By Ogungbayi Adeyemi S. | adeyemi@ddnewsonline.com
Editor, DDNews |
DDNewsOnline – Lagos July 30, 2026
A simple question asked during a podcast conversation has given birth to Nigeria’s first dedicated cultural archive for Nigerian Pidgin, one of the most widely spoken informal languages in the country and across West Africa.
Akin Onifade, founder of the Nigerian Pidgin Cultural Archive (NPCA), revealed that the project was inspired by a remark made by Wale Lawal, founder of The Republic, during an episode of the Lost in Lagos podcast.
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Lawal had observed: “Pidgin is something we speak every day… Where’s our Pidgin dictionary?”
That question, posed on 3 July 2026, stayed with Onifade and eventually grew into a long-term research and documentation initiative focused on the history, evolution, institutions, and cultural significance of Nigerian Pidgin.
Nigerian Pidgin is spoken daily in markets, music, comedy, newsrooms, football discussions, public campaigns, films, and everyday conversations. Despite its massive reach, much of its history remains scattered across academic papers, books, interviews, broadcast archives, and personal memories.
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Onifade noted that while the language is ubiquitous, it has long lacked a central documentary home.
“The language was everywhere. Its documentary home was not,” he said.
The NPCA aims to change that by preserving not just words, but the stories, people, organisations, campaigns, and cultural moments that shaped the language over centuries of trade, migration, colonial contact, media, and creative expression.
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Around the world, languages are increasingly becoming part of conversations about artificial intelligence, digital preservation, and cultural heritage. African language initiatives such as Masakhane have highlighted the importance of building structured language resources for the future.
Onifade believes archives play a complementary role by preserving the historical and cultural context that gives those languages meaning.
“Every institution begins with a question,” he said. “For NPCA, it was a question asked during an ordinary podcast conversation.”
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What the Project Aims to Achieve
The Nigerian Pidgin Cultural Archive is focused on:
Documenting the historical development of Nigerian Pidgin
Recording the voices of people who have shaped and popularised the language
Preserving institutional and media records connected to Pidgin
Creating a long-term cultural resource for researchers, journalists, creatives, and the public
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Onifade emphasised that the project is not merely about collecting vocabulary. Its broader goal is to ensure that the cultural life of Nigerian Pidgin is properly recorded and accessible for future generations.
As conversations around language technology and African digital heritage continue to expand, the launch of the NPCA marks a significant step in giving Nigerian Pidgin the institutional recognition and historical documentation it has long lacked.
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About the Author
Akin Onifade is a renowned journalist and Marketing Officer with DDNewsonline. He is also the Co-Founder of the Nigerian Pidgin Cultural Archive (NPCA). He researches the history, evolution, and cultural significance of Nigerian Pidgin, while documenting the institutions, voices, and historical records connected to the language.