 After the Nigerian @-@ Biafran War , many Igbo people emigrated out of the indigenous Igbo homeland in southeastern Nigeria due to an absence of federal presence , lack of jobs , and poor infrastructure . In recent decades the Igbo region of Nigeria has suffered from frequent environmental damage mainly related to the oil industry . Igbo people have moved to both Nigerian cities such as Lagos and Abuja , and other countries such as Gabon , Canada , the United Kingdom and the United States . Prominent Igbo communities outside Africa include those of London in the United Kingdom and Houston , Baltimore , Chicago , Detroit , Seattle , Atlanta and Washington , D.C. in the United States . 
