK Letters, an identification document issued to those without a valid passport, meaning the UK will no longer have to wait for Lagos to issue emergency travel documents.
The deal, clinched by Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood and her Nigerian counterpart, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, comes during the Nigerian president’s state visit to the UK.
They also agreed to jointly crack down on criminal gangs abusing visa routes, with a new standardised document checking system to verify applications.
The agreement follows a series of cases involving fake job sponsorships, sham marriages and forged employment or financial records, the Home Office said.
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The minister for border security and asylum, Alex Norris, said the agreement was another step in reforms that aim to swiftly remove anyone with no right to be in the UK.
He said: “Nigeria is a key partner in our work to tackle illegal migration, as the UK’s largest African visa market and home to thousands of Nigerians who have built their lives here. We owe everyone across the system fairness.”
Sir Keir Starmer earlier spoke to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu about Nigeria’s challenges with terrorism as he welcomed him to Downing Street.
Mr Tinubu said: “What we are facing is not a small challenge. Currently the entire world is challenged.
“Nigeria is not immune, Britain is not immune.”
He added that Nigeria was “challenged by terrorism” and the “conflict from climate change”.
On the eve of his state visit on Monday, Nigeria suffered one of the country’s worst recent attacks in a series of suspected suicide bombings in Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state, which left at least 23 people dead.
The West African country’s army said on Wednesday it had killed at least 80 suspected Boko Haram militants who assaulted a military base overnight in the same state.
The Islamist group gained notoriety in 2014 for abducting more than 200 schoolgirls from the village of Chibok.
Sir Keir said at the beginning of their meeting: “The long and shared history between our countries is obvious and much valued by us.
“We have a lot of work we already do on the economy, defence and security but today is the opportunity to take that to another level.
“Our ambition is to go even further than we have already gone with our two countries.”
In a readout after the meeting, a Downing Street spokesperson said: “Both leaders committed to deepening their long-term partnership on trade, infrastructure and sustainable growth. The Prime Minister welcomed Nigerian companies expanding into the UK, showcasing Nigeria’s role as a key source of innovation and investment.
“The Prime Minister also highlighted the importance of the deal agreed today to support the redevelopment of two of Nigeria’s major trading ports, with British Steel supplying 120,000 tonnes of steel billets to construction companies Hitech Nigeria and ITB Nigeria and supporting jobs at home in the UK.”
The Nigerian president stayed overnight at Windsor Castle with his first lady Oluremi Tinubu after a state banquet with the King and Queen on Wednesday.
Mr Tinubu’s trip to the UK is the first incoming state visit by a Muslim leader during Ramadan in nearly a century.