Nigerians in Saudi Arabia: Residency Restrictions and the Limits of Law

Abstract

Islam, annual pilgrimage, and scholarship became the main reasons for the long-established relations between
Nigeria and Saudi Arabia. However, the petrodollar economy has allowed the Saudi Arabian economy to grow
steadily since the 1970s. This attracts millions of migrants from all over the globe who work in various
economic sectors across the Kingdom. Even though the Nigerian economy in the 1970s was also doing well,
the infamous policy of the military government to change the Nigerian currency in the early 1980s and the
austerity measures adopted in the late 1980s as part of the implementation of the IMF supervised Structural
Adjustment Program (SAP) marked the beginning of devaluation of Nigerian currency and decline of the
Nigerian economy. This marked the beginning of Nigerians searching for greener pastures abroad. Many
Nigerians, particularly the less privileged widows and divorces, began to migrate to Saudi Arabia legally as
pilgrims but overstayed and became illegal migrants. Some of these people later acquired residence and work
permits, while others remain illegal migrants. Using oral interviews, personal observations, archival records
and written documents, this paper analyzes how Nigerian migrants who, with the help of Saudi citizens who
serve as their guarantors, engage in illegal public activities like street begging, hawking and vending as well
as the reactions of Saudi Arabian law enforcement agents to them. The dynamics show exploitations and abuses
of laws by both migrants and Saudi Arabian police. Whereas migrants with restricted work permits exploit the
system for their economic benefits, some law enforcement officers overreact or even abuse their power while
preventing migrants' public activities that jeopardize law and order, particularly vandalizing infrastructure.
They do so based on their perceived limitation of the existing law in preventing reoccurrences.