KEY POINTS
- Nigerian students in India report racial profiling, mass arrests, and discriminatory quarterly visa renewal fees.
- NANS staged a protest at the Indian High Commission in Abuja and issued a seven-day ultimatum.
- Former diplomats are calling for reciprocity and urgent engagement by Nigeria’s High Commission in India.
Nigerians living and studying in India are sounding an increasingly urgent alarm, describing a hostile environment marked by alleged police brutality, discriminatory visa renewal fees, mass arrests, and a pattern of racial targeting that they say has made daily life in the country unbearable.
The Nigerians India racial profiling complaints cover residents in several Indian cities, particularly Mumbai and Delhi, and have gained enough visibility that the National Association of Nigerian Students staged a public protest at the Indian High Commission in Abuja. During the demonstration, NANS Vice President Abubakar Mallawa listed the reported violations: visa renewal difficulties, mass arrests linked to immigration status, denial of rental accommodation based on nationality, closure of Nigerian-owned businesses, confiscation of goods, and forced entry into residences followed by detention under degrading conditions. The group issued a seven-day ultimatum to the Federal Government to engage India diplomatically, warning of escalated nationwide advocacy if the government failed to act.
Quarterly visa fees higher than other nationalities
A particularly sharp grievance concerns the cost and frequency of visa renewals. A Nigerian student in Delhi, speaking anonymously, said Nigerians must pay 10,000 rupees, approximately N146,000, every three months to renew their visas, a requirement that does not apply equally to students from Zimbabwe or Ghana. Furthermore, she alleged the fee was never disclosed during the application process in Nigeria, leaving students blindsided upon arrival. “Other students from other African countries do not pay for it. This is just unfair. That’s the cross Nigerians bear to regularise their stay in India,” she said. When her own visa approached expiry and she sought renewal, she claimed police came to her residence looking for her before she had completed the process.
Diplomats urge reciprocity and restraint
Retired career diplomat Sola Abolurin called for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to summon the Nigerian ambassador to India for an account of events and press Indian authorities for protective measures. Former Nigerian Ambassador to the Philippines Yemi Farounbi acknowledged that a minority of Nigerians may have committed offences but insisted those actions did not justify collective targeting of the entire community. “Most Nigerian students are focused and law-abiding,” he said, urging Indian law enforcement not to treat the few as representative of all.
NIDCOM, meanwhile, said it had received no formal complaints from affected students and reminded all parties that Nigeria cannot dictate another country’s visa regulations. The commission pointed to diplomatic reciprocity as the only available lever, a position also echoed by a diplomat in India who urged Nigeria to consider applying equivalent terms to Indian students in return.
