An Afrocentric Theoretical Reappraisal of Vocational Education Purpose and Practice in Postcolonial Nigeria

This study undertook an Afrocentric theoretical reappraisal of the fundamental purpose and practice of vocational education in postcolonial Nigeria, critically examining how African communal values, ubuntu philosophy, and indigenous economic thought can reframe the conceptualization and delivery of vocational education beyond its current Western neo-liberal framing. Conventional vocational education discourse in Nigeria prioritizes individual employability and economic competitiveness, values rooted in liberal market theory, while neglecting communal wealth-building, intergenerational knowledge transmission, and ecological sustainability, all of which are central to African philosophical traditions. The study employed critical theoretical and philosophical inquiry combined with comparative documentary analysis of pre-colonial Nigerian craft traditions, colonial vocational education policies, and contemporary curriculum texts. Drawing on Asante's Afrocentricity framework, Mbiti's communalism philosophy, and Freire's critical pedagogy, the study constructs the African Communal Vocational Education Theory (ACVET), which proposes recentering vocational education on community development, intergenerational apprenticeship, and eco-vocational sustainability. The theory is elaborated across four philosophical planes: ontological, epistemological, axiological, and praxiological. Validation through critical expert review by 20 African education philosophers confirms the framework's coherence and originality. This study makes a foundational theoretical contribution to African vocational education scholarship, challenging hegemonic Western paradigms with an original Africa-situated alternative. Keywords: Afrocentricity, vocational education theory, postcolonial Nigeria, indigenous knowledge, communalism.