The word 'creole' is related to 'cradle', so it was a language learnt from the cradle, as opposed to pidgins, which are contact languages worked out by adults.

True, of course - however the English derivative spoken in Nigeria - particularly in Lagos - is still known as pidgin. Whilst it isn't ever a first language (so far as I'm aware, that is) it is a common tongue spoken from early childhood by most city dwellers, and many rural Nigerians. It was, we are told, originally developed so that master could talk to servant to give orders, but servant could not readily understand when master spoke to other English people about matters of business, etc. However, the Nigerians took to the language and developed it into a full blown means of communication, and now publish two or three newspapers in Pidgin.

Of course, there is no such race as "Nigerian," really - the country is an artificially conceived amalgam of three major races, each of which has numerous sub-groupings and a large number of languages and dialects. So Pidgin has served a purpose in giving a common tongue to an otherwise divided country; just as English does in India and Pakistan, for instance.