Lebanese people in Nigeria
نيجيريون لبنانيون
Total population
30,000-100,000[1][2]
Regions with significant populations
Throughout urban Nigeria
In particular Lagos, Kano, Ibadan, and Port Harcourt
Languages
Predominantly
Arabic (Lebanese), English (Nigerian, Pidgin), and French
Others
Nigerian languages
Religion
Christianity and Islam
Related ethnic groups
Lebanese diaspora (Lebanese Ghanaians, Lebanese Ivorians, Lebanese Senegalese, Lebanese Sierra Leoneans)

Lebanese Nigerians (Arabic: نيجيريون لبنانيون) are Nigerians with Lebanese ancestry, including Lebanese-born immigrants to Nigeria. With a population approximated between 30,000 and 100,000, the group form one of the largest communities originally from outside Nigeria.[1][2]

Lebanese immigration to Nigeria started in the late nineteenth century, with migration from Ottoman Syria to the protectorates that later formed British Nigeria. The immigration — mainly from Lebanon but also from other parts of the Lebanese diaspora in West Africa — increased in the early twentieth century after the end of the first World War, being concentrated first in Lagos then in other urban areas throughout colonial Nigeria.[3] While some Lebanese Nigerians have left Nigeria — either permanently or temporarily for education or work — and reduced the original community's size, the further waves of immigration to Nigeria occurring amid the Lebanese Civil War and ongoing Lebanese liquidity crisis have added to the community since the late twentieth century.[4][5][6]

Identity

During the first waves of Lebanese immigration to Nigeria (and West Africa more generally), modern-day Lebanon comprised part of Ottoman Syria and later the French mandate; due to this political situation, early Lebanese immigrants were grouped together with immigrants from Syria and denoted as "Syrians" in colonial reports.[7] By the mid-twentieth century, "Lebanese" replaced "Syrian" as the predominant identification term for the community. Alternatively, some communities (especially in French West Africa) used variants of "Libano-Syrian" as to include the Syrian community while other sources used and continue to use "Levantine" or "Syro-Lebanese" as umbrella terms.[3]

Additionally, research notes the relative lack of cohesion in the Lebanese community in the first half of the twentieth century, with internal divides based on sectarian, ideological, religious, and subethnic differences.[2] However, there were some collective organisations — such as the Lebanese Union of Nigeria, largely to lobby colonial officials on the community's behalf; these organisations became the precursors to modern Lebanese Nigerian civil society and identity.[2]

History

Colonial era

People from Lebanon first migrated to West Africa in the 19th-century to flee oppression and economic crisis in the Ottoman Empire.[8] Lebanese migrants often originally intended to reach Brazil or the United States, but many were stranded in West Africa due to financial problems.[8] Other Lebanese migrants to West Africa mistakenly believed they had traveled to a vague geographic region called "Amerka" (misspelling of "America"), due to either their lack of education or deception by ship captains.[9] Nigeria received a significant amount of Lebanese settlers due to its coastal city of Lagos serving as a major point of transit between Lebanon and the Americas.[8]The first Lebanese immigrant to Nigeria, in Lagos, was Elias Khoury who migrated from the Lebanese village of Miziara in 1890.[10] Many of these early Lebanese migrants to Nigeria came from the villages of Miziara and Jwaya.[8] Residents of the two villages often rely on remittances from Lebanese Nigerians to survive.[10]

Contemporary

Nigeria continues to receive a significant influx of Lebanese immigrants seeking to escape political and economic turmoil in their homeland. It is estimated that more than 250,000 Lebanese live in West Africa majority in Ivory Coast.[5] In February 2022, the Nigerian government granted citizenship to 286 foreign nationals, 108 of whom were Lebanese.[11]

Impact on Nigerian society

Tinubu Square, an open space landmark in Lagos, was donated by the Lebanese community as a gift for Nigeria upon Nigerian independence in 1960.[12] The Lebanese Community School is a private school in Lagos operated by the Lebanese.

List of notable Lebanese-Nigerians

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "Planes and pyramids: The surreal mansions of Lebanon's Nigeria Avenue". Middle East Eye édition française.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Olaniyi, Rasheed Oyewole; Ajayi, Oluwasegun Michael (2014). "The Lebanese in Ibadan, Nigeria, 1986-2012". Journal of the Historical Society of Nigeria. 23: 131–149. JSTOR 24768945.
  3. 1 2 Falola, Toyin (1990). "Lebanese Traders in Southwestern Nigeria, 1900-1960". African Affairs. 89 (357): 523–553. ISSN 0001-9909. Retrieved 30 December 2023.
  4. ↑ May, Clifford D. "Lebanese in Africa: Tale of Success (and Anxiety)". The New York Times. Retrieved 31 December 2023.
  5. 1 2 "Lebanese move to west Africa, escaping the crisis at home". The Economist. Retrieved 31 December 2023.
  6. ↑ Ndukwe, Ijeoma. "'Everyone is hustling here': The Lebanese of Nigeria". Al Jazeera English. Retrieved 31 December 2023.
  7. ↑ "Annual reports on the colonies, Nigeria, [1897-98-1938]". University Library, University of Illinois. Library of Congress. Retrieved 30 December 2023.
  8. 1 2 3 4 Winder, R. Bayly (1962). "The Lebanese in West Africa*". Comparative Studies in Society and History. 4 (3): 296–333. doi:10.1017/S0010417500012342. ISSN 1475-2999. S2CID 146139260.
  9. ↑ Akyeampong, Emmanuel K. (August 2006). "Race, Identity and Citizenship in Black Africa: The Case of the Lebanese in Ghana". Africa. 76 (3): 297–323. doi:10.3366/afr.2006.0033.
  10. 1 2 "Transnational Networks of the Lebanese-Nigerian Diaspora". Middle East Institute. Retrieved 2021-03-27.
  11. ↑ Okere, Alexander (11 September 2022). "286 Britons, Lebanese, Italians, others get Nigerian citizenship". Punch Newspapers.
  12. ↑ "Tinubu Square: A befitting memorial to an Amazon The Nation Newspaper". 22 November 2013.
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