Towards an Original Theory of Radiography Education Decolonisation in Nigerian Universities: Curriculum, Pedagogy, and Professional Epistemology

Nigerian radiography curricula remain substantially shaped by British educational frameworks adopted during the colonial period, embedding pedagogical assumptions, clinical training models, and professional epistemologies that may not be optimally suited to the clinical realities, technological constraints, and cultural contexts of Nigerian radiography practice. This study develops an original theory of radiography education decolonisation for Nigerian universities, addressing curriculum content, pedagogical methods, and professional epistemology. A participatory action research design is applied at three radiography programmes representing different Nigerian geopolitical zones: University of Lagos (South West), University of Nigeria Enugu (South East), and Usmanu Danfodiyo University Sokoto (North West). The participatory design engages 120 students, 35 academic staff, and 20 clinical practitioners in curriculum and pedagogical critique cycles over 30 months. Documentary analysis of curriculum content for colonial inheritance markers, cultural responsiveness deficits, and local context alignment provides the systematic critique foundation. Critical discourse analysis of professional epistemology texts identifies epistemological colonialism in radiography knowledge frameworks. The original Decolonised Nigerian Radiography Education Framework specifies five pillars: African disease pattern-centred clinical curricula, contextually adaptive technical training, indigenous patient communication pedagogies, localised research methodology training, and African radiography professional history integration. Available radiography education literature from Nigerian universities identifies foreign textbook dependence and imported clinical competency frameworks as the primary decolonisation challenges. The Decolonial Theory of Ndlovu-Gatsheni and Freirean Critical Pedagogy provide the theoretical foundation. Keywords: radiography education, decolonisation, Nigerian universities, curriculum reform, professional epistemology.