The people. Nigeria is a very ethnically diverse country with (over) 371 ethnic groups, the largest of which are the Hausa, Yoruba and the Igbo. Nigeria has one official language which is English, as a result of the British colonial rule over the nation. Nevertheless, it is not spoken as a first language in the entire country because other languages have been around for over a thousand years making them the major languages in terms of numbers of native speakers. Over 500 languages are spoken among its about 230 million people. This is a result of the number of existing ethnic groups. Some of the popular languages spoken in Nigeria are listed as follows: Yoruba, Hausa Igbo, Ibibio, Kanuri, Ijaw, Edo, Fulfude, Tiv, Igede, Ukele, Idoma, Yalla and Urhobo to name a few
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