The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 5 letter word HAUSA
I've seen this crossword clue in Independent
H
A
U
S
A
More clues leading to the result HAUSA
- People of hot Australian area
- Africans only half loathe America
- I’m surprised to come across Australian language in Nigeria
- African lingo almost takes over western nation
- African ethnic group has a university accommodated
- African’s exclamation of surprise when reaching America
- African's exclamation of surprise on encountering North American country
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "language in Nigeria" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case language in nigeria = hausa.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.