Impact Of Colonialism In Nigeria

Colonialism Project:

Who’s Inconvenience?

By 1905 the entirety of Nigeria was under British control, the motives of colonial leaders included preserving greater economic advantages for their countries, obstructing enemies from exercising control, resolving European conflict through competition for overseas territory, abolishing the slave trade and opening up general trade. Like many other African countries, the colonization of Nigeria didn’t happen easily, due to the vastness of the region colonization took place in two phase, first the Southern region was colonized and then the Northern region. Initially they were two separate protectorates however in 1914 they were unified, creating what we know as modern Nigeria. In unifying the two regions

In both the North and South regions there were distinctly different governmental systems. In the Northern region Traditional Islamic Law was implemented, this went against the Christianity of the British colonialists, however unlike many colonial rulers of the time they allowed their colonies to keep their governing systems and actually elevated their authority. This was in Britain’s best interest as it meant that all they needed to do in their colonies in terms of governance was make sure that taxes were paid. In the Northern region this happened fairly easily, as the leaders who were already in power continued their reign. However in the South where there were several stateless societies and people had never been governed before so it was slightly more difficult to instate leaders whom people would listen to. However any destruction this caused was local and there proved to be no conflict between the Southern and Northern regions. There were several benefits that British colonialists brought, these included Western Education and freed trade in the region, this created room for expansion of both Christianity and Islam; which was even spread to Yoruba territories in the South. Another benefit that the British colonialism brought was a Nigerian Identity, what the British had done was unify to separate regions

However the question can be raised to what extent the conditions they lived under during colonialism resembled an authentic nation? And the answer to this question is, very little. This is because sovereignty and independence looks very different from colonialism and this proved evident when Nigeria finally received independence in 1960. Suddenly the separate kingdoms had to unify systematically and politically, not just by geographical borders. Shortly after independence Nigeria seemed as if though it would be a “beacon of hope” for Africa, the newly independent state had adopted a multi-party system, it had a constitution that promised sovereignty and it was democratic. However in 1966, three years after it was established the first republic failed. Nigeria was extremely unstable and among the reasons was the lack of tolerance among politicians and an inability to agree on policy or rule of law. It is clear that although governance was stable during the colonial era, it wasn’t prepared for the consequences of independents and culpability for this can be attributed to the British colonialists who used indirect rule to make it seem as if the Nigerians were ruling their own country when in fact, what they were doing was childsplay in comparison direct and independent