The Uncommon "Nationhood"

 Well, let me start by making it clear that Nigeria and Ethiopia had quite very much differences in our colonial histories. Ethiopia as a multi-ethnic state was never really ruled for long by the Europeans or brought together as one nation by the Europeans hence the use of a single native language as the official language in spite of the ethnic diversity.

In the case of Nigeria, Hausa language was successfully promoted to be the lingua franca and supposedly official language of the Northern region of the country which had hundreds of ethnic groups. It worked and that's why till date Hausa has more 2nd language speakers than native speakers in Nigeria.

Promoting Igbo & Yoruba as the unifying languages of the South somehow failed because the British somehow preferred the South divided so that the north could dominate and rule the entire country as the British were very pleased at the powerful monarchial system of government and literacy they met in northern Nigeria. The northerners were also more loyal to the British and an indirect rule system of government was used in the north, unlike in the south which was quite the opposite.

Minority ethnic groups of the south were also more resistant against majority group acculturation and almost immediately after independence some of them were able to get their own autonomous region from the Yoruba western region which they were placed under.

For the minority groups under the Igbos, they were somehow liberated during the Nigerian civil war.

This Nigerian civil war brought about the end of regionalism and regional governments in Nigeria and a central government took over creating numerous states. The central government had to use English language as the sole option of uniting the entire country. This was why and how English became more powerful than the 3 national or regional languages.

The creation of different many states and a common central government forced Nigerians from different ethnic backgrounds to live together as it rapidly increased urbanization and made some cities an ethnic melting pot. Now, this is typically unlike Ethiopia where particular ethnic groups overwhelmingly dominate specific cities.

Nigeria is very urban with approximately 60% of our population living in urban areas.

However, most cities and states of the north heavily retained Hausa as their lingua franca and as such, to survive in these cities/states, you must speak Hausa.

Likewise in most cities and states of the South-west & South-east and even parts of Lagos city, you must speak either Yoruba or Igbo to survive as a lot of the masses do not understand English.

Culled from LinkedIn