Nigerian culture expresses and invigorates itself through a wide variety of ancient and modern art, dance, drama, language, literature, folklore, film, music, and more. Although it is deeply traditional and spiritual, it continually receives international acclaim and appreciation.

This culture reflects African, and in some areas, Islamic influences. In the north, the principal inspiration for the architecture and calligraphy was Islam. Because Islam frowns on the representation of people and animals, art forms such as ceremonial carvings are virtually absent in the north. In the south and non-Muslim parts of the north, indigenous peoples produced their own art long before Europeans arrived.

The Nok Culture, which attained its peak between 500 BC and 200 AD, represented by sophisticated terra cotta sculptures, depicted the early life and spirituality of the people of the Nok region North of the Benue River, in what is now Kaduna State.  These people used iron extensively.  . The fragments are primarily from human and animal figures, some of which were probably attached to large pots. The human figures range in size from about 10 cm (4 in) to more than 120 cm (47 in). Patterns in the clay represent elaborate hairstyles, jewelry, deity and clothing.  

The village of Nok, near Kafanchan, remains an attraction for visitors who want to see the cradle and remnants of this civilization.

 Today, Nok terra cotta figurines and other exceptional works of art grace museums in Nigeria and abroad. Many of these masterpieces were looted and now reside in Western museums where they were taken during the time of colonial conquest. The Nigerian government has demanded the return of stolen art, particularly from Benin and Nok, with little success.

The magnificent Ife and Benin bronzes are excellent models of portraiture and the "cire perdue" method of casting. Archaeological evidence suggests that the inimitable Ife and Benin bronzes have the same pedigree if not the same artistic energy and inspiration as the Nok terra cotta craftsmen.

The Igbo-Ukwu peoples of in Enugu State have also produced advanced ancient bronze creations, with intricate and symmetrical designs.  

Wooden masks and creations, which were objects of worship or ceremony, are an important part of Nigeria’s artistic heritage. Some of the finest examples are from cultures such as the Ijo, Ibibio, and Igbo nationalities of southeastern Nigeria.  According to the Encarta Encyclopedia, authentic examples of this art command high prices from collectors in the West, explaining for the frequent theft of ceremonial objects from shrines and museums in Nigeria. Modern artists typically draw on both African and Western influences. Members of the Oshogbo School, founded by Ulli Beier in the early 1960s, have explored Yoruba spirituality in several media. Leading Oshogbo artists include painter and musician Taiwo Olaniyi, also known as Twins Seven Seven; painter and writer Amos Totuola; and sculptors Asiru Olatunde, Adebisi Akanji, and Susanne Wenger Alarpe. The development of modern Nigerian art has also been strongly influenced by students of the Zaria and Nsukka schools, dating respectively from the late 1950s and early 1970s. The Zaria school first explored the possibilities of synthesizing themes and techniques derived from both traditional and modern sources. The Nsukka school produces work that is known for its strong social and political content.  

Some of the Nigerian artists who have received international endorsement and patronage are Ben Enwonwu, celebrated for his landscapes, Simon Okeke, E. O. Okebolu, Erhabor Emokpae, Bruce Onobrakpeya, Ayo Ajayi, Felix Idubor, Muraina Oyelami... The works of Nigerian painters can be found in many galleries and private collections in Nigeria and abroad.  

The staging of the colourful and intellectually intimidating FESTAC, the festival of African arts and culture, in Lagos in 1977 was an acknowledgement of Nigeria’s pivotal role in African, Black and world art.  

The National Council for Arts and Culture (NCAC) in Nigeria is the custodian of cultural material for Black and African peoples all over the world. The institution is a vital Centre for the study, propagation and promotion of understanding of Black and African ideals and civilization.

It harbours the entire collection of unique and rare archival, library, audio-visual and museum materials deposited for safe keeping with the Nigerian Government, by the 59 Black and African Governments that participated in the FESTAC '77. 

The Centre is also a depository for UNESCO books and documents as well as an exhibition on "African and the Origin of Man", which offers material evidence suggesting that the first human lived in Africa.  

Literature

Nigeria’s modern literature grows out of a classic tradition of storytelling, struggle and historical remembrance that has existed in Nigeria for millennia. Oral literature ranges from the proverbs, poetry, dilemma tales, tales by moonlight and an array of aphorisms and poetic eulogy to elaborate stories memorized and performed by professional praise-singers attached to royal courts. In states where Islam prevailed, significant written literatures evolved. The founder of the Sokoto Caliphate, Usman dan Fodio, wrote nearly 100 texts in Arabic in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. His prose and poetry examined issues such as good government and social relations from an Islamic moralist perspective. The legacy of this Islamic tradition is a widely read modern literature encompassing religious and secular works, including the Hausa-language poetry and stories of Alhaji Abubakar Imam.

In 1986 Nigerian Wole Soyinka became the first Black African to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. Soyinka is a prolific author of poetry, novels, essays, and theatrical plays that blend African themes with Western forms. His uncompromising criticism of tyranny, corruption, and the abuse of human rights have often angered Nigeria’s military rulers. One of his most powerful books, The Man Died (1972), was written while Soyinka was imprisoned during the civil war of 1967 to 1970. Chinua Achebe, whose novels include A Man of the People (1966) and No Longer at Ease (1960), is another Nigerian writer whose work commands a wide international audience. But he is best known for his first novel, Things Fall Apart, which has been translated into some 50 languages worldwide and is considered one of the more compelling works of the century. It is rare to find educated persons who have not heard of or read Things Fall Apart. Other important novelists include Cyprian Ekwensi, Nkem Nwanko, Elechi Amadi, Rosemary Uwemedimo, Flora Nwapa, and Clement Ogunwa, who write mostly in English. John Pepper Clark, Gabriel Okara, Kole Omotosho, Christopher Okigbo, Booker Prize winner Ben Okri, Eddie Iroh, Okey Ndibe and Ken Saro-Wiwa are also well-known writers.  

Music   

Nigerian music and dance are the driving force of indigenous art. It is central to the way Nigerians celebrate, define or come to grips with their past and present. Songs and dances are played on drums, flutes, trumpets, stringed instruments, xylophones, and thumb pianos, and are often linked to specific places and events, such as the harvest, funerals, celebrations, receptions, marriages, births, political developments or events, and sundry occasions. Although traditional song and dance continue in modern Nigeria—especially in rural areas and on ceremonial occasions— their mode of transmission by radio, tape recorders, video cassette recorders (VCRs), and other mass-culture media, especially among youth, is increasing. These media preserve the work and allow musicians using traditional instruments and forms to preserve their work and reach a larger audience.
Pop music in Nigeria began in the late 1940s. Highlife music, which arrived from Ghana, found energy, a new interpretation and bloom in Nigeria. Highlife blended Western sounds ranging from big bands and guitars with African beats and instruments. Among the leading early bands were those of Rex Jim Lawson and Victor Olaiya. During the 1960s and 1970s, King Sunny Ade, I. K. Dairo, Ebenezer Obe, Victor Uwaifor, and a host of others, established new and personalized styles of music from highlife. Obe, Ade and Dairo rode to international stardom on the sounds and gyration of their new tunes known as juju. This rhythmic dance music blends Western instrumentation with acoustic, lyrical and rhythmic elements of traditional African music. In the 1980s and 1990s Fela Anikulapo-Kuti’s jazzy, funk-propelled highlife known as Afro Beat and rendered in a combination of Yoruba and politically charged Nigerian pidgin English, commanded a large following, in Nigeria and worldwide.