THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT OF NIGERIA EDUCATION AND NATION BUILDING: 1970-1980

Abstract

The end of the Nigerian Civil war in 1970 and the unprecedented financial revenue that accrued to Nigeria from the sales of her crude oil would have helped in correcting the imbalance in the spread of Western education, but reverse was the case. Therefore one of the major challenges which threatened Nigeria unity after independence which was disparity in the spread of Western education continued to constitute a challenge to Nigeria nation building. There was no massive unified policy towards the spread of Western education, rather the Federal Government adopted what may be termed experimental posture as exemplified in the then East Central State by allowing for the State Government “takeover of schoolsâ€. It was not until 1973 when General Gowon declared the intension of his administration to help in the development of primary and secondary education signifying the Federal Government intension to adopt a proactive policy towards the spread of Western education. This paper seeks to study the attempts made by the Federal Government from 1970-1980. To ensure an even spread of Western education among the ethnic groups and, the response from these ethnic groups. This is done with the aim of establishing that nation building efforts have been impeded to a greater extent by uneven spread of Western education in Nigeria. The Historical Methodology was adopted and findings show that there were continuous imbalance in the spread of Western Education.