This study discusses the history of education in Nigeria with emphasis on the need for a
comprehensive special education program that will provide basic education for all individuals
with disabilities in Nigeria. In Nigeria, as in many other underdeveloped countries, individuals
that are defined as disabled are generally deprived of equal access to basic public education and
other fundamental services that are guaranteed to their “non-disabled” counterpart. Due to
cultural beliefs and social attitudes, an individual that is defined as “disabled” is treated as a
social taboo associated with evil omens or bad luck. Consequently, individuals that are defined
as disabled are excluded from upwardly mobile social and economic opportunities including
access to educational pursuits with the consequence that, they face an uncertain future, a life of
absolute poverty, deprivation and abuse. Cultural beliefs pertaining to individuals that are
defined as disabled are further compounded by British colonial policy that failed to consider the
education of individuals that are defined as disabled as a policy priority in the education of native
people in Nigeria. Therefore, this study will apply Foucault’s genealogical approach to history,
and critical disability theory in education to analyze the impact of Nigerian cultural practices, the
influence of Christianity and Islamic religion, and also British colonial policy on educational
policy priorities in post-independence Nigeria. This study will show that the Nigerian
educational system does not provide equal educational opportunity for individuals that are
defined as “disabled”, resulting from the outcome of cultural practices, colonial and post-colonial
policies that define individuals on the basis of whether they are “disabled” (unable) or “nondisabled”
(able). In conclusion, this study will make recommendations about the way forward for
Nigerian policy makers in order to encourage the need for the establishment of a nondiscriminatory
educational system as a matter of policy priority, and also as a means to guarantee
fundamental human rights for all individuals with disabilities as a matter of social justice.