These schools were educating Nigerians before independence — some later produced men like IBB, who ruled Nigeria

Christian missionaries, colonial governments, and local leaders founded these pioneer institutions, sometimes starting with just four to 12 students.

These schools provided early academic and vocational training before independence and produced notable leaders, including former military heads of state Ibrahim Babangida and Abdulsalami Abubakar.

Before Nigeria had universities, polytechnics and the secondary-school system we know today, a handful of small schools were already teaching students subjects such as Latin, Greek, arithmetic and geography.

Some started with fewer than 20 students. One began with just six boys. Another opened with 10 students, while one of the country’s pioneer institutions was already teaching carpentry, tailoring, engineering and baking more than a century ago.

Christian missions established many of Nigeria’s oldest secondary schools, while others were founded by the colonial government or Nigerians who wanted their communities to have access to higher education.

Here are some of the country’s historic pioneer schools and the people behind them.

An archival photograph from the history of CMS Grammar School, Lagos, founded in 1859. Generally recognised as Nigeria’s oldest secondary school, CMS Grammar School, Lagos, opened on June 6, 1859, under the Church Missionary Society, with Babington Macaulay as its first principal.

A lesser-known figure who helped make the school possible was Lagos merchant and philanthropist James Pinson Labulo Davies, who gave Macaulay £50 for books and equipment.

Lagos merchant and philanthropist James Pinson Labulo Davies, who gave Macaulay £50 for books and equipment. The school began with just six students, all boarders, in a building known as Cotton House on Broad Street.

Methodist Boys' High School, Lagos, has traced its history to its opening in 1878. Methodist leaders began pushing for their own grammar school in Lagos in the 1870s. The foundation stone was laid in 1875, and the school officially opened on March 14, 1878, with Rev. W. Terry Coppin as its first principal.

Its first intake consisted of just 12 boys. One of them was George Stone Smith, who later became known as Dr Orishadipe Obasa, a prominent Nigerian physician, prince and political leader.

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Methodist Girls High School in Lagos in 1950, photographed by missionaries Eldred Echols and Boyd Reese. A year later, the Methodists established Methodist Girls’ High School, one of Nigeria’s earliest institutions for the formal education of girls.

It initially operated from rooms at the Methodist Mission House on Broad Street, with Rev. E. W. Williams as its first principal.

Girls were taught academic subjects alongside domestic skills such as cooking, sewing and laundry. This extracurricular reflects the expectations of the period as detailed in Babs Fafunwa’s seminal book – History of Education in Nigeria. 

He extensively documents that the curriculum was explicitly designed to train them to become suitable “good” Christian wives for the newly educated native men. 

Baptist Academy’s educational roots go back to 1855, when American Baptist missionary Rev. Joseph Merrick Harden established an elementary school in Lagos.

Its secondary section emerged in the 1880s, with sources differing over whether to use 1885 or 1886 as the relevant date.

St Gregory’s College traces its roots to St Gregory’s Grammar School, established in Lagos in 1882 by the Catholic mission. The institution later developed into St Gregory’s College, with the college formally reconstituted in 1928.

Its history makes it one of the oldest Catholic educational institutions in Nigeria and an important part of the early development of secondary education in Lagos.

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Academic buildings at Hope Waddell Training Institution, Calabar, photographed by Lorenzo Dow Turner in 1951. Established by the United Presbyterian Church of Scotland, Hope Waddell was named after missionary Rev. Hope Masterton Waddell.

Unlike a conventional academic school, it placed considerable emphasis on practical education.

Students learnt carpentry, printing, tailoring, engineering, gardening and baking, making it an early example of vocational education in Nigeria.

Missionary figures, including Rev. Robert Laws and Mary Slessor, were associated with the development of education in the region.

The CMS girls' seminary in Ibadan in the 1920s, part of the educational history from which St Anne's School developed. The present-day St Anne’s School was formed in 1950 through the merger of older girls’ institutions.

Its history includes Kudeti Girls School, founded in 1899, and the older CMS Female Institution, established in 1869.

The prestigious school now known as Methodist Boys’ High School, Oron, began as Oron Training Institute.

It opened in 1905 following the efforts of Rev. Nathaniel Boocock, with only 16 students and two teachers.

Its original purpose was largely to train boys who could become teachers and ministers.

Wesley College was established by the Methodist mission primarily to train teachers and catechists.

It reportedly began with only four students. The school became important because missionary schools were expanding rapidly and needed Nigerians who could be trained to teach and spread formal education.

Students performing at Abeokuta Grammar School in 1951, photographed by Lorenzo Dow Turner. Abeokuta Grammar School was formally inaugurated on July 16, 1908, after local demand for secondary education grew.

The school was established through the CMS educational network, as well as local support. The Alake of Egba, Oba Gbadebo I, participated in the foundation ceremony for its permanent site.

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King’s College, Lagos, opened on September 20, 1909, with just 10 students.

Henry Rawlingson Carr, then Acting Director of Education in Lagos, who proposed the school to Governor Sir Walter Egerton, was associated with its establishment.

Carr wanted a government institution capable of providing higher education and preparing students for university, professional careers and government service.

St John’s School, Bida, dates to 1909 and was associated with the CMS’s expansion of formal education into what was then Northern Nigeria.

Its history marks the gradual expansion of organised education beyond Lagos and southern missionary centres.

The shift was delayed as a result of the policies enacted by the colonial administration, under Lord Lugard. 

This policy actively restricted Christian missionaries from operating in the predominantly Islamic North to avoid religious friction. 

Established in 1910, Alhuda-Huda College is commonly associated with the old Government Secondary School in Zaria.

Its government origins illustrate the increasing involvement of the colonial administration in formal education in northern Nigeria.

Government College, Bida, was established in 1912 as a Provincial Middle School by the colonial government. 

Its first 60 students resumed in 1914 after preparations were completed. The school later became Bida Provincial School, Provincial Secondary School and Government Secondary School, before taking its present name, Government College, Bida. 

Its alumni include former military heads of state Ibrahim Babangida and Abdulsalami Abubakar.

Ijebu-Ode Grammar School, established in 1913, photographed during its 110th anniversary period. Rev. S. J. Gansallo founded Ijebu-Ode Grammar School in 1913 under the CMS. The school was created specifically to provide secondary education for Ijebuland.

In 1930, its principal joined the heads of Abeokuta Grammar School, Ibadan Grammar School and Ondo Boys High School to form the AIONIAN Brotherhood, named from the schools’ initials.

Rev. William Benjamin Euba, a Methodist minister and former teacher at Methodist Boys’ High School, founded Eko Boys’ High School on January 13, 1913 because he wanted to expand educational opportunities for children from less privileged families in Lagos.

It began with 28 students at 30 Broad Street.

Rev. Alexander Babatunde Akinyele founded Ibadan Grammar School in 1913 Rev. Alexander Babatunde Akinyele, who later became a bishop, founded Ibadan Grammar School in 1913. This may not have been possible without the local support of Balogun Shittu, the Are of Ibadan, who donated five acres of land to the school.

It opened with only 12 students in a mud-built two-storey building.

The school began in 1914 as a Middle School before becoming a Provincial Secondary School and eventually a government secondary school, Ilorin.

Government College, Katsina-Ala, is commonly dated to 1915 in historical lists of Nigeria’s pioneer schools.

Its story belongs to the expansion of government-run education during the colonial period, although historical compilations differ over the precise founding dates of some early government institutions.

Etinan Institute’s history goes further back than its commonly cited 1915 date.

Its roots are linked to the Qua Iboe Mission Boys’ Institute, which began at Okat in 1891 before moving several times and eventually reaching Etinan.

The institution developed into a secondary school as missionary education expanded in the region.

Ondo Boys High School was established in 1919 after local leaders sought to provide secondary education within Ondo.

The Osemawe of Ondo, Oba Jimekun, worked with Canon Moses Craig Adeyemi and a committee to establish the school.

Adeyemi became its first principal. The school later became part of the AIONIAN Brotherhood.