The purpose of this study was to investigate the place and role of tradition in the Nigerian novel. For many years, in my attempt to find out some of the causes of the difficulties our countries are facing, I have come to suspect our traditions as being one major cause. In fact, this study has shown that our traditions, though supposedly destroyed by colonization, have retained many of their aspects which are cunningly at work in our societies, together with European traditions.Because the essential role of tradition is to define the present, we need to find out more about our traditions in order to know how we can best explore them for the advancement of our countries in a changing world.