Culture

The variety of customs, languages and traditions among Nigeria's hundreds of ethnic groups gives the country a rich diversity. The largest ethnic groups are the Hausa, Fulani, Yoruba, Igbo (Ibo), accounting for 68% of population, while the Edo, Ijaw (10%), Kanuri, Ibibio, Nupe and Tiv comprise 27%; other minorities make up the remaining 7%. The middle belt of Nigeria is known for its diversity of ethnic groups, including the Pyem, Goemai, and Kofyar. Other ethnic groups include the Ham.

There are small minorities of English, Americans, East Indians, Chinese, Japanese, Syrian, Lebanese and refugees and immigrants from other West African or East African nations. These minorities mostly reside in major cities such as Lagos and Abuja, or in the Niger Delta as employees for the major oil companies. A number of Cubans settled Nigeria as political refugees following the Cuban Revolution. A number of them include Afro-Cubans and mixed-raced Cubans.

Literature

Nigeria has a rich literary history, both prior to British imperialism and after, as Nigerians have authored several works of post-colonial literature in the English language. The second African Nobel Laureate, Wole Soyinka is Nigeria's best-known writer and playwright. Other Nigerian writers and poets who are well known on the international stage include Chinua Achebe, John Pepper Clark, Ben Okri, Sonny Oti and Ken Saro Wiwa who was executed in 1995 by the military regime.

Nigeria has the second largest newspaper market in Africa (after Egypt) with an estimated circulation of several million copies daily in 2003.

Music

Nigerian music includes many kinds of folk and popular music, some of which are known worldwide. Styles of folk music are related to the multitudes of ethnic groups in the country, each with their own techniques, instruments and songs. As a result, there are many different types of music.

Nigeria has been called "the heart of African music" because of its role in the development of West African highlife and palm-wine music, which fuses native rhythms with techniques imported from the Congo for the development of several popular styles that were unique to Nigeria, like apala, fuji, jùjú, and Yo-pop. Subsequently, Nigerian musicians created their own styles of US hip-hop and Jamaican reggae. Nigeria's musical output has achieved international acclaim not only in the fields of folk and popular music, but also Western art music written by composers such as Fela Sowande.

Polyrhythms, in which two or more separate beats are played simultaneously, are a part of much of traditional African music; Nigeria is no exception. The African hemiola style, based on the asymmetric rhythm pattern is an important rhythmic technique throughout the continent. Nigerian music also uses ostinato rhythms, in which a rhythmic pattern is repeated despite changes in metre.

Many late 20th century musicians such as Fela Kuti have famously fused cultural elements of various indigenous music with American Jazz and Soul to form Afrobeat music. JuJu music which is percussion music fused with traditional music from the Yoruba nation and made famous by King Sunny Ade, is also from Nigeria.

Film

The Nigerian Film Industry (also known as Nollywood) is famous throughout Africa. Many of the film studios are based in Lagos and Abuja and the industry is now a very lucrative income for these cities. As opposed to cinemas, the industry relies heavily on selling VCD's or what are often known as home movies. The movies are normally based around domestic issues though some have ventured further, this has led to some commentators branding the story lines as being trite.

Sport

Like many nations, football is Nigeria's national sport. There is also a local Premier League of football. Nigeria's national football team, known as the Super Eagles, has reached the World Cup on three occasions 1994, 1998, and 2002, won the African Cup of Nations in 1980 and 1994, and also hosted the Junior World Cup. They won the gold medal for football in the 1996 Summer Olympics (in which they beat Argentina and Brazil) and have reached the finals of the U-20 World Championship in 2003.