Official migration data in Benin are often controversial. Indeed, the evolution of the official numbers of immigrants in the country gives rise to reservations from various stakeholders involved in migration. An alternative is emerging due to  the challenge of getting reliable statistical data on migration despite demographic surveys and scientific studies.

In Benin, migration is defined as “any relocation lasting six months or more” (International Organisation for Migration IOM, 2018) while length of stay is not taken into account to conventionally define migration.

Indeed, the concept of migration refers to any “movement of a person or group of persons, either between countries or within a State. Migration refers to population movements in all their forms, regardless of their duration, composition and causes. It encompasses movements of refugees, internally displaced persons, economic migrants and people moving for other purposes, such as family reunification” (UNCTAD, 2018). This conventional definition is international and used in the specialised scientific literature of the IOM, the UN, the ACP Observatory on Migration. According to collected and cross-checked statistical data from various organisations five West African countries and three Asian countries provided a flow of 24,891 immigrants to Benin from 2020 to 2018. Immigrants from the three Asian countries account for about 57% of the flow of registered immigrants. According to official World Bank data, the country had 11.94 million inhabitants in 2018. 

In 2013, Niger was the leading provider of immigrants in Benin according to the results of the 2013 General Population and Housing Census in Benin (RGPH4). However, from 2010 to 2018, the flows of immigrants from Niger registered in Benin are 425 while immigrants from Nigeria and Togo registered in Benin are respectively 5,371 and 3,856. During the same period, 7,135 and 5,023 immigrants from Lebanon and India respectively settled in Benin. The flows of these three Asian countries exceed those of the West African countries in the 2013 migration stock. These migratory flows show an increase of Asian immigration to Benin. Recent migrant flows are based on Asian immigration, which exerts a pull effect from the direct or indirect employment opportunities it creates.

The Achilles’ heel of statistical data

Official sources notice an increase of fAsians’ formal immigration to Benin alongside West African immigration. These are figures that hide reality. According to the study conducted by Koffi Benoît Sossou, entitled “Migrant workers in Benin: context and challenges” published in October 2019, based on 2010-2018 data from the Directorate of Emigration and Immigration, Asian immigrants from China, India, Lebanon, and Pakistan, in particular, registered annually in Benin exceeded those from West Africa. This is due to the fact that Asian immigrants are regularly registered, which is not necessarily the case for West African nationals. It can be seen that the group of Asian countries is concentrated mainly in the Littoral department. However, they meet in small numbers in the departments of Collines, Zou, Borgou and Alibori where they mainly do agribusiness.

In addition, immigrants from West Africa are present in a significant proportion in all departments of Benin. The group of countries from the rest of Africa is mainly present in the departments of southern Benin. These are the Littoral, the Atlantic, the Ouémé, the Couffo and smaller groups  in the departments of Collines and Plateau. The researcher notes that the very strong presence within the stock of immigrants from West Africa is due to local migration and the implementation of the ECOWAS protocol on the free movement of goods and people including the right of residence.

Evolution of post-2011 waves of immigrants in Benin

The evolution of the number of immigrants in Benin is based on data from RGPH4 and recent flows of immigrants provided by the DEI. According to IOM data published in the 2011 Migration Profile document, an attempt to periodise migratory waves in Benin is currently underway. As a result, Benin’s migration history has gone through four main phases. A pre-colonial and colonial phase, a phase covering independence and the revolutionary period (1960-1972), a phase from the revolutionary period to the eve of the National Conference (1972-1990) and a final phase beginning with the National Conference of February 1990. This last phase is that of immigration to Benin: between 1992 and 2002, the number of immigrants rose from 78,000 to 156,748 in 2002. Migrants accounted for about 2 percent of Benin’s total population in 2002 and 5 percent of the labour force. The largest communities were Nigeriens (34.8 per cent), Togolese (22.1 per cent), Nigerians (20.5 per cent) and Burkinabés (4.6 per cent). 

It should be noted that the age pyramid of migration flows from 2010 to 2018 shows a narrower base and peak than those of the age pyramid of the migratory stock of 2013. The first study on the valuation of the migratory stock of the Fourth General Population and Housing Census (RGPH4) concluded that migration has become more feminised in Benin, while recent migration flows have revealed that female migration is visible, certainly, but remains lower than male migration.

Reliability of statistical data

It is an open secret that there is a high proportion of Nigeriens in Benin. However, there are explanations for the relative drop in their numbers in official data. This community is one of the most integrated communities with an internal structure notes the Secretary General of the Confederation of Autonomous Trade Unions of Benin (CSA-Benin), Coordinator of the Multi-Stakeholder Platform on Migration in Benin (PMB), Anselme Coovi Amoussou. 

“This internal organisation of Nigeriens and other communities in our country has led us to consider that we can rely on them to have reliable statistics. More reliable than official statistics, which seem rather modest. Because we quite often dispute the official figures  in the course of our activities,” he says. They have registers with names and identifiable people. For instance, they know that when they come to Cotonou, there is such a person in charge that they have to meet to report their presence in order to be integrated into the community. This is a mine of information that escapes the public administration,” he said.

Through his analyses, Kossi Benoit Sossou notes that there are two possible alternative explanations for the significant decline in immigrants from Niger during the period studied (2011-2018). 

The main explanation is that migrants from Niger have observed that irregular migration appears to be more beneficial in a network migration situation than registration upon entering Benin.. However, he notes that the bosses, most of whom own the shops, pay local fees. He added that the first immigrants from Niger rely on network migration to have the necessary labour force for the informal sector and these first immigrants have the list of migrant workers they use. 

“With these migrant workers in the informal sector, they have set up organisations of nationals and meet periodically with UR-ECOWAS officials,” he comments.   

Koffi Benoit Sossou said that based on his investigations the leaders of these organisations report “the false numbers” of their fellow nationals in the RGPH documents. They declare that they have the “real numbers” and provide proof of their great capacity to mobilise their fellow citizens present anywhere in the country. Grassroots representatives  do not have lists of their nationals. They don’t show them. But the reality is that these lists are decentralised and are only available in local organisations.  “This situation of apparent decline in immigrants from Niger highlights the need for coordinated actions to better manage cross-border areas,” says Koffi Benoit Sossou.

Reasons for low statistics and advantages of official data  

The attitude of Nigerien migrants can be explained according to Anselme Coovi Amoussou, Secretary General of the Confederation of Autonomous Trade Unions of Benin (CSA-Benin), Coordinator of the Multi-Stakeholder Platform on Migration in Benin (PMB). “In the informal sector, they are left to fend for themselves. But it’s not just them. I remember, a few years ago I participated in a study on the informal sector in Benin and I noticed that Beninese citizens in the informal sector have a state of mind of not expecting anything from the State; It’s that they don’t even wait to be disappointed. They have cultivated this mindset, saying: “In any case, we have been forgotten, no one takes care of us”. I think that informal migrants in Benin must be in this state of mind too,” he observes. 

However, according to the study carried out by Koffi Benoit Sossou, the high number of immigrants from Nigeria and Togo to Benin in official surveys can be explained by the effects of the Abidjan-Lagos corridor where reciprocal efforts have been deployed within the framework of cooperation between the police authorities of these three countries since 2005 through bilateral cooperation agreements. “It is these efforts that improve migration statistics between these countries,” notes the researcher. The immigrants registered at the borders of these countries from 2010 to 2018 and who agreed to be monitored in Benin to obtain the work permits are 5,371 and 3,856 immigrants respectively from Nigeria and Togo.  T The willingness of those involved in raising awareness of the beneficial effects of regular and safe migration along the Abidjan-Lagos Corridor is a factor in the success of these voluntary registrations of immigrants from Nigeria and Togo in Benin from 2010 to 2018, he notes. .  

In total, the various projects carried out for the benefit of migrants in this corridor have shown their effects compared to Niger nationals who do not benefit from these projects, says the researcher. These include the project to improve access to social services for Marginalised and Vulnerable Migrant Workers (PASSOM). This project was led by the NGOs IDID, Benin Alafia and VADID and supported by the European Union. 

A project which, in the opinion of the researcher, has had important achievements: a centre for monitoring, listening and assistance-advice to migrants, action-research on migratory circuits and on the socio-professional conditions of marginalised and vulnerable migrants, and the installation of 14 communal platforms. In particular, this project was able to take care of 150 and 200 migrant women respectively in social and professional terms and in terms of health. And the solidarity network thus created has raised awareness on  the positive effects associated with regular and secure migration. This makes Koffi Benoit Sossou say that the major challenge revealed by this analysis is the need for actions similar to the corridor projects to persuade immigrants from Niger and candidates to declare themselves voluntarily.