Christine Ofolue, a professor of linguistics at the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN), says Nigerian Pidgin is globally growing fast due to its exceptional scale and reach.
Ofolue spoke in Abuja on Tuesday while delivering the university’s 35th inaugural lecture with the theme, “Reclaiming Marginalised Voices: Intersections of Diversity and Educational Spaces.”
While assering that all languages are equal, she also said Nigeria stands as Africa’s most linguistically diverse nation, with around 540 distinct languages across three major language families — Afro-Asiatic, Nilo-Saharan, and Niger-Congo spoken by over 223 million people.
“This diversity means that multilingualism is not just common, but a way of life,” she said, adding, “Nigerians regularly navigate fluidly among local, regional, and national languages.”
Ofulue argued that while English sits atop the hierarchy as the language of formal education and administration, many minority languages face endangerment, policy neglect, and declining intergenerational transmission, marking a stark divide between grassroots linguistic reality and official recognition.
The professor explained that at the heart of this linguistic landscape is Nigerian Pidgin (Naija), a vibrant result of centuries-old contact, trade, and multicultural adaptation.
According to her, among the world’s 76 pidgins and creoles, Nigerian Pidgin is exceptional for its scale and reach.
“It is spoken by 100 – 120 million people, making it the 14th most spoken language globally,” she said.
She buttressed that it has evolved from a colonial era trade code into a pan-Nigerian lingua franca, serving daily communication, creative expression, and social bonding, while symbolising both urban identity and national belonging.
Ofolue added: “The journey of Nigerian pidgin is not just a story of marginalisation, but also of resilience and reclamation.”
She explained that it is a testament to everyday Nigeria’s capacity to forge unity and voice across boundaries, even as it remains excluded from many formal domains.
On “reclaiming marginalised voices,” she said this can be achieved through robust, strategic and locally grounded research agendas.
These include building learning analytics systems that generate actionable data, digitising indigenous knowledge systems, and undertaking comparative studies within African contexts.
The lecturer pointed out that the implications of marginalisation of small languages are that without deliberate intervention, it will continue to be excluded from education, digital spaces, and economic opportunity.
She noted that, for educational spaces, curriculum reform, inclusive pedagogy, and technology learning can reposition indigenous language to resources, not relics.
She recommended interventions that can promote language development in marginalised languages some of which include standardisation of terminology, develop glossaries for digital, technical, and educational fields through expert user partnerships, as well as promotion of multimedia content, which includes support accessible and engaging audio-visual content in indigenous languages to meet learners in digital spaces.
Olufemi Peters, the vice-chancellor and chairman of the inaugural lecture series, thanked Ofolue for “reminding us how important our pidgin is.”
He spoke in pidgin while saluting the linguistics professor for a good lecture, drawing animated cheers from the large audience.
