By Abiodun Adetula
On Saturday, September 26, 2026, Pastor Jerry Eze held the NSPPD UK Prayer Conference at Old Trafford, home of Manchester United.
Old Trafford holds about 74,000 people. Registration was fully booked, and admission was free. This was not about ticket revenue.
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Watching that crowd brought back a question I keep returning to:
Who exactly fills these venues when successful Nigerians take their ministries, music, businesses, and products abroad?
This is my observation, stated plainly: a significant proportion of the people supporting Nigerian pastors, musicians, comedians, and businesses abroad are Nigerians—and more broadly, Africans in the diaspora.
Look at our musicians.
Davido has headlined The O2 in London several times, including in January 2024.
Wizkid sold out three nights at The O2 in 2021.
Burna Boy sold out London Stadium in 2023, becoming the first African artist to headline a UK stadium.
To be fair to the facts, music is the category that has travelled furthest. Afrobeats now fills arenas with crowds that extend beyond the Nigerian and African diaspora, and streaming numbers, festival bookings, and mainstream collaborations support that reality.
Of all the examples discussed here, music is closest to genuine global market penetration rather than diaspora-driven demand alone.
But the same cannot yet be said with confidence for ministries, food, cosmetics, or fashion. That is where the harder question applies.
How much of the initial economic engine behind these international successes is still Nigerian?
And it is not only music.
Nigerian churches and ministries draw large gatherings in London, Houston, Toronto, and beyond.
Nigerian comedians tour internationally. Nigerian films are watched by Nigerians across the world.
Move beyond entertainment.
Nigerian food – egusi, ogbono, garri, palm oil, spices, snacks, and processed products.
Nigerian fashion – ankara, adire, traditional wear, and Nigerian designers.
Nigerian beauty – creams, black soap, shea butter, hair products, and cosmetics.
Nigerian entrepreneurs have found ready markets in London, Manchester, Toronto, Houston, and Atlanta.
Here is something important, stated directly:
We describe these businesses, artists, pastors, and brands as “international” because they operate outside Nigeria.
But international location and international customer base are not the same thing.
A Nigerian pastor can fill a Manchester venue with a Nigerian congregation.
A Nigerian cosmetics company can export to the UK while most of its buyers are Nigerians living there.
None of that is a lesser achievement. It is simply a different stage of globalisation—one that is still earlier in its evolution than music has reached.
Nigeria did not only export people. It exported a market.
Millions of Nigerians have relocated to the UK, United States, Canada, and Europe. They now earn pounds, dollars, and euros.
But migration does not erase taste, culture, religion, entertainment preference, or emotional connection. The person left Nigeria; Nigeria did not leave the person.
This does not apply only to first-generation migrants.
In many families, Nigerian identity – food, music, faith, fashion, and consumption patterns is being passed to children born abroad.
The market reproduces itself outside Nigeria.
They still listen to Nigerian music.
Still watch Nigerian films.
Still attend Nigerian churches.
Still buy Nigerian food, beauty products, and clothing.
Still follow Nigerian personalities.
And now they do so with far stronger currencies and greater purchasing power.
This changes the economics completely.
Someone who would struggle to spend the naira equivalent of £100 on entertainment in Lagos can easily spend £100 on a concert ticket in London.
The cultural preference remains Nigerian; the purchasing power does not.
The money is not coming from Nigeria.
It is being earned in Britain, America, and Canada.
But the consumer making the decision remains Nigerian.
The income is foreign.
The consumption remains partly Nigerian.
This raises important questions.
We likely underestimate the true size of the Nigerian market by counting only people inside Nigeria. There is another Nigerian consumer economy scattered across the world.
Our diaspora may be one of the most powerful distribution channels Nigerian business has, if we stop viewing them only through remittances and start seeing them as customers, distributors, promoters, and gateways into foreign markets.
And there is a real difference between diaspora success and full global market penetration:
50,000 Nigerians and Africans filling a London concert is a major achievement.
50,000 people with no prior connection to Nigeria doing the same is a different level entirely.
Music has already made significant progress in that direction. Ministries, food, fashion, and cosmetics have not yet.
Our diaspora is the bridge. It should not be the destination.
In fact, diaspora demand may be exactly how global penetration begins. Nigerians abroad create the first concentrated customer base.
They sustain restaurants, stores, concerts, and brands. Those businesses then become visible to non-Nigerians.
What begins as an ethnic market can gradually evolve into a mainstream global market. Afrobeats is already demonstrating this pathway.
Here is the uncomfortable question:
What does it say about Nigeria that some Nigerians become more economically valuable consumers of Nigerian products only after leaving Nigeria?
The talent remains Nigerian.
The music, food, ministry, and brands remain Nigerian. But much of the purchasing power that sustains them is generated outside Nigeria.
That should force a serious conversation about wages, disposable income, productivity, currency strength, and the domestic economic environment.
The people migrated.
The purchasing power changed.
But the culture travelled with them.
The Nigerian market did not disappear.
It relocated and in some cases, it became wealthier.
And this is before we even consider remittances.
According to World Bank data, personal remittances received by Nigeria were equivalent to about 8.4% of GDP in 2024.
With Nigeria’s 2024 GDP at roughly $252.3 billion, that places remittance inflows at close to $21 billion.
Sit with that figure.
Nigerians abroad are not only attending concerts, supporting ministries, and buying food, fashion, and cosmetics. They are also sending tens of billions of dollars home every year.
So the diaspora contributes in at least two distinct ways:
1. Money sent back through remittances.
2. An external market for Nigerian culture, entertainment, ministry, and business that does not require physical return to Nigeria to count as economic activity.
Remittances bring diaspora purchasing power back home.
Diaspora consumption takes Nigerian economic opportunity to where the purchasing power already exists.
Remittances measure money sent into Nigeria.
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What I am describing is broader: money Nigerians earn and spend abroad on Nigerian products, services, and institutions money that may never enter Nigeria physically, yet remains part of the Nigerian economic story.
Adetula, Business Execution Strategist, CEO, Acceltage Consulting
