No Longer at Ease

The colonial period in Nigeria began during the slave trade in the 15th century. In 1861, the British Empire annexed the city of Lagos, and the Oil River Protectorate was established in 1884. European powers recognized British rule over Nigeria in the 1885 Berlin Conference. Nigeria was divided between the Northern and the Southern protectorate ruled by the Royal Niger Company. In 1900, the British government assumed administration and the two protectorates merged into the Colony and Protectorate of Nigeria. The British colonial government established a policy of “indirect rule,” according to which local leaders would govern their areas with the established Nigerian power structures under the orders of the British. Thus, government functioned on a central and a local level. The laws and traditions of the Nigerian people were incorporated into the colonial system of government, and traditional leaders were under British control. The colonial administration was responsible for collecting taxation, and Britain profited from crop exports. They followed a “divide and rule” policy to keep the diverse cultural groups in Nigeria separate.

Disparities between the North and the South deepened with the changes brought under colonial rule. Western culture and education spread with the influence of the English language and Christianity through missionary schools. The South widely adopted Christianity while Muslim leaders in the North resisted. The growing division caused further ethnic tensions and political unrest. Following WWII, political pressures and the growing influence of Pan-Africanism, which promoted the decolonization of Africa, challenged the colonial government. The British could no longer maintain political control in Nigeria and began to restructure the governmental system, decreasing centralized administration. However, this caused further political division.

In 1957, the Lyttleton constitution established three regional self-governing states—the Western, the Eastern and the Northern. The demarcation of the states was arbitrary and did not acknowledge the cultural and linguistic distribution and boundaries of Nigerian ethnic groups. Social and cultural disparities remained, as British policies did not promote unity among Nigerians. On the eve of the country’s independence in 1960, Nigeria was left politically and socially divided.