About 1,237 Nigerians were prevented from entering Germany between January and November 2016, a German newspaper said, citing official documents.

The Neue Osnabruecker Zeitung (NOZ) reported that the 1,237 Nigerians were among 19,720 migrants stopped from entering Germany during the period, further citing numbers from the German Federal Police.

DPA/NAN quoted the newspaper as saying that the daily figure was extrapolated from the 22,500 illegal Nigerian migrants that the EU said crossed the Mediterranean Sea to Europe between January and September this year.

However, Nigerians were not the ones topping the list of people turned back by German authorities in 2016.

Afghan asylum seekers were turned back most often, with 3,695 people affected in 2016 so far. In addition, 2,142 Syrians, and 1,794 Iraqis have been stopped from entering Germany so far this year.

Statistics for December are yet to be compiled, the newspaper said.

Despite the overall increase, the newspaper reported that the number of people turned away by police has been going down in recent months.

Quite a number of Nigerians travel out of the country illegally seeking greener pastures in Europe, U.S. and Asia.