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Abstract
The introduction of western education in Nigeria, from the beginning of British colonialism has a historical origin arising from the rejection-acceptance dichotomy, by the north and south respectively. The subsequent western colonial domination led to the inevitable superimposition of western form of education upon the indigenous people of the country. The paper would also argue that the Nigeria educated elites have played a vital role towards anti-colonial struggle in Nigeria from 1930s- 1960. This article further examines that British induced educational model created a westernized elites of the country during the colonial and postcolonial periods occupied significant positions in the political and economic life. Those who did not took western education relegated and deprived of the benefits that comes with western education. Accordingly, those who did not took western education thereby were not permitted to obtain white color jobs in the colonial and post-colonial administration offices. Paradoxically, the same educational system also provided Nigerians with a modernist ideology with which to first imagine a unified nation and then mobilize Nigerians the colonial exploitation, which led to the accomplishment of political sovereignty, in 1960s.