This study examined the politeness strategies utilised in the realisation of the speech act of apology within the Nigerian environment using Brown and Levinson’s politeness theory as a framework with the sole purpose of identifying the predominant patterns of apology strategies among users of English as a second language in Nigeria. The study adopted a descriptive survey design and made use of 300 participants from the three major ethnic groups in Nigeria – Hausa, Igbo, and Yoruba. An open-ended discourse completion test (DCT) was the instrument through which data was collected. The responses extracted through the DCT were coded, classified, quantified and analysed through the instrumentality of descriptive statistics of frequency and simple percentage. The results of the data analyses indicate, inter alia, that the politeness strategies used in the realisation of the speech act of apology in Nigeria cut across the five super politeness strategies proposed by Brown and Levinson for the performance of Face Threatening Acts (FTAs), including bald on-record strategies, positive politeness, negative politeness, off-record strategies, and don’t-do-the-FTA. These were realised through various sub-strategies utilised mostly in composite forms. The conclusion drawn from the study buttresses the universality of politeness as a concept but emphasises the fact that its realisation is culturally-conditioned