Nationalism and Social Development in the Late Colonial Period

Colonial education is often conceptualized within the confines of rigorous indoctrination, which contributes to the false notion that colonized people could only react to colonization as victims or rebels. Without delegitimizing the violence and exploitation of colonization in Africa, it must also be recognized that Africans responded to colonialism in a myriad of ways, not just submission or confrontation. This essay argues that the British colonial educational mission in Nigeria was intentionally Christianized and dismissed until it was deemed necessary to the benefit of the metropole and administrative functionality, rather than for African social development. Regardless, Nigerian educated elites strategically acquired and appropriated skills from the colonial education that fostered nationalist movements, anti-colonial publications, reinvestment in the school system, and shaped Nigerian national identity. Through colonial documents, Nigerian nationalist publications, and secondary sources, this essay first analyzes colonial education philosophies and policies in Nigeria; then, expands upon how educated elites became successful nationalists through an appropriation of colonial education; and finally, shows how education was a major factor in the nationalist project and to Nigerian identity.