http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_of_Nigeria

The article says about 510 languages. But I have a friend whose family is from Nigeria, and I discussed that with him, and he told me he thinks that what the article says is exaggerated because most of the languages there are probably just dialects of certain languages, similar to how Italian (one language) has dozens of dialects. Oftentimes even if different cultures have similar sounding languages that are mutually intelligible, they are considered serperate languages. Is he right or wrong? From my research, Nigeria has several major languages and a few dozen or so smaller languages smaller ethnic groups speak. But I could never find a full list of over half a thousand distinct languages.

I think your friend is right,most of the languages are dialects of a major language ,although there are some very distinct languages that sound totally different from the major language it is said to be coined from

Indiraserv

Sam700:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_of_Nigeria

The article says about 510 languages. But I have a friend whose family is from Nigeria, and I discussed that with him, and he told me he thinks that what the article says is exaggerated because most of the languages there are probably just dialects of certain languages, similar to how Italian (one language) has dozens of dialects. Oftentimes even if different cultures have similar sounding languages that are mutually intelligible, they are considered serperate languages. Is he right or wrong? From my research, Nigeria has several major languages and a few dozen or so smaller languages smaller ethnic groups speak. But I could never find a full list of over half a thousand distinct languages.

That's probably true. Taking a closer look at Nigerian languages, you will find out that many are merely variants of each other.

For example:
Edoid languages:
Urhobo, Isoko, Esan, Etsako etc. could be said to be dialect variants of Bini language. These languages stand alone as singular languages when in actuality they are variants of each other, and are mutually intelligble to a great extent. Unfortunately, in Nigeria every village or sub-group wants to form a 'tribe' of their own.

Igboid languages:
Etche, Ikwerre, Ogba, Ndoni, Egbema in Rivers state are pure dialects of Igbo just as Nsukka, Orlu, Owerri, Ngwa, Onitsha etc. However, due to their presence in Rivers state and 'south south', they want to be seen as tribes of their own. Ukwuani in Delta state is another dialect of Igbo, which the natives prefer to be a language of their own. With the exception of Ekpeye which is very much Igboid but I wouldn't classify it as an Igbo dialect. Some Ekpeyes bear Igbo names though.

Ijoid Languages:
Kalabari, Wakirike, Igbani, Izon, Nembe, Nkoroo etc. are all dialects of the greater Ijaw language. However, these languages are often listed as separate languages of their own even though speakers often understand themselves when they speak.

Ibibio/Efik/Annang:
I see these 'languages' as mere dialects of each other. Efik and Ibibio speakers understand themselves when they speak, though Ibibio is the most 'posh' of them and easiest to learn as the words are more easier to pick out.

Combining these various dialects of each other under one umbrella as they should be based on linguistic classification, and the collapsing of other yoruboid dialects into the greater Yoruba, and other smaller languages not mentioned into their greater language classification, the number of languages in Nigeria will be trimmed down by 50 to 100.

First thing first, there is no actual linguistic basis for distinguishing 'language' from 'dialect'. People need to understand this. The only distinction between 'language' and 'dialect' comes from socio-politics and not linguistics. To linguists, all speech varieties are language. Synonymy between speech varieties is then used to map language families. That is the linguistic view. So, with respect to the Nigerian context, there would technically be as many languages as there are unique speech communities.

It is only the socio-politics of a country like Nigeria that then creates 'languages' out of language families (or to be more specific, out of ethno-linguistic classifications) and then turns unique speech communities into 'dialects' of these newly created 'languages'. The socio-politics of Nigeria makes FG out to be the wrong source for information on the topic. To really know how many languages are in Nigeria, we would first have to come to a consensus as to how to define 'language' for the purpose of our discussion and then have an independent study.