Skillnaija All courses →

Nigerian History: Peoples, Power and Culture from Nok to Now

A complete overview of Nigeria's story — the ancient cultures and kingdoms, Islam and the Atlantic trade, conquest and colonial rule, the road to 1960, the civil war, oil and the generals, the Fourth Republic, and the peoples, faiths, festivals, writers, musicians, women and builders who made the country — illustrated with real photographs.

Start learning free More Civic & Life Skills courses

Free account required to open the lessons. No card, no fees.

About this course

Most Nigerians finish school knowing a few dates and fewer reasons. This course tells the whole story in fourteen lessons, in order and with the reasons. It starts two and a half thousand years ago with the Nok terracottas and the iron smelters, moves through Igbo-Ukwu, Ife, Benin, Oyo, Kanem-Bornu, the Hausa city-states and the Sokoto Caliphate, follows the Atlantic slave trade and the missionaries, the Royal Niger Company and Lugard's amalgamation of 1914, the Aba Women's War, the nationalists who won independence and the regions that fractured it, the coups of 1966 and the Biafran war, the oil boom, the long years of military rule, June 12, Abacha and the return of 1999, and the Fourth Republic up to the 2027 election calendar. Alongside the political story it explains the social one: the peoples and languages, the two great faiths and the older ones, family and naming, festivals from the Durbar to Eyo, and the culture that Nigeria exported to the world — Achebe, Soyinka and Adichie, Fela and Afrobeats, Nollywood, adire and jollof. Two lessons are given to the women and the builders whom textbooks leave out. Every lesson carries photographs from Wikimedia Commons under free licences, credited, and every date is sourced. The project is a piece of local history you research and document yourself.

There was no Nigeria until 1914, and no one called it that until a British journalist coined the word in 1897. But people have lived in the land between the Sahara and the Atlantic for tens of thousands of years, and by 500 BCE some of them were making things that still stop visitors in the world's museums. This course begins where the evidence begins: in the terracotta heads dug out of tin mines on the Jos Plateau, the iron furnaces that fired beside them, and the ninth-century bronzes of Igbo-Ukwu that nobody expected to find in a forest village in Anambra.

What you'll learn

Course syllabus — 14 lessons

  1. Before Nigeria — the Nok terracottas, the iron smelters and the bronze-casters of Igbo-Ukwu13 min
  2. The forest kingdoms — Ife and the Yoruba world, Benin and its bronzes, Oyo's cavalry empire, and the Igbo without kings15 min
  3. The savanna and the Sahara — Kanem-Bornu, the Hausa city-states, Islam and trade, and the Sokoto jihad of 180414 min
  4. The Atlantic — the slave trade and its cost, abolition, Lagos in 1851 and 1861, the missionaries, and Bishop Ajayi Crowther14 min
  5. Conquest and colonial rule — the Royal Niger Company, Benin 1897, Sokoto 1903, Lugard's indirect rule, the amalgamation of 1914 and the Aba Women's War15 min
  6. The road to independence — Herbert Macaulay, the nationalists, the constitutions, three regions and three men, and the first of October 196015 min
  7. The First Republic falls — the crises of 1962-65, the coups of 1966, the pogroms, and the Nigerian Civil War of 1967-7016 min
  8. Oil and the generals — the boom, Murtala and Obasanjo, the Second Republic, Buhari and Babangida, June 12, Abacha, Saro-Wiwa and the return of 199916 min
  9. The Fourth Republic — Obasanjo to Tinubu, the 2015 handover, Boko Haram and EndSARS, the economy, and the 2027 election calendar16 min
  10. Peoples, faiths and festivals — languages and identity, Islam, Christianity and the old religions, family and naming, the Durbar, Eyo, Argungu and Osun-Osogbo15 min
  11. The culture Nigeria gave the world — Achebe, Soyinka and Adichie; highlife, Fela and Afrobeats; Nollywood; art, cloth and food16 min
  12. The women — Amina, Moremi, Efunsetan and Madam Tinubu; the Women's War; Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti, Margaret Ekpo and Gambo Sawaba; Okonjo-Iweala, Amina Mohammed and the present14 min
  13. The builders — merchants and industrialists from the Delta houses to Dangote; scientists, doctors and engineers; the sportsmen and women; and the diaspora14 min
  14. The nation and its symbols — flag, anthem, coat of arms, the making of 36 states and Abuja, the constitution and the federation; the arguments of today; and how to write history yourself15 min

Your project

Your Local History, Documented

One shared link (Google Doc, Notion page or PDF set to 'anyone with the link') containing the scoped question, two interview write-ups with consent noted, two or more cited written sources, a ten-event sourced timeline, four or more credited images, and the 1,200-2,000-word illustrated article.

Certificates on Skillnaija are earned, not issued for attendance: you submit this project, it is graded against a rubric, and passing issues a certificate anyone can verify. See the full project brief, rubric and free workbook →

Frequently asked questions

Is Nigerian History: Peoples, Power and Culture from Nok to Now free?

Yes. Nigerian History: Peoples, Power and Culture from Nok to Now is completely free on Skillnaija. You need a free account to open the lessons, and there is no charge for the course, the project, or the certificate.

How long does Nigerian History: Peoples, Power and Culture from Nok to Now take to complete?

7 weeks · ~3 hrs/week. There are 14 lessons, about 3 hours of material in total. You learn at your own pace and your progress is saved.

Do I need any experience to start Nigerian History: Peoples, Power and Culture from Nok to Now?

Beginner-friendly. You can start from scratch — no prior experience is assumed.

What will I learn in Nigerian History: Peoples, Power and Culture from Nok to Now?

You will build practical skills in Nigerian history, Pre-colonial African civilisations, Colonial history of Nigeria, Nigerian political history, Nigerian civil war, Military rule and democratisation, Nigerian peoples, languages and religions, Nigerian culture and the arts, Historical research methods, Oral history interviewing, Source evaluation, Image rights and attribution, Civic literacy, Writing and documentation. Every lesson is written for a Nigerian context, with examples drawn from how the work is actually done and paid for here.

Do I get a certificate for Nigerian History: Peoples, Power and Culture from Nok to Now?

Yes, but it has to be earned. You complete the course project — Your Local History, Documented and submit it for grading. Passing the project issues a verifiable certificate; finishing the lessons alone does not.

Related Civic & Life Skills courses

Ready to start Nigerian History: Peoples, Power and Culture from Nok to Now?

It's free, it's self-paced, and it ends with something you can show an employer.

Start learning free