Nigeria’s development crisis is often framed as a failure of leadership, corruption, or poor economic management. While these explanations are not wrong, they are incomplete. The persistence of colonial ideologies, ways of thinking about governance, security architecture, justice systems, development, among others, remain as deep and enduring obstacles to real growth in Nigeria. Political independence did not dismantle the colonial architecture of the mind. Instead, colonial tropes continue to shape how Nigerians govern, educate, and conceive of their place in the world.