The President Bola Tinubu-led government on Wednesday reiterated its stand against accepting foreign deportees from the United States and other countries into the country, insisting Nigeria has enough population.

“We do not see the need to take in other nationals under duress from any country because we already have a population of more than 30 million people,” said the foreign affairs minister Yusuf Tugga during Reuters Next Gulf Summit held in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

“We made our stand clear, and it is no longer on the discussion table. We continue to enjoy good relationships with the United States. We are not short of people.”

Mr Tuggar explained that the government was committed to providing opportunities to its growing population, especially in terms of tackling issues of poverty and unemployment.

“Our focus, as we move closer to become 400 million people, which we would be in the next twenty- five years, is to train our workforce and tackle issues of poverty and unemployment so that we have the right dependency ratio that will be able to sustain us as we move into the future,” the minister said.

Mr Tuggar said the country enjoys good relationships with the U.S. and other countries, adding the Nigerian government was always ready to provide opportunities for partners in the interest of development.

The minister also debunked the claim of Christian genocide in the country, accusing some U.S. media figures of bias and lies.

“One of our major challenges at the moment is the false narratives that are being created about Nigeria, this issue of religious persecution, Christians are being persecuted, which couldn’t be further from the truth, and it’s something that I think the investors need to come and see for themselves,” he said.

Mr Tuggar’s remarks came as a response to pressure from President Donald Trump’s administration, seeking agreements with African countries to accept deportees from Latin America and elsewhere in exchange for economic incentives.

The Nigerian government rejected a proposed U.S. deportation scheme aimed at relocating asylum seekers from third countries to African soil, signalling resistance across the continent to transactional diplomacy and conditional aid.

The minister added that Nigeria has enough of its own challenges and would not serve as a dumping ground for migrants with no ties to the country.