ABSTRACT
The development of Western-type education systems in Nigeria can be traced to the arrival of some Christian missionaries in Badagry near Lagos in 1842. They started a school the following year with the primary objective of converting the natives to the Christian faith and teaching them to be literate in the English language. This would make them useful assistants as clerks and interpreters to the missionaries and colonial administrators and traders. Some of the literate adults would also be used to teach other natives how to read and write English. Those who exhibited high intelligence and leadership qualities were appointed school heads and catechists. The Christian missionaries designed the curriculum and served as inspectors and supervisors of the schools they established. Keen competition among the various religious denominations, notably the Methodists, Anglicans, Catholics and Baptists, led to the fast expansion of education during the colonial era.
