Senior Congress leader and former Goa Chief Minister Ravi Naik on Tuesday asked the Centre to bar Nigerians from entering India, reported IANS. At a press conference, Naik also demanded that Nigerian students, who he claimed were staying in India illegally and indulging in illegal activities, in Goa must be screened for documents and sent back immediately.

"The government of India should ban them. They should be probed. It should be checked whether many of them are here to study or for picnics or to sell drugs,” said Naik. "Nigerians come here and do “Dadagiri”, in Delhi, Bengaluru and the entire country too. We should move the Nigerians out of here… Have they come here to study? Are they really studying? Are they really going to college, schools? Are they actually going to some bogus schools or bogus typing schools, this has to be probed."

The former minister added that the state did not need Nigerians tourists and accused them of causing "problems" everywhere.

Naik's comments come a few days after Goa Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar said the attitude and lifestyle of the Nigerians living in the coastal state offended Goans. Tourism Minister Dilip Parulekar had also accused Nigerians of selling drugs in the state.