The growing security concerns surrounding Nigerians living in Libya have exposed a major challenge for the Nigerian government, with the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM) acknowledging that it currently lacks the capacity to facilitate the return of Nigerians seeking to leave the country.
NiDCOM said it had received numerous petitions from Nigerians in Libya requesting assistance to return home, but that available capacity was insufficient to accommodate them.
The disclosure comes as anxiety continues to spread among Nigerian communities in Libya over reports of arrests, evictions and growing hostility towards African migrants.
Warnings circulating on social media have urged migrants to leave Libya by October 1, 2026. However, NiDCOM’s Head of Media, Abdulrahman Balogun, said he was not aware of any officially confirmed October 1 deadline.
“We have enough names here but there is no capacity,” Balogun told SaharaReporters, referring to Nigerians who had indicated their desire to return home.
The development has left some Nigerians caught between fears of remaining in Libya and the difficulty of securing a route back to Nigeria.
Several Nigerians interviewed by SaharaReporters said their daily lives had already been affected by the situation. Some reported being advised by Libyan colleagues not to report to work, while others said landlords had asked them to begin searching for alternative accommodation.
One Nigerian resident said his Libyan colleagues warned him to remain indoors because of concerns over possible arrests and attacks.
Another said his landlord had instructed tenants to move before October 1, adding to the uncertainty among residents who had nowhere else to go.
The concerns are not limited to Nigerians. Reports from Libya indicate that an increasingly hostile campaign against migrants and foreigners has been circulating online, with some messages calling for migrants to leave the country by October 1. Libya Security Monitor reported that some of the messages contained threats against Black migrants and warned of possible violence.
At the same time, the authenticity and legal status of the October 1 deadline remain unclear. Reports indicate that there is no publicly verifiable Libyan government decree establishing October 1 as a nationwide deadline for all foreigners to leave the country.
The uncertainty is being compounded by reports of intensified immigration enforcement. Libya Security Monitor reported that more than 3,000 migrants were detained in Tobruk during security operations, while hundreds more were detained in Benghazi.
For Nigerians without valid immigration documents, the situation could be particularly difficult. Some Nigerians in Libya said reports of arrests had already begun circulating within migrant communities, prompting people to limit their movements.
The reports have also renewed concerns about the vulnerability of Nigerians working in low-income and informal sectors, with some migrants saying they were being accused of taking jobs that should go to Libyans.
As fears rise, NiDCOM’s admission that it has the names of Nigerians seeking to return but lacks the capacity to bring them home highlights the gap between the number of Nigerians requesting assistance and the resources currently available to facilitate their evacuation.
For many of those affected, the immediate concern is no longer simply whether the October 1 warning is genuine, but whether they can access safe assistance if conditions deteriorate.
“We don’t know what tomorrow will bring,” one Nigerian resident said, reflecting the uncertainty currently gripping migrant communities across parts of Libya.
