[citation needed] Ndibe worked in Nigeria as a journalist and magazine editor, and came to the United States in 1988 at the invitation of famous Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe.

He also contributes to many other publications, including The Hartford Courant, The Fabian Society Journal, Black Issues Book Review, BBC Online.

[8][9] His fiction has been praised by Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka ("...quite a while since I sensed creative promise on this level"), John Edgar Wideman ("first rate fiction"), Ngugi wa Thiong'o ("Moliere-like"), Janet Maslin of the New York Times ("razor-sharp"), Los Angeles Times ("Ndibe seems to have a boundless ear for the lyrical turns of phrase of the working people of rural Nigeria"), and Paste magazine ("just about perfect"), among many others.

Janet Maslin, the Philadelphia Inquirer, National Public Radio, Mosaic magazine, Cleveland Plain Dealer, among others, named Foreign Gods, Inc. one of the best 10 or most remarkable books of 2014.

Ndibe relocated to the United States in 1988 to serve as founding editor of African Commentary, a magazine described as "award-winning and widely acclaimed.