Nigeria: Nigeria Art / Culture Profile

The Culture of Nigeria is shaped by Nigeria's multiple ethnic groups. The country has over 250 different languages and cultures. The four largest are the Hausa-Fulani who are predominant in the north, the Igbo who are predominant in the southeast, the Yoruba who are predominant in the southwest and the Benin Tribes who are predominant in the west, 80 percent of the Benins tend to be Christian while the remaining 20 percent worship idols which is called Ogu. These are followed by the Ibibio/Annang/Efik Efik, Ibibio, Annang people of the coastal southeastern Nigeria and the Ijaw of the Nigerian Delta.

The rest of Nigeria's ethnic groups (sometimes called "mini-minorities") are found all over the country but especially in the densely populated south. The Hausa tend to be Muslim and the Igbo, Christian. Ibibio/Annang/Efik Efik, Ibibio, Annang people are mainly Christian as Christianity and Western system entered Nigeria through their capital city Calabar. The Practitioners of both Christianity and Islam are found among the Yoruba. Indigenous religious practices remain important, especially in the south, and are often blended with Christian beliefs.

Nigeria is famous for its English literature and its popular music. Since the 1990s the Nigerian movie industry, sometimes called "Nollywood" has emerged as a fast-growing cultural force all over the continent.

Traditional music often include musicians on Gongon drums.

Other traditional cultural expressions are found in the various masquerades of Nigeria, such as the Eyo masquerades, the Ekpe and Ekpo Masquerades of Ibibio/Annang/Efik Efik, Ibibio, Annang people Ekpe Society in Calabar, the inventor of Nsibidi script of Nigeria and the Northern Edo Masquerades. Yoruba wooden masks are used in the Gelede masquerades.

Nigerian artists and writers

Internationally-known artists and writers from Nigeria include writer Chinua Achebe, Odia Ofeimum, James Ene Henshaw, Ntienyong Udo Akpan, E. E. Nkanga, Sola Osofisan, Chidi Anthony Opara, Ogaga Ifowodo, Maik Nwosu, Obi Nwakanma. juju musician King Sunny Ade, Nigerian-born Grammy winning jazz singer Sade (Helen Folasade Adu), free-style jazz musician Fela Kuti, who uses traditional African call-and-response, writer Ben Okri, playwright Ken Saro-Wiwa, Nobel prize winning writer Wole Soyinka, and British/Nigerian artist Yinka Shonibare.