Full List: UK Warns Citizens Against Travel to 6 Nigerian States
- The UK's FCDO issued updated travel advice on Thursday, August 20, 2026, flagging specific Nigerian states as unsafe for British citizens
- Four northeastern states and two northwestern states made the list of areas where the UK advised against all travel
- The advisory also covered several other states in the north-central and southern Nigeria under a separate category of warning
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Legit.ng journalist Ridwan Adeola Yusuf has over four years of experience covering security issues in Nigeria and across Africa.
Maiduguri, Borno state - The United Kingdom (UK) has told its citizens to avoid travelling to six Nigerian states, citing security risks in those areas.
Legit.ng reports that the warning came from the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO), which updated its Nigeria travel advice on Thursday, August 20, 2026.
Source: Getty Images
Which Nigerian states should Britons avoid?
The FCDO advised British nationals against all travel to four states in Nigeria's northeast: Borno, Yobe, Adamawa, and Gombe. Two northwestern states, Katsina and Zamfara, were also placed under the same full travel ban.
Beyond those six states, the UK issued a second, less severe category of warning covering a larger portion of the country. The FCDO told citizens to avoid all but essential travel to Bauchi, Kaduna, Kano, Kebbi, Jigawa, and Sokoto in the north, as well as Niger, Kogi, Plateau, Taraba, Kwara, and Benue in the north-central region.
In the south, the advisory extended to Abia, Anambra, and Imo states, along with the non-riverine areas of Delta, Bayelsa, and Rivers states, all placed under the "all but essential travel" category.
Source: Getty Images
Where does UK advise against travel?
Furthermore, a separate designation applied to the riverine areas of Delta, Bayelsa, Rivers, Akwa Ibom, and Cross River states, where the FCDO advised against all travel entirely, placing them on the same level as the six states named in the northeast and northwest.
The FCDO said its travel advice is designed to help British nationals weigh up security conditions before making plans to visit different parts of Nigeria.
The six states the UK warned its citizens against travelling to are listed below:
- Borno
- Yobe
- Adamawa
- Gombe
- Katsina
- Zamfara
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US warns Americans against 23 countries
Earlier, Legit.ng reported that the United States Department of State updated its global travel advisory, classifying 23 nations under Level 4: Do Not Travel, the most severe category in its travel advisory system.
The warning was announced through the department’s official TravelGov X account, where it stressed that the affected destinations pose extreme security risks or have limited capacity for the US government to provide consular assistance.
The department added a blunt warning: “These places are dangerous. Do not go for ANY reason.”
Source: Legit.ng
