The deportees were expelled to Niger, Chad and Cameroon for alleged collusion with insurgents.

Nigeria last week announced it repatriated more than 22,000 illegal immigrants since last May following the discovery that some of the activities of Islamic insurgents in the northern part of the country were masterminded by some illegal aliens, the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN reported.

The deportations were effected in the aftermath of the declaration last May of a state of emergency by President Goodluck Jonathan in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe States, The Nation newspaper said. Making the announcement in the northern city of Kano on August 23, 2013, the Minister of Interior, Abba Moro, said the affected aliens were repatriated to Niger, Cameroon and Chad after they failed to regularise their stay. He said the deportations applied only to those with no verifiable or acceptable documentation, Anadolu Agency reported.

Minister Moro was reacting to claims that the country had not done enough to check the influx of illegal immigrants. According to him, the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) has taken stringent measures to check the ugly trend, adding that anyone without relevant papers will be repatriated. He said security, immigration and National Boundary Commission officials have identified 84 illegal border crossings in the north where insurgency has become rampant and the tendency to move across the borders was high.

Abba Moro revealed that government had deployed staff to the routes and was in the process of acquiring appropriate technology for surveillance, expressing hope that a combination of electronic surveillance and patrols will secure the borders, NAN quoted him as saying. According to Anadolu Agency, tens of thousands of foreigners are currently believed to be living in Nigeria without proper documentation. The country is notorious for its porous borders through which non-citizens can enter unchecked.

There are reports that the Boko Haram insurgency is fuelled largely by non-Nigerians in the country. Nigeria has since 2009 been battling with a violent insurgency led by Boko Haram. The group aims to set up an Islamic State, but its ideology is condemned by millions of Nigerian Moslems, including respected scholars.