Citizenship Education in the Context of Traditional Nigerian Society and Culture

Abstract

It is only in the past few decades that European writers have admitted the possibility of African contributions to world culture and civilization. Many years ago, L.L. Conant in the number concept, called Africans “savages”. More often than not, many authors have attributed every African accomplishment to the Europeans, Arabs and even to Indians. (Claudia, 1979). Now, it is recognized that traditional Africa made contributions to the world, yet not much have been found to indicate such worthy contributions especially in the area of traditional citizenship education. This paper is therefore an attempt to interrogate the nature of the contribution of traditional Nigeria Societies in the area of citizenship education. The paper submits that even before colonial influences, Nigerian societies had involved strong institutions, mechanisms, and structures for effective “teaching and learning” of citizenship education. This system of education, most appropriately, is an aspect of Nigerian Nigerian history and cultural heritage.

Keywords: citizenship, education, culture, traditional, history, colonial.