L
LequteMan
Guest
The Federal Government has deported over 22,000 illegal immigrants over the past couple of months as part of a crackdown linked to its fight against an Islamist insurgency, Interior minister Abba Moro told reporters in Kano city this evening.
He said most of the deportees came from the neighbouring nations of Chad, Cameroon and Niger and were not properly documented.
He said Nigeria was engaging in the crackdown because illegal immigrants “have become ready tools in the hands of insurgents”.
The federal government has at times sought to portray the insurgence by Islamist extremist Boko Haram as being influenced by foreigners.
Most analysts however see it as a domestic group fed by poverty and hopelessness in the country’s north.
The insurgency concentrated in the northeast has left more than 3,600 people dead since 2009, including killings by the security forces.
He said most of the deportees came from the neighbouring nations of Chad, Cameroon and Niger and were not properly documented.
He said Nigeria was engaging in the crackdown because illegal immigrants “have become ready tools in the hands of insurgents”.
The federal government has at times sought to portray the insurgence by Islamist extremist Boko Haram as being influenced by foreigners.
Most analysts however see it as a domestic group fed by poverty and hopelessness in the country’s north.
The insurgency concentrated in the northeast has left more than 3,600 people dead since 2009, including killings by the security forces.
