Nigeria has 20 main languages, although they have quite a diverse population. There are many different languages due to the many tribes in Nigeria which all speak unique languages. There is a total of 521 in the country, however it is extremely difficult to list them all due to the intense diversity. The 4 offical languages of Nigeria are most prevently spoken.
Main/Official Languages: English: English is one of the 4 official language of Nigeria, belonging to the West Germanic language branch of the Indo-European language family. It was brought over by colinizers from England, and spread through the diffusion of Christianity from the missionarys. Nigeria has a total of 82,941,000 english speakers.
Yoruba: Also an official language of Nigeria, Yoruba belongs to the Niger Congo language branch which consists of the majority of Nigerias main languages. It is spoken by a total of 22 million people, with the majority living in southwest Nigeria. This language is also spoken in Benin, Togo, the UK, Brazil and the USA.
Ibo: Also spelled Igbo, it an official language of Nigeria. It has a total of 18 million speakers, whom live in both Nigeria and Equatorial Guinea. It belongs to the Volta-Niger branch of the Niger-Congo language family.
Hausa: With around 44 million speakers, this language belongs to the Afro-Asiatic language family. It is a Chadic language, which is spoken primarily in Nigeria, Niger, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, CAR, Chad, Congo, Eritrea, Germany, Ghana, Sudan and Togo. Out of the Afro Asiatic family, this language has the most speakers.
Kanuri: This language belongs to the Nilo Saharen language family, with about 4 million speakers. The speakers are based in Nigeria, Niger, Chad, and Cameroon, as well as Libia and some in Sudan. This language is used as a lingua franca, to help with communication among villagers of different tribes.