About Us

Special education and related services for children with disabilities were started in Nigeria by foreign missionaries in the early to the middle part of the twentieth century (Obiakor and Bragg 1998; Obiakor and Offor 2012; Taiwo 2007; Burkhardt et al. 2014). Before the arrival of these Christian missionaries (including Sudan United Mission, Roman Catholic Mission, Church Missionary Society, American Southern Baptist Convention, and Seventh Day Adventist Mission etc.), people with disabilities were neglected, and in some instances rejected (Abang 2005). 

Although the schools were managed efficiently by the missionaries, the Nigerian federal government took over all schools during the 1970s oil boom. Notably, the educational system was reorganised by the federal government with the introduction of the Universal Primary Education (UPE) program aimed at ensuring free primary school education for every Nigerian child regardless of disability (Obiakor and Offor 2012; Taiwo 2007). Also, training programs in special education were created in colleges of education and universities (Abang 2005; Taiwo 2007) to deliver appropriate skills to special education teachers to meet the goals of UPE (Obiakor and Bragg 1998).