Nigerian States With The Least And The Most Languages - Politics (4) - Nairaland
Nairaland Forum › Nairaland General › Politics › Nigerian States With The Least And The Most Languages (20961 Views)
| Re: Nigerian States With The Least And The Most Languages by flesxy: 7:46am On Oct 03, 2025 |
Edo state has the highest, you forgot to add that..... |
| Re: Nigerian States With The Least And The Most Languages by aalangel(f): 7:55am On Oct 03, 2025 |
DrMB:Anambra — 2 [Igbo & Igala] Excuse you? 1 Like |
| Re: Nigerian States With The Least And The Most Languages by Xkay29(m): 8:14am On Oct 03, 2025 |
What a fake data, go to kwara and confirm the numbers of languages they speak. 1 Like |
| Re: Nigerian States With The Least And The Most Languages by osuofia2(m): 8:16am On Oct 03, 2025 |
Fake data, I am from Enugu but I am not Igbo. Get your facts right 1 Like |
| Re: Nigerian States With The Least And The Most Languages by sherlock229(m): 8:25am On Oct 03, 2025 |
Ttalk:Wtf is this? Awori and ijebu are under yoruba language. 1 Like |
| Re: Nigerian States With The Least And The Most Languages by ademijuwonlo(f): 8:38am On Oct 03, 2025 |
DrMB:Is Ondo State a joke to you? There are different languages in Ondo State too |
| Re: Nigerian States With The Least And The Most Languages by XAUBulls: 9:48am On Oct 03, 2025 |
DrMB:There's NOTHING like "Ahan" language in Ekiti State. They speak the Ekiti dialect of the larger Yoruba language. There's a difference between language and dialect. Unfortunately, a lot of posters right from Page 1 are clueless about this distinction despite the widespread availability of advanced online search tools. Second, Enugu State has an over 500-year history of Igala language and culture presence in the North of Enugu State just like in Anambra State (sharing boundaries with the larger Igalas in Kogi State). There are many Igala-associated communities in Delta North of Delta State such as Asaba, Okpanam, Illah, Ebu, Anambra, and Enugu States, etc, (Igala language is classified by linguists as a "Yoruboid language" just like Itsekiri because about 65% of the words are derived from Yoruba and is mutually intelligible with the core Yoruba language with the remaining words being largely derived from Idoma language). Igala is made up of a fusion of ancestral bloodlines of migrants from Wukari who meet a significant number of Yorubas and Edos around the confluence of the river Niger centuries back and fused with them based on a 2017 interview the last Attah of Igala, Michael Ameh Oboni granted to a major media outlet which can still be read online. I was NOT surprised to read years ago in a book ["Ibo-Igala Borderlands"], published by Boston a White American scholar of the University of Nigeria in Nsukka in the 1960s to the 1970s who indicated that: "the Igalas and their Yoruba friends were in Nsukka hunting together as far back as the 1700s." Therefore, it's NOT surprising based on the ancestral relationship that many words from the Yoruba language and other groups such as Idoma [Egungun for masquerade in Yoruba is spelled Egwugwu in Igala, Omi in Yoruba and Igala for water, Ogede in Yoruba and Igala for plantain or banana, Ewa for beans in Yoruba spelled as Egwa in Igala, Iba for fever, Ewure in Yoruba for goat, Ifa for Ifa divination, Oma for child, "Ise" for work in Yoruba is spelled as "Uche" in Igala, Osu for month is spelled Ochu in Igala, etc] are largely found in Igala language. INFACT some of the few Yoruba loan words borrowed into central Ibo lexicon today definitely came in through the Igala language and cultural presence in the contiguous Anambra, Enugu, and Delta North areas including through other means. I watched a fascinating documentary online about Onitsha and Asaba history and it's a FACT that the Asaba and Onitsha folks who have Igala bloodlines and quarters as told by the chiefs interviewed in both communities [through Nnebisi in Asaba whose biological father was Igala and young mother from Nteje in Anambra State] call masquerade "Egwugwu" which is derived from the Yoruba word for masquerade meaning "Egungun."It MUST be stated that it was the Igalas who used their boats to transport the Chima descendants from the banks of river Niger in what is now the Delta State area to Onitsha just 400 years ago. BUT from advanced history, the Igalas where the FIRST EVER to settle in Onitsha and the area is now of mixed Igala, Ibo, etc, ancestries with 8 quarters. Aside from those linguistic errors from Ekiti State and Enugu State, Statisense, the rest of the data is near-accurate. 1 Like 1 Share |
| Re: Nigerian States With The Least And The Most Languages by XAUBulls: 10:02am On Oct 03, 2025 |
Mynd44:@Mynd44, NO. You definitely made a "typographic error" in your last post sentence. The Ijebus, Egbas, and Aworis are SUB-ETHNIC groups of the larger Yoruba ethnic group. They are NOT ethnic groups BUT SUB-ETHNIC groups. The word tribe is now viewed as dated and derogatory when referring to a group of people and this is why many Native Americans do NOT like being called tribes. They prefer the term "Native Americans." Africans MUST stop referring to themselves as tribes which connotes primitivity BUT refer to themselves as ETHNIC groups or SUB-ETHNIC groups. 1 Like 1 Share |
| Re: Nigerian States With The Least And The Most Languages by zelnababa(m): 10:03am On Oct 03, 2025 |
Ttalk:oga, yoruba is yoruba irrespective of dialect you speak 1 Like 1 Share |
| Re: Nigerian States With The Least And The Most Languages by UzorIyke(m): 10:07am On Oct 03, 2025 |
zuby4real10:You're wrong I'm even surprised to see Anambra having two, in SE apart from Ebonyi State the remaining 4 states should have just 1 language. |
| Re: Nigerian States With The Least And The Most Languages by XAUBulls: 10:17am On Oct 03, 2025 |
Ttalk:Ttalk, YOU have to correct your error here so you don't mislead others. The Aworis and Ijebus of Lagos State are SUB-ETHNIC groups of the larger Yoruba ethnic group. Therefore, spoken Awori and Ijebu are DIALECTS of the larger or parent Yoruba language. The Ogus too are related to the Yorubas as well from the days of the Oyo Empire and are ancestrally a mix of Yoruba and Fon people. The Fon people of Benin Republic too evolved as a mix of Yoruba and Aja people of Benin and Togo centuries back. 1 Like 1 Share |
| Re: Nigerian States With The Least And The Most Languages by XAUBulls: 10:38am On Oct 03, 2025 |
ademijuwonlo:Let me add some real meat to your convo ABOVE. Ondo State is largely Yoruba-speaking with different Yoruba DIALECTS of the Yoruba ethnic group. However, there is a minority Arogbo-Ijaw migrant group in the Ese-Odo LGA and the Yoruba-speaking "Apoi" people where Omoyele Sowere comes from. Omoyele who bears Yoruba names identified himself as being an an Ijaw (in a short YouTube video I saw in late 2024) and that people mistake him for a Yoruba. But his small community speaks Yoruba, bears Yoruba names and is Yorubanized. The Ilaje-Yorubas of Ondo State where the current Governor of Ondo State hails from are part of the larger Yoruba ethnic group are ALSO indigenous to that Ese-Odo LGA but totally own the entire oil and gas-rich Ilaje LGA which shares direct boundaries with the Atlantic Ocean. 2 Likes 2 Shares |
| Re: Nigerian States With The Least And The Most Languages by Kalulu44: 10:54am On Oct 03, 2025 |
Mynd44:Which one is they’re not tribes but groups. Do people speak ijebu, Egba, Awori yes. So why are they distinct language to you |
| Re: Nigerian States With The Least And The Most Languages by Kalulu44: 10:56am On Oct 03, 2025 |
zuby4real10:Nope, he meant one language. And even that is a lie |
| Re: Nigerian States With The Least And The Most Languages by EvilMerodack(m): 12:50pm On Oct 03, 2025 |
MadamExcellency:No be you dey form tech genius then and na simple things like you dey t-r-o-u-ble u |
| Re: Nigerian States With The Least And The Most Languages by Iceberg3: 2:31pm On Oct 03, 2025 |
Ttalk: |
| Re: Nigerian States With The Least And The Most Languages by Iceberg3: 2:45pm On Oct 03, 2025 |
My44:Ttalk don't be afraid,say something to this nahhhhhg  You were threatening the drmb op but now...  |
| Re: Nigerian States With The Least And The Most Languages by femi4: 8:46pm On Oct 03, 2025 |
Ttalk:These are dilects under Yoruba |
| Re: Nigerian States With The Least And The Most Languages by Agbaoloye: 12:35pm On Oct 04, 2025 |
iranu ogun state alone get pass 5 languages make una go research well. |
| Re: Nigerian States With The Least And The Most Languages by Agbaoloye: 12:36pm On Oct 04, 2025 |
big fat lie femi4: |
| Re: Nigerian States With The Least And The Most Languages by femi4: 12:41pm On Oct 04, 2025 |
Agbaoloye:ki lomode e mo A language is an abstract system of communication, while a dialect is a specific variety of that language, distinguished by differences in vocabulary, grammar, or pronunciation |
| Re: Nigerian States With The Least And The Most Languages by drmorphine(m): 9:22pm On Oct 04, 2025 |
The information here seems not accurate. For example in Cross River alone, there are more than 15 indigenous languages that I have personally experienced. In Abi LGA, alone there are like more than 7 indigenous languages widely spoken. |
| Re: Nigerian States With The Least And The Most Languages by Christistruth03: 5:34am On Oct 05, 2025 |
Ttalk:Awori and Ijebu are Yoruba they are also in Ogun State Lagos has 2 languages , Yoruba and Egun |
| Re: Nigerian States With The Least And The Most Languages by Christistruth03: 5:37am On Oct 05, 2025 |
Enugu also has Igala and Abia has ibibio |
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