According to data received from the Refugee Protection Division of the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Nigerians are now the largest nationals seeking refugee status in Canada with 12,138 pending applications as of December 2018.
The Canadian authorities, however, pointed out that two out of every three Nigerian applicants claim to be victims of homophobic attacks. The Federal Government led by former President Goodluck Jonathan had in 2014 signed the Same Sex (Prohibition) Act which outlawed gay marriage and prescribed a prison term of 14 years for persons found guilty of such.
According to the RPD, which is in charge of hearing and deciding claims for refugee protection made in Canada, Nigeria has overtaken crisis-ridden Haiti which was number one the previous year. The total number of pending applications from across the world stood at 71,675 which implies that Nigeria represents about 17 per cent of total pending applications from amongst the over 170…
