Nigerian Americans are Americans who are of Nigerian ancestry. The number of Nigerian immigrants residing in the United States is rapidly growing, expanding from a small 1980 population of 25,000. The 2022 American Community Survey (ACS) estimated that 712,294 residents of the U.S.A were of Nigerian ancestry. The 2019 ACS further estimated that around 392,811 of these (85%) had been born in Nigeria. Which puts the total Nigerian American population a little over 400,000.
Oyekunle Olukotun, Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at Stanford University, known as the "father of the multi-core processor"
African Languages Spoken in American Households
Nigerian Muslim association in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, New York
Igbo Roman Catholics in the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, Los Angeles, California
Nigerians or the Nigerian people are citizens of Nigeria or people with ancestry from Nigeria. The name Nigeria was derived from the Niger River running through the country. This name was allegedly coined in the late 19th century by British journalist Flora Shaw, who later married Baron Frederick Lugard, a British colonial administrator. Nigeria is composed of various ethnic groups and cultures and the term Nigerian refers to a citizenship-based civic nationality. Nigerians are derived from over 250 ethno-linguistic groups. Though there are multiple ethnic groups in Nigeria, economic factors result in significant mobility of Nigerians of multiple ethnic and religious backgrounds to reside in territories in Nigeria that are outside their ethnic or religious background, resulting in the mixing of the various ethnic and religious groups, especially in Nigeria's cities. The English language is the lingua franca of Nigerians. Nigeria is divided roughly in half between Muslims, who live mostly in the north, and Christians, who live mostly in the south; indigenous religions, such as those native to the Igbo and Yoruba ethnicities, are in the minority.
Hausa Fulani Nigerian women, wearing traditional clothing
Nigerians shopping in a mall in Lagos
Yoruba Nigerian men of Kwara origin, wearing traditional clothing and playing drums
Horseman at the Kano Durbar festival