The Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), Osun State Command, has arrested 55 irregular migrants from Cameroon and the Republic of Congo across the state.
The migrants were apprehended at different locations following intelligence gathered by the command and were paraded on Friday ahead of their profiling and repatriation.
Osun Comptroller of Immigration, Ibrahim Akinyemi, said the migrants entered Nigeria through unauthorised routes and were found without valid travel documents.
Akinyemi said the operation was carried out following directives from the NIS headquarters and the Comptroller General of Immigration, adding that the exercise was only the beginning of a wider operation to identify other irregular migrants in the state.
According to him, immigration officials traced the migrants to their various locations and brought them to the command for profiling and verification.
“We have to profile, check their documents, to know which ones are eligible, or that are legal that can be regularised,” he said.
The comptroller said the command discovered that none of the 55 migrants had travel documents, including ordinary passports.
He added that the migrants claimed to be involved in an online business known as QNET but allegedly failed to provide sufficient information about the nature of their activities.
“They are here doing this illegal online business that is not registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission,” Akinyemi said.
He disclosed that some of the migrants were living in Owode-Ede community, while the command continued efforts to locate others who might be staying at undisclosed locations across the state.
Akinyemi also said the command would investigate those responsible for bringing the migrants into Osun, noting that some of the migrants claimed they travelled through Yola, Adamawa State.
He said the migrants would be returned to their countries of origin, adding that the immigration authorities would continue to enforce Nigeria’s immigration laws.
One of the migrants, Ismail Mohammed, a Cameroonian, said he arrived in Osun in February 2026 after being invited by a woman living in Chad to participate in an online business in the state.
The arrests highlight renewed enforcement efforts by security agencies against irregular migration and undocumented foreign nationals in parts of southwestern Nigeria.
