Photo credit: MSF
The number of Nigerian refugees who voluntarily returned home under a tripartite repatriation agreement more than doubled in the first quarter of 2025.
The Punch reports that it has risen by 1,805 persons from 1,705 in February to 3,510 by April. However, the number of Internally Displaced Persons has surged by 166,795 in the same period.
The data is drawn from three successive Forcibly Displaced Populations dashboards published by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees for February, March and April 2026, obtained by Sunday Punch.
The data was published on May 1, 2026.
The dashboards are produced jointly by UNHCR, the International Organization for Migration’s Displacement Tracking Matrix, the Nigeria Immigration Service and the National Commission for Refugees, Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons, drawing on biometric registration, field assessments and population profiling across Nigeria’s displacement-affected states.
All returnees documented are Nigerian refugees returning from Cameroon, Chad and Niger Republic under a tripartite voluntary repatriation agreement, and all are returning to their areas of origin in Borno State.
