Years in Germany uprooted as 137 Nigerians return to scant official support

Germany deported at least 137 Nigerian citizens on five chartered flights between February and June 2026, according to figures compiled by the DERS Team and Refugees4refugees.org. Many of those returned had spent years living, working and building families in Germany before their sudden removal, only to find little official reception or support waiting in Nigeria.

The operations included 27 people who arrived on 18 February from Stuttgart, 37 of a 50-person joint European flight on 10 March involving Spain, Austria and Belgium, 24 people (including women and a minor) from Frankfurt on 9 April, 23 in May, and 26 on 17 June. Advocacy monitors said a significant share were long-term residents whose temporary or tolerated statuses had ended. Some had held jobs, formed households and raised children over several years before extensions were refused, often linked to language, employment or identity requirements.

Individual cases illustrated the human cost. One person on the April flight had been living in Spain and was arrested while visiting Germany, then detained and quickly processed for deportation. A February removal involved a single mother and her three children from the Sindelfingen area near Stuttgart; the family was later able to return after volunteers showed the deportation had been made in error. On the April flight, one mother was separated from her three children who remained with child welfare authorities in Paderborn, while another arrived with her 10-year-old asthmatic daughter. Reports also noted people with serious health conditions among those returned.

Arrival in Lagos often brought a second shock. Deportees frequently landed with limited belongings and no organised welcome from Nigerian government agencies. For the June group of 26 (25 adult men and one elderly woman), no federal migration or diaspora officials met the flight, in contrast to the reception given to some other returnees. The DERS Team and Refugees4refugees.org provided psychological support and basic assistance instead. Activists, including Rex Osa of the Germany-based Network Refugees4Refugees and Project DERS Lagos, have repeatedly pointed to gaps in official preparedness and reintegration help for people who invested years of their lives abroad.

Migration rights groups continue to call for stronger safeguards, especially for families, minors and those with medical needs, and for clearer procedures that reduce the risk of wrongful removals. The five flights underline both the scale of organised returns from Germany and the limited institutional support many Nigerians encounter once they step off the plane at home.