About ANIV

The Association of Nigerians in Victoria began with people finding each other. In a city far from Lagos and Abuja, Nigerians were already gathering — at each other's homes, at church, at birthdays and naming ceremonies — quietly building the friendships that make a place feel like home.

In 2019, those gatherings found a name. What had been informal started to take shape as a community — one that could mark the important things together, look out for its members, and speak for Nigerians in the wider Victoria landscape. The Independence Gala became its anchor, a yearly occasion to celebrate Nigeria's independence and, just as much, each other.

For a few years ANIV lived as that gathering — organized enough to bring people together, still growing into the structure of a registered association. The work of turning a community of friends into an organisation that could hold records, collect dues, and run programs year after year was done quietly, by the same kind of people who had always shown up.

In 2024, ANIV was formally constituted, and ten members stepped forward to serve as its first executive. They took on a membership that was still being built, finances that were still being set up, and the everyday work of making the association real — none of it paid, all of it chosen.

Today ANIV is the community it was always meant to be: a home for Nigerians in Greater Victoria that celebrates culture, supports members through hard stretches, helps newcomers settle, and stands for its people in the city they now call home.