The Federal Government has reintroduced Nigerian History as a compulsory subject in the basic education curriculum, aiming to foster national identity, unity, patriotism, and responsible citizenship. The Federal Ministry of Education announced the development in a statement posted on its official X account on Wednesday.
“For the first time in decades, Nigerian pupils will study History continuously from Primary 1 to JSS3, while SSS1–3 students will take a new subject, Civic and Heritage Studies, which merges History with Civic Education,” the ministry stated.
Under the revised structure, Primary 1–6 pupils will learn about Nigeria’s origins, heroes, rulers, culture, politics, economy, religions, colonial rule, and post-independence governance. JSS1–3 students will explore civilisations, empires, trade, European contacts, amalgamation, independence, democracy, and civic values.
The ministry described the reform as “a priceless gift to the nation,” designed to reconnect young learners with their roots while promoting pride, unity, and commitment to national development. To support the policy, it has released the updated curriculum, commenced teacher retraining, provided learning resources, and strengthened monitoring mechanisms.
History was previously scrapped from the basic school curriculum following the introduction of the New Basic Education Curriculum in 2007, which was implemented in the 2009/2010 academic session. At the time, the government cited reasons such as students’ low interest in the subject, limited job prospects for History graduates, and a shortage of qualified teachers.
In 2017, the Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC) announced plans to restore the subject to the primary and junior secondary curriculum starting from the 2018/2019 session. This was followed in 2022 by the first stage of a teacher training initiative aimed at reintroducing History as a stand-alone subject in basic education.
