More than 20 historic Nigerian secondary schools are over a century old, with the oldest dating back to 1859. These pioneer institutions, founded by Christian missionaries, colonial governments, and local leaders, sometimes started with as few as four to 12 students. They provided early academic and vocational training before independence and produced notable leaders, including former military heads of state Ibrahim Babangida and Abdulsalami Abubakar.
Early Beginnings and Founders
Before Nigeria had universities, polytechnics, and the secondary-school system known today, a handful of small schools were already teaching 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, and one pioneer institution was already teaching carpentry, tailoring, engineering, and baking more than a century ago.
Christian missions established many of these schools, while others were founded by the colonial government or by Nigerians who wanted their communities to have access to higher education.
Lagos: The Cradle of Secondary Education
CMS Grammar School, Lagos (1859) – Generally recognised as Nigeria's oldest secondary school, it opened on June 6, 1859, under the Church Missionary Society, with Babington Macaulay as its first principal. Lagos merchant and philanthropist James Pinson Labulo Davies 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 (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 whom was George Stone Smith, later known as Dr Orishadipe Obasa, a prominent physician, prince, and political leader.
Methodist Girls' High School, Lagos (1879) – Established a year later, 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, reflecting the expectations of the period as detailed in Babs Fafunwa's book History of Education in Nigeria, which documents that the curriculum was explicitly designed to train them to become suitable "good" Christian wives for newly educated native men.
Baptist Academy, Lagos (roots in 1855) – Its 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, Lagos (roots in 1882) – It 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, formally reconstituted in 1928.
Expansion Beyond Lagos
Hope Waddell Training Institution, Calabar (1895) – Established by the United Presbyterian Church of Scotland and named after missionary Rev. Hope Masterton Waddell, it placed considerable emphasis on practical education. Students learnt carpentry, printing, tailoring, engineering, gardening, and baking, making it an early example of vocational education. Missionary figures including Rev. Robert Laws and Mary Slessor were associated with the development of education in the region.
St Anne's School, Ibadan (19th-century roots) – The present-day school was formed in 1950 through the merger of older girls' institutions, including Kudeti Girls School (founded 1899) and the older CMS Female Institution (established 1869).
Methodist Boys' High School, Oron (1905) – Began as Oron Training Institute, 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, Ibadan (1905) – 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 trained Nigerians.
Abeokuta Grammar School (1908) – Formally inaugurated on July 16, 1908, after local demand for secondary education grew, it began with 44 students. The school was established through the CMS educational network and local support; the Alake of Egba, Oba Gbadebo I, participated in the foundation ceremony for its permanent site.
King's College, Lagos (1909) – Opened on September 20, 1909, with just 10 students. Henry Rawlingson Carr, then Acting Director of Education in Lagos, proposed the school to Governor Sir Walter Egerton. 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 (1909) – 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, delayed by colonial policies under Lord Lugard that restricted Christian missionaries from operating in the predominantly Islamic North to avoid religious friction.
The North and the Rise of Government Schools
Alhuda-Huda College, Zaria (1910) – 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 (1912) – 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. Its alumni include former military heads of state Ibrahim Babangida and Abdulsalami Abubakar.
Ijebu-Ode Grammar School (1913) – Founded by Rev. S. J. Gansallo under the CMS, it 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.
Eko Boys' High School, Lagos (1913) – Rev. William Benjamin Euba, a Methodist minister and former teacher at Methodist Boys' High School, founded it on January 13, 1913, to expand educational opportunities for children from less privileged families in Lagos. It began with 28 students at 30 Broad Street.
Ibadan Grammar School (1913) – Founded by Rev. Alexander Babatunde Akinyele, who later became a bishop. Local support from Balogun Shittu, the Are of Ibadan, who donated five acres of land, was crucial. It opened with only 12 students in a mud-built two-storey building.
Government Secondary School, Ilorin (1914) – Began in 1914 as a Middle School before becoming a Provincial Secondary School and eventually a government secondary school.
Government College, Katsina-Ala (1915) – Commonly dated to 1915 in historical lists, its story belongs to the expansion of government-run education during the colonial period, although compilations differ over precise founding dates.
Etinan Institute, Akwa Ibom (1915) – 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.
Ondo Boys High School (1919) – Established 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.
