Nigerian emigration to Ireland is still in an embryonic stage. This movement began after the Second World War, increasing modestly after Nigeria's independence from Britain in 1960. Unfortunately, it was impossible to be entirely accurate. Since there was no hard data of past Nigerian migration to Ireland since neither Nigeria nor Ireland registered past Nigerian migration departures and arrivals. For this study, information on past Nigerian movement to Ireland came from various individuals. However, this data in spite of its imperfections is the best to date, for assessing past Nigerian movement to Ireland. Most of the past Nigerian migration to Ireland was by businessmen, mostly in the fishing business. It is from Ireland that most of the mackerel fish (òkú èkó) that is consumed in Nigeria is exported. The most recognized Nigerian trading partner was Killybergs in Donegal, the northern part of Ireland (Kómoláfé, 1993.) Others who migrated in any noticeable number prior to 1981 were Nigerian medical students. They reportedly did not desire to establish establishing permanent residence in Ireland. Past Nigerian migration to Ireland did not have any significant effect on the recent trends in movement because most Nigerians presently in Dublin do not even realize that past Nigerian migration existed.
In more recent times, Nigerian migration became noticeable in 1981. At the time, the number of migrants was relatively small. By 1996 there were significant changes in the inflow of Nigerian migrants. The Nigerians who came to Ireland prior to 1981 tended to study, to undergo various kinds of training and to visit. For the purposes of this paper, 1981 is regarded as the first phase of contemporary Nigerian migration to Ireland.
In considering the historical panorama of Nigerian migration to Dublin, there is need for some chronology and categorization. The population includes those who migrate to Ireland to extend their visa, those who migrate to seek legal residence, "Celtic Tiger" migrants, who were attracted by the Irish economic boom, refuge-seeking migrants, employment -seeking migrants and providence-seeking migrants. According to the historian Nancy Green, (1997:59) "only through comparison can we understand what is specific and what is general in migration." Thus, categorization is done to facilitate the historical comparative analysis of the different categories of migrants.
This is an interesting scholarly work on the subject by Julius Kómoláfé .Read More
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