Concepedia

Abstract

Returning slaves and Negroes who had been educated in the white man's schools first popularized the idea that equality and freedom could come to black people only if they had their own universities. Pioneer advocates of nationalism, such as Horton, Blyden, Hayford, and Azikiwe, linked the goal of establishing a university with the yearnings of West Africans to be free from colonial status and the stereotyping of innate inferiority as a race. Thus, it was no accident that the first Nigerian University, Ibadan, became a reality along with independence as a nation. Others, the Universities of Nigeria, Lagos, Ahmadu Bello, and Ife, were established shortly thereafter, partly to develop the highly educated manpower needed by the new nation and partly in response to regional demands.