Many Nigerians live in the Republic of Ireland. Quite many Nigerians who have never visited Ireland will not appreciate the fact that Dublin and the Republic of Ireland are not one and the same. They often mix them up. lt is like mixing up Lagos and the Federal Republic of Nigeria or mixing up Lagos and Abuja. They mean different things.
Dublin is the Republic of Ireland ‘s capital city. There are other cities like The Midlands which is like the Abuja of Nigeria.
But the fact of the situation is that the Republic of Ireland is a lovely country to live in.
Out of the 32 counties in The Republic of Ireland. Six counties belong to the Northern Ireland which is still under the Leadership of the Great Britain.
But the East, West and South of Ireland are part of the European Union.
There are four Provinces in The Republic of Ireland.
Connact
Leinster
Munster
Ulster.
Out of all the Provinces in the Republic of Ireland, Nigerians preferred to settle down in the big cities due to job availabilities.
The big cities are mainly Armagh
Derry
Lisburn
Newry
Cork
Dublin
Galway
The major city where Nigerians are mostly settled is Ireland’s city Capital Dublin, which is the Leinster Provinces.
According to the 2011 census, there were 17, 642 resident Nigerians in Ireland, representing a 9.67% change over the 2006 figures of 16,300 Nigerian born people resident in Ireland. They constitute the largest African group in the county.
Nigerians found it more comfortable to settle in Dublin because Dubliners are more familiar with immigrants and Africans, especially Nigerian Student Doctors who had come to study in UCD (University College Dublin) and for over 30 years.
Unlike the other Cities and towns who just started getting familiarise with African during Political Asylum influx.
The Political Asylum law back in the ’90s gave Nigerian access into The Republic of Ireland.
History has it that Nigerian migrated to Ireland in the late 90’s due to the Political Crises in Nigeria, back then.
Immigrants were usually accommodated in hostels or refuge Asylum accommodation centres, during the period when they process their application with Irish Immigration authorities.
Also the Irish Social welfare awards government financial assistant to the immigrants according to the family size while the accommodation centre prepared food on daily basis and supply their necessary provisions.
The Irish law was favourable to immigrants especially immigrants who were granted refuge status, automatically have equal rights of an Irish citizen.
And others are secondly favoured, in the sense that when a couple or single mother gives birth to a child in Ireland, the family automatically gets residency permit based on being parents to an Irish child.
The immigrants parents are allowed to attend certain adult continue education centres to study courses and also rights to seek employment , usually menial jobs.
Due to the changes in immigration law and the Political Asylum system of the Republic of Ireland around mid 2001, a lot of countries, including Nigeria have been restricted from migrating into Ireland because the Irish system believed they have welcomed enough immigrants into their country.
Nigerians are making waves and contributing into the Irish Economy.
There have been fast rising Nigerian businesses over the years, such as Nigerian food stores, Hairdressers and barbers, Nigerians restaurants, fashion design stores and clothing boutiques in the heart of Dublin City Centre.
Not to mention, there are also African food stores springing up even in the outskirts of Dublin, mostly where Nigerians are settling as Dublin is over congested.
The cost of living in most cities is usually expensive. But that of Dublin is mind blowing, especially, recently when there has been a massive inflation in the rent sector, increasing the rent prices over the roof tops.
Nigerians in Dublin are mostly doing well in the carers services, retails sector and in other various employment sectors due to Dublin’s great familiarisation with immigrants in general.
