13 - Western Education

Summary

This chapter discusses Western education in the landscape of colonial and even postcolonial Nigeria. Building upon ideas established in previous chapters, this chapter focuses on the uneven and complex adaptation of Western education and the emergence of a new middle class of low-level government and mercantile administrators. It will also touch upon traditional forms of education, explaining how colonial officials stunted or even undermined them. Of particular importance, this chapter explores the use of education as a tool of the political elite to construct systems of power and guide the development of societies. For colonial Nigeria, Britain sought to construct a system easily exploited for its natural resources, extracted by a vast underclass of cheap labor. This system would be managed by the small middle class of native elites under the authority of white British officials. This chapter will contextualize the aforementioned educational processes to explain the strategies colonial officials used to achieve their central objectives.