Epistemic Justice and Knowledge Production in Nigerian Higher Education: Decolonising the Curriculum

This study investigates the dimensions of epistemic injustice embedded in Nigerian higher education knowledge production practices and develops an original decolonisation framework for curriculum reform. Epistemic justice, as theorised by Miranda Fricker, concerns the fair recognition of knowers and their knowledge contributions. Nigerian universities, shaped by colonial institutional and curricular inheritances, systematically marginalise indigenous knowledge systems, African philosophical traditions, and locally generated research findings in favour of Northern epistemological frameworks. This creates conditions of epistemic injustice that undermine both the validity of knowledge produced and the dignity of Nigerian scholars and students. This study employs a qualitative research design, combining critical discourse analysis of syllabi from 60 departments across 15 Nigerian federal universities with 40 in-depth interviews of academics, students, and curriculum designers. An original Epistemic Justice Curriculum Audit instrument is developed and validated through expert review. Results reveal pervasive epistemic injustice across disciplinary domains, characterised by absent African-authored textbooks, invisible indigenous knowledge in syllabi, and structural marginalisation of locally produced research. Humanities and social science disciplines show higher injustice scores than natural sciences. The study develops an original Decolonised Knowledge Architecture framework specifying epistemological, curricular, and institutional reform pathways. It concludes that decolonisation of Nigerian higher education requires a coordinated institutional transformation programme rather than individual curriculum adjustments. It recommends that the National Universities Commission mandate an epistemic audit of all undergraduate programmes and develop African knowledge integration standards for accreditation purposes.

Keywords: epistemic justice, decolonisation, higher education, curriculum, Nigeria.