Nigeria is a country which is very rich – not only in terms of natural resources and human potential, but also in terms of languages and cultures. According to reference books like the Ethnologue (Grimes ed. 1996) and the Index of Nigerian Languages (Crozier & Blench 1992) there are about 500 languages spoken in Nigeria today.
There are some large languages like Hausa, Igbo, Yoruba, Fulfulde, or Kanuri, which are spoken by millions of first and second language speakers, but most Nigerian languages are minority languages with only a small number of speakers.
Some Nigerian languages have developped orthographies and written traditions, but most are pre-literate until now.
Some Nigerian languages are taught in Primary and Secondary Schools and in Universities in Nigeria and even abroad, but most have hardly been documented.
Many Nigerian languages are endangered, due to external influences and lack of interest in their use and development.
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