It was in the 1840s; that was when the Europeans invaded Nigeria with their own form of education. It all started in those coastal cities of Nigeria, like Calabar and Lagos, along with a host of other coastal cities. Few decades after, many European schools were already established in these coastal cities with Nigerian students on admission in such schools. These students were taught mostly by European teachers, who taught them how to read and write. Mode of teaching in these schools was English language.
It must be noted that Great Britain, Nigeria’s colonial masters, did not contribute anything to education in Nigeria. Rather, it was the missionaries and churches that sowed the seed of western education in Nigeria. Only very few schools were funded by the British colonial masters in those days. However, many Nigerian graduates were allowed to study at universities in Great Britain on scholarships, many of which were given by the British government.
The British government was actually not interested in expanding western education in Nigeria; they were only interested in giving grant to mission schools to carry out such expansion.
Northern part of Nigeria is predominantly occupied by Muslims. In those days, the people of authority in this part of the country actually prohibited western education; they opted rather for Islamic education. Reason for such prohibition was because the religious leaders in this part of the country did not like the idea of the Europeans interfering with their religion.
Consequently, lots of Islamic schools were established in the northern part if the country and they taught their kids only about Islamic religion as the sole form of education. It was only at a later time that they started yielding to the inevitable pull of western education. Despite their yield, some of them still combine both Islamic and western education together.
