Islamic Schools, the Ulama, and the State in the Educational Development of Northern Nigeria

Abstract

Islamic schools in Nigeria have undergone transformations from a position of monopolistic control over spiritual knowledge to one of competition and subsequently struggle for survival as they encountered missionary and colonial incursions. The post-colonial state that emerged had to endure weakened Islamic schools which nonetheless retained legitimacy in the eyes of observant Muslims as culturally and religiously valued institutions. This paper describes a fluctuating pattern of mutual isolation, engagement and competition that characterise the relationship between the state, Islamic schools and an influential corps of Islamic clerics (Ulama) operating outside the spheres of state bureaucracy. Northern Nigeria, where these schools are prevalent, has endured a long list of developmental challenges including a low level of educational attainment which places it at a competitive disadvantage in its relationship with Southern Nigeria. The paper claims that although both the state and a section of the Ulama realise that a reform of Islamic schools is vital to the development of Northern Nigeria, a long period of mutual isolation and the weak position of Nigeria’s educational bureaucracy have made the finding of a common operational framework difficult. A strong state-driven education delivery mechanism is what Nigeria needs to control the unregulated growth of different brands of Islamic schools from compounding its many developmental challenges.

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