Nigeria was ranked the largest remittance recipient in sub-Saharan Africa and the sixth largest amongst lower-middle-income countries.

Nigerians living in the United Kingdom sent £3.27 billion back home in 2017, according to a report by the World bank. A study researched by the bank has found that Nigeria was the top receiver of cash from the United Kingdom in 2017.

“Remittances to Sub-Saharan Africa are estimated to grow by 9.8 percent from $41 billion in 2017 to $45 billion in 2018. Projections indicate that remittances to the region will keep increasing, but at a lower rate, to $47 billion by 2019,” the report read.

“The upward trend observed since 2016 is explained by strong economic conditions in the high-income economies where many sub-Saharan African migrants earn their incomes. ”

Largest remittance recipient country in Sub-Saharan Africa and the sixth largest among the Low, Middle income Countries (LMICs) is expected to receive more than $25 billion in official remittances by the end of 2018, an increase of more than $3 billion compared with the previous year.”

According to the Bretton Wood institution, the average cost of sending money to sub-Saharan Africa decreased slightly. “The average cost of sending $200 to the Sub-Saharan Africa region slightly decreased, averaging 8.9 percent in 2018 Q3, the lowest cost ever registered in the region.

“A declining trend has been observed in remittance costs in the region since the beginning of 2018, but this average remains far above the global average of 6.9 percent and the SDG target of 3 percent by 2030.

It was however recored that Britainis targeting Nigerians with dubious wealth living or investing in that country as it seeks to expand its use of the Unexplained Wealth Orders (UWOs).

Also being closely watched by the British government are investors from Russia, China and the Middle East, according to the Director of Prosperity at Britain’s National Crime Agency (NCA), Donald Toon.

The UWOs empower the British government to seize the assets of corrupt “politically exposed persons” or those with links to serious crime.

“We have significantly scaled up the work that we are doing,” Toon said in London.

“We are absolutely looking at Russians … but we are not exclusively looking at Russians and Russian assets.” Transparency campaigners in Britain often question the source of some of the wealth that keeps pouring into the country from abroad.

Such foreigners, including Nigeria, buy everything from luxury properties to entire companies. Toon, said Britain has become a very attractive destination for corrupt foreign money, particularly from Russia, Nigeria.