Historical Analysis Of Educational Policy Formulation In Nigeria - Part 1

Certain historical antecedents have impact on how educational policies are formulated and implemented in Nigeria. The Lagos Colony, Southern and Northern protectorates were British colonies, which were amalgamated in 1914 and named Nigeria.

The territory remained a British colony till 1960 when it attained independence. The colonial administrators introduced an indirect rule policy. Indirect rule was an administrative system, which Lord Lugard introduced into Nigeria. It was a system of administration in which the tutelary power recognized the existing traditional administrative structure, and used such for the administration of the Lagos Colony, and the Southern and Northern Protectorates. The indirect rule policy recognized the Islamic education in the Northern Protectorate; hence the Christian missionaries were restricted from spreading both Christianity and Western education to the region. This accounts for the gap in the level of educational development between the North and the South. This has a lot of implications for the planning of education in Nigeria. Of recent, the Federal Government has put in place several educational policies (such as the quota admission, the educationally disadvantaged and less disadvantaged areas policies etc.) with a view to reduce the gap in North-South level of educational development.

The colonial administrators adopted British form of education in Nigeria, hence the following school systems: primary, secondary, sixth form and higher education were introduced. Consequent upon the attainment of independence, it was discovered that this system of education did not meet the aspiration of Nigerians; hence the current 6-3-3-4 educational policy was introduced in 1977. The policy sought to introduce a functional technology-based education, which could sustain the economy. The colonial administrators administered education through the use of certain education ordinances and education codes, such as the 1882, 1887, 1916, 1926, 1946 and 1926 Education codes, (Ijaduola, 1998 and Ogunu, 2000). These codes and ordinances were used as guidelines to administer education in the colony. They served as the basis for the modern day educational policies, education laws and techniques of educational administration in Nigeria. The Macpherson Constitution of 1951 put education in a concurrent list, hence both the central and regional governments could legislate on education. This has a lot of impact on the present arrangement. There are thirty-six state governments and the federal government in Nigeria, each of which could legislate on education.