ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that a number of educational issues require closer examination, issues relating to indigenous education, Muslim education, Church and state, organisation, administration, curriculum and finance, and indeed the overall philosophy of education in a developing country. The indigenous system, far from dying, continues to wax strong. Indeed, the modern system of education in Nigeria even in the 1970s is being supplemented by the local system. Nigerian education has passed through many stages of development. In the centuries the indigenous system was enriched by the Qur'anic school system, and in the mid-nineteenth century it was further strengthened by the introduction of the Western school system, made possible largely by intensive missionary activities along the coastal areas of Nigeria. The National Curriculum Conference held in Lagos in September 1969 was a major landmark in the history of Nigeria and, indeed, in the history of education in Africa.
