The expansion of Shi‘ism in Nigeria following the Iranian Islamic Revolution represents a significant socio-religious transformation in the contemporary Muslim world that cannot be adequately explained through purely historical or single-factor approaches. This study aims to analyze the contextual factors underlying this phenomenon by employing Anthony Giddens’ structuration theory as its theoretical framework. Adopting a qualitative and interpretive methodology, the research draws on both library-based sources and fieldwork data, including in-depth interviews. The findings demonstrate that the spread of Shi‘ism in Nigeria has emerged from a dynamic interaction between social structures and the active agency of local actors. At the structural level, religious factors such as Maliki jurisprudence and Sufi orders, historical elements including the legacy of Usman dan Fodio’s Islamic movement, cultural conditions such as religious tolerance, social factors like a young population and socio-economic inequality, and political–legal contexts characterized by relative freedom of religion have all played enabling roles. These structures have provided the rules and resources through which Shi‘a actors have been able to reinterpret and reconstruct their religious identity. At the level of agency, religious elites and educated youth—most notably Sheikh Ibrahim Zakzaky—have played a central role in the social reproduction of Shi‘ism. The study argues that Shi‘ism in Nigeria initially gained prominence as a political-revolutionary orientation inspired by the Iranian Islamic Revolution and gradually evolved into an institutionalized religious identity.