CULTURE

 CULTURAL DIVERSITY IN NIGERIA: A TRUE DEFINITION OF A TYPICALLY HETEROGENEOUS SOCIETY CO-EXISTING AS A NATION.

Obviously, prior to the amalgamation of Nigeria in 1914, the country had been existing, not as a whole nation but as fragments, depicting the essence of a true society. Maybe Lord Frederick lugard could have named Nigeria the United States of Nigeria. 

The Nigerian culture is shaped by Nigeria's multiple ethnic groups. The country has over 521 languages and over 1150 dialects and ethnic groups. The four largest ethnic groups are the Hausa and Fulani who are predominant in the north, the Igbo who are predominant in the southeast, and the Yoruba in the southwest.

The Edo people are predominant in the region between Yorubaland and Igboland. This group is followed by the Ibibio/Annang/Efik people of the coastal south southern Nigeria and the Ijaw of the Niger Delta.

The rest of Nigeria's ethnic groups (sometimes called 'minorities') are found all over the country but especially in the middle belt and the north. 

To foster co-existing and to ensure that the nation stays together, the different ethnic groups have been able to understand one another since they have been dealing and trading together. Trade and business have been the common terms through which nations and different ethnic groups work together.

Nigeria is famous for its English language literature, apart from the 'pure' English speaking population, Nigerian pidgin (which uses a primary English lexicon) is also a common lingua franca. Roughly a third of Nigeria's population speak Pidgin English which is a simplified form of the language, for instance "How you dey" would be substituted for "How are you". Since the 1990s the Nigerian movie industry, sometimes called "Nollywood" has emerged as a fast-growing cultural force all over the continent.

It is true that today, African cultures are under threat. These cultures are in fact being pushed beyond their limits of tolerance in manners that suggest danger.

Some cultures are in fact already surviving at the merging. Unfortunately, the time to begin to appreciate and re-appreciate the cultural importance to regional growth is now as experiences suggest that the pathways to Nigerian and African development are strategically hidden in the cultures and cultural-political determination and resoluteness of the country and the region. The cultures hold the key to growth, oneness, integration, identity and development ultimately. There is thus a strong interrelationship among culture, growth, progress, development and even national integration. Even though Nigerians, and many African nations, may not consciously appreciate this fact, the unprecedented pace and degree of cultural neglect in the nation(s) is unrivalled.