The focus of this chapter is on the use of the English language and its intersections with culture, elitism, and power. Most of the broad statements should be applicable to the majority of African countries, although the data is drawn from Nigeria. To follow the use of English in Africa is like following a river that may lead to a sea. We are dealing with a situation of linguistic and cultural diversity—while English is the official language, the majority of the population uses a host of other languages to conduct their various daily activities.

As with the rise of an educated elite, we are dealing with a “new” phenomenon dating only from the mid-nineteenth century. The English language, in its association with the educated elite, developed slowly. For most of the twentieth century it was a language of the minority and it was a powerful vehicle to express nationalism during the colonial era. As the majority of the population was disempowered by the inability to use the English language, they formulated alternative strategies of survival, which included the evolution of a new form of English, the Nigerian pidgin or “rotten English.” Thus, the space became crowded with the use of not one English, but various Englishes.