Posted by Dow Jones Newswires on
Nigeria has taken in more than 4,000 people of Nigerian origin from neighboring Cameroon in response to a Cameroonian crackdown on immigrants, officials said Friday.
LAGOS (AP)--Nigeria has taken in more than 4,000 people of Nigerian origin from neighboring Cameroon in response to a Cameroonian crackdown on immigrants, officials said Friday.
Some 700 people, all Nigerian immigrants or their descendants, arrived on a ship from Cameroon at the Nigerian port city of Calabar Friday, said Kenneth Nsor, an official with Nigeria's National Emergency Management Agency who is leading the program in the eastern city.
He said 4,020 people had been repatriated over the past three weeks, mostly women and children. While most have lived all their lives in Cameroon and have the right to Cameroonian nationality, they have never formalized their status due to the expense involved.
No more people are expected to arrive under the current program, Nsor said. Last year, a similar program brought back 1,500 people of Nigerian origin.
The situation became more difficult for Nigerian immigrants and their families early this year, when Cameroon raised the cost of two-year residency cards by 50% to the equivalent of $216. Many Nigerians were unable to afford that and were arrested or fled their homes after raids by police, according to Nsor. All those without Cameroonian citizenship papers require residency cards.
"They cannot continue to stay in Cameroon because they cannot afford to comply with the new regime," said Nsor, adding that the repatriation program was first proposed by Nigeria, not Cameroon.
Nsor said there are some 5 million people of Nigerian origin in Cameroon, many of them descendants of immigrant farmers and fishermen who moved to Cameroon before its independence in 1960.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires