Research on the concept of Nigerian English (NE) shows some scholars to be prescriptive, seeing it as a phenomenon that is full of errors, while others described it as a variant of the English Language. The latter school of thought has been somewhat rewarded by the addition of NE words into the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), authenticating their argument.

One of the many features of a language is that it has the ability to evolve and change, even without a conscious attempt at engineering it by its speakers; this general characteristic shows that language is dynamic and organic. There is no exception to the languages that can exhibit these features; however, English is one very popular language that has demonstrated these features as can be seen in its movement around the world, undergoing lots of transformation while at it. English holds at least one important status in the different countries of the world – mother tongue and/or first language, second language, official language or official foreign language (Crystal 2003), and as the language is used across these different contexts, it is continually subjected to peculiar changes in these countries. This is a concept that Bamgbose (1995) and Adegbija (2004) describe as the pidginisation, nativisation, acculturation and domestication of the English language in these different contexts. This is what has birthed the World Englishes so that there are now different varieties like the American English, Canadian English, Ghanaian English, Nigerian English and the like.