Nigerians have migrated to Britain in significant numbers since the 1960s. After the independence in 1960, there was a need for more skills and higher levels of education. Many Nigerians, therefore, went to the United Kingdom to study.

After civil and political unrests in Nigeria in the late 1960s, refugees began arriving in London. A number of Nigerian asylum seekers also arrived in the UK in recent years. However, most Nigerians arriving at present come with work visas, student visas for family reunion.

Nigerians live in many parts of the United Kingdom, especially in London. A significant number of them live in Peckham, Dalston, Hackney, Swiss Cottage and Kilburn.


A former reporter of the British Broadcasting Corporation’s (BBC’s) Focus on Africa, Robin White, once wrote about Nigerians resident in Peckham, South London. “The African immigrants I have come across in some two months of travelling in England, Wales and Scotland are hard working, idealistic, and bright, a long way from the popular view portrayed by some in the UK.


“Everyone I met, I asked them when they wanted to go home. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but - when their countries are at peace, when they've made a bit of money, when democracy returns - they will return,” he said.


Peckham, also called, by Nigerians, little Lagos and Yorubatown, is home to one of the largest Nigerian communities in the world; many of the local establishments are Yoruba-owned.


Nigerian churches and mosques can be found in the area. As immigrants become assimilated, English is becoming the predominant language of the local Nigerian British population. About seven per cent of Peckham's population was born in Nigeria.


A Nigerian resident in London said Peckham looked like Lagos. “I used to live there and over the past 10 years, it has been transformed into a Yoruba heartland.” A Yoruba taxi driver, Olusola Dixon, was quoted to have said many of the shops in Peckham were Yoruba-owned and one could buy any Nigerian food one wanted.


“Peckham is where the living meet the dead,” Dixon said. It is where Nigerians can bump into a distant Nigerian cousin who they never even knew was in the UK. Not only this, Nigerian churches and mosques flourish and compete for worshippers in the place.


White said: “The successful churches run several Sunday sittings. Newcomers are welcomed with open arms and everyone is given an envelope with instructions on how to donate money for the church’s upkeep.


“But the trouble is that many Nigerian living in the area have neglected to pass their traditions to their children. A few insist on the languages being spoken at home, but many have given up the struggle of teaching them to unenthusiastic children, and English Language has become the family language.


“True, they take their children home on holidays, but their culture and language, as known in Nigeria, are on a steep decline. Dubi Imevbore, an expert on language, said if a language dies, so does the human spirit. A people without a culture will lose their self respect.

“Some Nigerians living in Peckham and have found home there came on student visas and never went home. Some came on holiday to visit relatives and “missed” the plane back to Lagos. Some smuggled themselves in and have been in hiding ever since.


It does’t take long to discover that many Nigerians in London shouldn’t be here at all. But being an illegal immigrant is not an easy life. Because they can’t work officially, they have to take the worst paid jobs at very unsociable hours and live in squalid flats – at the mercy of unscrupulous landlords.


Many would like to go home, but they’re ashamed to admit failure to their friends and families back in the motherland.

teamf:
if a language dies, so does the human spirit. A people without a culture will lose their self respect.

will copy dis down

claremont:



It's normal to imbibe the culture of the society you choose to live in, it's a sign of integration. I have seen quite a lot of Nigerians who came to the UK over 20 years ago, but cannot muster a decent sentence in proper English without interspersing it with pidgin and/or a Nigerian dialect. This clearly shows that these Nigerians have spent donkey years keeping to themselves in their little silos in a country that's not theirs, they haven't bothered to integrate. What I fail to understand is why immigrants fastidiously treasure their culture so much when they are outside their country, how has this so-called culture lead to anything positive in your home countries?! If you value your culture so much so that you choose not to integrate in a country you have migrated to, it's pointless leaving your home countries in the first place.

My point IS - the first responsibility of any immigrant is to integrate in the country you choose to call home. Integration might mean imbibing the accent, the food e.t.c of the country that has given you the opportunity to have a good life away from your home country. It's not a sign of inferiority complex to imbibe the language and other aspects of the culture of a 'foreign land' that has given the immigrant an opportunity to achieve his/her life goals, the people who should feel inferior are those who refuse to integrate overseas because they feel that their African culture is superior to others.

The comment the article made ''If a language dies, so does the human spirit. A people without a culture will lose their self respect'' is bullshit to be honest, it's the opinion of the writer. People who migrate to a different country are not doing it in search of self-respect, they are doing it in search of a better life. If they wanted self-respect, they could have remained in their home countries where, apparently, self-respect is a currency that pays the bills.

Ishilove:
Many Nigerians, at home and in the diaspora try as much as possible to emulate the western culture, ignorantly assuming that it will make them appear 'posh' and 'classy'.

I have been speaking with a client who insists on being more American than the average American. When we talk on phone he introduces himself as Mr Yuuummy (Yomi). He speaks with an exaggerated American accent, even though his 'Yoruba-tic' intonation still manages to burst though. When I met him one to one I was unimpressed because of his whole fakeness. . .

DanseMacabre:


I understand that it's more of an acceptability thing. That is, the less pronounced your African accent is, the likelier your chances of fitting in and getting more openings opportunity wise. I think this scenario is more pronounced in the US.

What I can't wrap my head around is our countrymen who haven't been even to Ghana, but speak with accents ranging from Mongolian to Vietnamese.

cyberdurable:
please I stay in peckham... Where can I buy hydraulic soup?