In the over-50 years he spent teaching English in Nigeria, Prof David Jowitt
committed himself to the study, description and analysis of the Nigerian variety
of English. This is evident in the many books, journal articles, and other research
outputs credited to him on the topic. This article reviews his sustained
engagement with a sub-section of Nigerian English studies - the Nigerian
English Accent (NEA), drawing on ten of his major works published between
1991 and 2023. Evaluated here are his positions on the segmental features,
primary accent, connected speech, and intonation. Also reviewed are his
corpus-based study and theoretical reflections within Schneider's Dynamic
Model. The study reveals that while Jowitt advocates a Nigerian Received
Pronunciation (NRP) – an endonormative standard shaped by Nigerian
sociolinguistic realities – in the face of the changing nature of the exonormative
Received Pronunciation (RP); he also strongly recognises the existence of geoethnic accents – NEA(Hau), NEA(Yor) and NEA(Igb) – and other competing
social accents – acrolectal and non-acrolectal – in the Nigerian English Accent
Continuum. The review underscores his role in codifying a Nigerian prestige
accent and affirming Nigerian English as an endonormatively-stabilised variety.