Nigerians Not Among Top Migrant Crime Offenders in UK – Verified by PRNigeria
Amidst growing online celebrations over Nigeria’s absence from a purported UK crime list, a fact-check conducted by PRNigeria has confirmed that Nigerians were not among the top foreign nationals with the highest conviction or arrest rates in the United Kingdom in 2024.
A viral video circulating widely on TikTok and other social media platforms claims that the UK government released a list ranking migrant groups by crime rates, with Nigeria notably absent. The narrator in the video, captioned “List of Migrants Crimes in the UK 2024 #RespectNigerians,” exclaims:
“This one sweet me well well… UK government has released the list of countries with the highest number of people committing crimes in the UK, I mean immigrants… per 10,000 people… Did you see Nigeria there? Noo!”
The clip, which went viral in early May 2025, celebrates Nigerians as law-abiding and hardworking migrants, contrasting them with other nationalities allegedly topping the UK crime list. Social media users flooded the comments with national pride, posting messages such as “Shoutout to all Nigerians who are working hard to make a good living abroad! #ProudlyNigerian.”
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To verify the claim, PRNigeria’s fact-checking team analyzed data from reputable UK-based sources including the Centre for Migration Control (CMC), Migration Central, BBC, and GB News. The review revealed that although the video’s visuals lacked official UK citation and may have used fabricated graphics, the underlying claim was supported by available data.
Key Findings:
Drug Convictions: Albanian nationals were 152 times more likely to be convicted of drug offences than British citizens.
Violent Crimes: Congolese nationals were reported to be 11 times more likely to face convictions for violent crimes.
Top 5 Conviction Rates (per 10,000 migrants):
Albania
Moldova
Congo
Namibia
Somalia
Nigeria was not listed among the top 15 countries with the highest conviction or arrest rates in the UK for 2024.
Furthermore, from January to October 2024, there were approximately 131,000 arrests of foreign nationals in England and Wales, accounting for 16.1% of all arrests, while foreign nationals made up about 9% of the total UK population. Nigerians did not rank among the nationalities most frequently arrested or convicted.
Conclusion:
While the viral video uses unverified visuals and lacks an official government source, PRNigeria confirms that Nigeria was indeed not listed among countries with high migrant crime rates in the UK in 2024. Therefore, the central claim of the video—that Nigerians were excluded from the UK’s list of major migrant crime offenders—is TRUE.
The narrative may serve advocacy or morale-boosting purposes, but it nonetheless aligns with verified statistical trends.
