Migration of Nigerians to Ireland

Small number of Nigerians migrated to Ireland since 1960 after Nigerian Independence and mainly business people especially in mackerel fish industry which is very popular in Nigeria. As well as medical students who came to Ireland (from Nigeria and UK) to study became more noticeable after 1981.

Mass migration of Nigerian to Ireland began around 1996 during the Ireland economic boom and labor shortage in which some Nigerian workers were recruited from overseas by Irish companies as well as the high court ruling prohibited deportation of parents of Irish-born children. Nigerian population in Ireland reached 16,300 in 2006, some are business men or women, student, some are foreign workers while the rest are either economic migrant or asylum seekers.

By 2007, Ireland had the third highest migration rate across the 27 EU Member States surpassed only by Spain and Cyprus. The total number of persons seeking asylum in Ireland increased dramatically from only 362 in 1994 to a peak of 11,634 in 2002, before falling off in 2003 and down to approximately 3,900 in 2008. Most asylum seekers have come from Nigeria and Romania (now EU member state since 2007)
by 2009, number of Nigerian asylum seekers fell sharply and today there were more Nigerian emigrating than immigrating to Ireland however, Nigerians was still the largest non-EU of new Irish citizens in 2013 followed by India and on the EU side was Romania.

Population of Nigerians in Ireland 

Year	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000
Male	3	461	506	426	1006
Female	7	168	898	998	1748
Total Population	10	629	1404	1424	2754

Reference:

Irish Times: http://www.irishtimes.com/news/social-affairs/nigerians-were-largest-group-of-new-irish-citizens-in-2013-1.2269527

Nigerians in Ireland, Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nigerians_in_Ireland

Nigerian migration to Ireland by Julius Komolafe