Team Ireland is the name for the various arms of the Government of Ireland to promote political, cultural, community & commercial links with other nations.

Here in Nigeria we have the Embassy, the Honorary Consulate in Lagos, Bord Bia & Enterprise Ireland.

The Embassy is based in Abuja (having been located in Lagos from 1962-2000) & has overall responsibility for the relationship between Ireland and Nigeria. It also deals with links to neighbouring countries including Benin, Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana & Togo.

The Honorary Consulate in Lagos supports the Irish Community in the nation's largest city. 

Bord Bia (The Irish Food Board) promotes Irish food & drink exports to Nigeria. Key exports from Ireland include dairy products (eg Kerrygold), fish (eg mackerel) & drinks products (eg whiskey). 

Enterprise Ireland promotes Irish technology and services firms to do business in Nigeria. It also works closely with Ireland's universities to promote study in Ireland to young people in Nigeria. 

Friends of Ireland in Nigeria have always played an important role in supporting the work of Team Ireland.

In the words of Ambassador Ryan 'Ireland has been fortunate to have such a good reputation amongst Nigerians who like us recognise with gratitude the contribution of generations of Irish people who left such a positive legacy in Nigeria'. 

Today the Friends of Ireland in Nigeria include people who have a family or heritage connection with Ireland, those who have studied in Ireland or were educated in a school in Nigeria which has strong Irish affiliations, as well as those who have been doing business with Ireland or Irish people.  As well as the many people with an interest in Ireland's literature, music, art and dance - and how the new communities in Ireland are creating new Irish cultural traditions.

Indeed with the large Nigerian community in Ireland flourishing in every walk of life, now we have many more people to people connections than ever before.

As one of the greatest Irish writers, WB Yeats put it 'There are no strangers here, just friends who have not yet met'.

We believe that now is the time to really  turbocharge the business, cultural and educational links between our two nations.

Which is why the July 2023 visit by Irish networking and philantrophy expert Kingsley Aikins to Nigeria was timely and impactful. 

As Kingsley wrote of his visit in his LinkedIn post to his 20,000 followers 'It had everything - passionate proud people, powerful possibilities and pulsating potential. The Nigerian Diaspora truly is the 'new oil' and the challenge now is to turn the power of the Nigerian diaspora into policies, projects and programmes. The relationship with Ireland is evident everywhere and there is a terrific base to build on... there are both short and long term goals which are eminently achievable and we are all committed to doing just that over the next few years'.