The Unofficial Official Nigerian Language

The Unofficial Official Nigerian Language (you don't know about)

I was having a conversation at work with a co-worker who was also a Nigerian from the South-South when this older Ukrainian woman walked up to us. Mind you, we were having this conversation in English. Seeming curious, she asked in this thick Ukrainian accent (no offenses): "Do you all speak English in Nigeria?"

Well, "hell yes!" was what I answered in my head.

"Yes, we do," my co-worker replied. She shook her head in awe and wonderment. Then I added, "We have our tribal languages; in fact, over 500 native languages, but English is the official language used in Nigeria." I could tell she never knew, and her "wow!" confirmed it. I further explained that we're from different ethnic backgrounds, so we can't understand each other's native language.

Some days later, this same Nigerian colleague and I sat in the employee break room and were having a conversation; this time we spoke in Pidgin. The same woman from earlier—yes, you guessed right—the Ukrainian woman; she's so beautiful by the way, perhaps she had been listening to us for some minutes and couldn't figure out what we were saying, so out of curiosity, she said.

"I thought you could only communicate in English."

"Yes, you thought right, ma'am!" Obviously, I didn't say that aloud. That was me squirming in my head. "Yes. But we also have this common spoken pidgin widely spoken in Nigeria besides English." I don't know if she understood, but she nodded in understanding and said nothing more. The thing is, for anyone who isn't a Nigerian to understand Nigeria, the person would have to study Nigeria like a course, and four years wouldn't be enough.

I have not shown so much appreciation to the Nigerian Pidgin until some months ago, when I left Nigeria to Canada. Whenever you found a group of Nigerians, they spoke pidgin, and it was fun. How could I, an Igbo girl, communicate with my Yoruba sister in an encrypted way so the people around wouldn't understand? Pidgin, of course!

This underrated yet super relevant language has been saving lives since Nigeria became a country. We were taught not to speak it because they called it "Bad English."

How else would I have told the "aboki" cobbler by the roadside that I needed my shoe to reflect the sun's gaze on my first day at work if not "Aboki shine my shoe"? How would the old woman who sells pepper and tomatoes at Underbridge Ikeja have known I needed the hottest pepper if I had not said, "abeg give me pepper wey dey pepper"?

As part of the resilience and independent African spirit, we were able to come up with a tongue to communicate with everyone regardless of the diversity in ethnic backgrounds. The 1914 amalgamation of Nigeria brought together independent tribes and states with different histories to become one, to become a nation.

Nigerian Pidgin is a testament to our unity in diversity.

They gave us English and made it our lingua franca. Who could speak or understand the strange tongue? In an attempt to communicate in this "official language", a mixture of cluttered languages, including English, was born. This is another example of beauty in shambles.

The Nigerian Pidgin is a testament to our struggle. Several tongues battling to prevail because we were forced to speak in the jailer's tongue. It represents the battle won amidst the strife.

So when next you hear about Nigeria, our history is not complete without the Nigerian Pidgin.

Proudly Nigerian!

(c) Chidinma Favour Anosike 2023