In my opinion, I think:

1. Hausa
2. Pidgin English
3. Yoruba
4. Igbo

what's yours?

Pidgin English should be first.
Even an Hausa who doesn't understand good english well tries pidgin english.

It's Yoruba language.

It's Yoruba language. Not even pidigin

Skillfullulu:
It's Yoruba language. Not even pidigin

Look, i am also a yoruba dude, i lived in different places in nigeria. If you have to visit everywhere in nigeria, you would find out that 75 percent people in nigeria would be looking at you like musu if you speak yoruboid language among them!

It's Hausa by a landslide.

A lot of Non-Hausa peoples like my Fulani people speak Hausa as a second language, and there are other groups that speak Hausa as a 2nd language all in the North (most Northerners who aren't Hausa understand and can speak Hausa).

BrightEye:


Look, i am also a yoruba dude, i lived in different places in nigeria. If you have to visit everywhere in nigeria, you would find out that 75 percent people in nigeria would be looking at you like musu if you speak yoruboid language among them!

so which language is it?

Skillfullulu:
so which language is it?

Pidgin english na.... And hausa comes second.

BrightEye:


Pidgin english na.... And hausa comes second.

chai, I still don't agree

Skillfullulu:
chai, I still don't agree

I agree with him. Pidgin/vernacular connects us more than any other language. Hausa is the most spoken language across WA (Nigeria inclusive). That's why you have international stations having a hausa version before they even think of any other language.

Pidgin English is still a contact and business way of communication,it has not yet developed to a creole,....the answer is Hausa

Well these days I quite agree with u.

For me

Pigin English (because 99%students & south east/south can speak Pigin)
Hausa (100% North can speak hausa while 60% southwest can speak hausa)
Yoruba
Igbo

Sammy07:
For me

Pigin English (because 99%students & south east/south can speak Pigin)
Hausa (100% North can speak hausa while 60% southwest can speak hausa)
Yoruba
Igbo

More than any other part of Nigeria I have visited, people from the southeast struggle with Pidgin.

I also seriously doubt that 60% of the southwest can speak Hausa. 60%!

BrightEye:


Look, i am also a yoruba dude, i lived in different places in nigeria. If you have to visit everywhere in nigeria, you would find out that 75 percent people in nigeria would be looking at you like musu if you speak yoruboid language among them!

75% oh pls, dont push it.
More like 60%

for 35-40% of Nigeria, Yoruba is a failiar language, even if they do not really undersatand indepthly.

Sammy07:
For me

Pigin English (because 99%students & south east/south can speak Pigin)
Hausa (100% North can speak hausa while 60% southwest can speak hausa)
Yoruba
Igbo

lol... Excuse me?

RedboneSmith:


More than any other part of Nigeria I have visited, people from the southeast struggle with Pidgin.

I also seriously doubt that 60% of the southwest can speak Hausa. 60%!

Can you substantiate this claim.

It's Hausa

Afam4eva:

Can you substantiate this claim.

Having lived in the south-south, the south-west and the south-east, it is my impression that southeasterners have the poorest command of Pidgin of the three zones. And I mean those southeasterners born and raised in the southeast.

RedboneSmith:


Having lived in the south-south, the south-west and the south-east, it is my impression that southeasterners have the poorest command of Pidgin of the three zones. And I mean those southeasterners born and raised in the southeast.

I also heard someone say it while i was serving in imo state. After doing some investigations, i realized that the people who actually speak pidgin English well are those who live in cosmopolitan cities such as Lagos, PH etc. The only place where pidgin English is very well spoken is actually in the South-South states. In the SE, SW, North and other homogeneous places, pidgin English is barely well spoken.

But i don't believe the SE is the worst at pidgin English. I think the North takes that position. Even the SW is not a pidgin English enclace. Don't base your judgement on Lagos alone. I have met a Yoruba guy that can;t speak English (He's from the rural part of Ondo) and i resorted to pidgin and the guy didn't understand jack. he only speaks Yoruba. That's not something you'll find easily in the east. Almost everybody understand pdgin English to a certain level.

When did pidgin english become a language? Lol

A scot speaks english in front of you and you wont pick up a single sentence, doesnt mean hes not speaking english. Pidgin is more of a dialect of english just like the languages you mentioned here like hausa, yoruba, igbo etc all have dialects. So pidgin english shouldnt even be in the running.

YourNemesis:


75% oh pls, dont push it.
More like 60%

for 35-40% of Nigeria, Yoruba is a failiar language, even if they do not really undersatand indepthly.

Keep deluding yourself. Yoruba as a language does not go beyond the confines of Yorubaland. It's more spoken than Igbo because of the Lagos factor. But outside the SW, Yoruba is not understood except by Yorubas and few people who grew up in Yorubaland.

Afam4eva:

Keep deluding yourself. Yoruba as a language does not go beyond the confines of Yorubaland. It's more spoken than Igbo because of the Lagos factor. But outside the SW, Yoruba is not understood except by Yorubas and few people who grew up in Yorubaland.

Wait How am I deluding myself by the figure of Nigerians exposed to Yoruba in one form or the other?
First let me ask you what percentage of Nigeria do you think resides in the SW

If No less than 30% of Nigeria lives in the SW and you add those with some Yoruba language exposure in Kogi, Kwara and Edo, then you will begin to get my picture.

I stand by my earlier statement, around 35% of Nigerians can understand a few things and mutter a few stuff in Yoruba.

Definitely pidgin. No matter how bad the pidgin spoken ,one can still get the hang of it.