#explore1918:my nigerian history

hi steemians i am about to post my country history although i am a biafran stucked i nigeria despitr all our agitations to be left to develope our country t this post is all about the current country i am in ,which is nigeria later on i am going to post about my believed country which i believe will be in existence soon although it has been in existence before it seized to exist
The Federal Government has announced that it will celebrate the centenary of Nigeria’s ‘Amalgamation’ on January 1, 1914 by Lord Lugard, then the newly appointed and first British Governor-General of colonial Nigeria. The elaborate celebrations which started a week ago with a glittering state banquet at Abuja are intended to last a whole year and will include, among other projects, the development of a brand ‘new city’ in Abuja. The National Assembly does not appear keen on supporting the projects proposed and is not keen on providing funds for the celebrations. There is also very little public enthusiasm about the entire programme. The celebrations will cost a lot of money and, to address public concern about the huge costs involved, running into billions of naira, the Federal Government has assured the nation that all the expenses involved in the celebrations will be borne by the private sector. But investments of this nature by the private sector do not come without a price in the form of huge contracts that are usually abandoned. Somehow, the private sector will find a way of recouping such a bad investment as the one being proposed.

Now, there is no doubt about the historic importance of the 1914 amalgamation in Nigeria’s history. It was the first time that the British colonial administration in Nigeria tried to bring the culturally diverse people of Nigeria together under one central colonial administration. Without the amalgamation Nigeria would not have developed or emerged as one country. Instead, we would now have two, or possibly three, different countries. But the manner in which these celebrations take place is equally important. The question is why should we, as a nation be seen to be celebrating the 1914 so-called ‘amalgamation’ of Nigeria by the British colonial power? The Federal Government argues that Nigeria is not a historical accident and, having existed for nearly 100 years as a country, merits celebration. It is important that we get Nigeria’s colonial history right. If we do, it will be obvious to us that we should not be celebrating such a dubious event in our colonial history, as the ‘amalgamation’ was the direct product of British imperialism in West Africa.

To suggest, or argue, as the federal authorities did, that Nigeria is not a historical accident, but a pre-ordained entity is a distortion of Nigeria’s history. Nothing can be further from the truth. This claim should not go unchallenged, or else we will be creating a false and terrible legacy. Before British colonialism in Nigeria, several kingdoms such as the Oyo Empire, the Fulani Emirates, and the Benin Kingdom already existed in Nigeria, and might have evolved over time as nation states. It was British imperialism that eventually destroyed these empires. Before its independence from British colonial rule in 1960, Nigeria did not exist even as a distinct state, recognised by other foreign states. It was only recognised as a mere British colony, a British dependency that, for all practical purposes, did not have any state identity at all. It was simply part of British West Africa, the Southern part of which was for a while governed by British colonial representatives from the old Gold Coast. Its acquisition by Britain as a colonial territory was actually accidental. It was the direct consequence of Anglo-French rivalry for trade and free markets in Africa.

Britain was not really looking at the time for new colonies, or territories in West Africa, but for trade and free markets. In 1861, the British acquired Lagos as a colony after gun boat diplomacy (state terrorism). But in 1865, the report of a parliamentary select committee of the British House of Commons had advised against any further acquisition of colonial territory in West Africa. The old Gold Coast (now Ghana) and Sierra Leone had already been acquired as British colonies. This report was accepted by the British government and dampened imperialist impulses for a while. But by 1885, the informal sway exercised by British merchants in the delta area, which led to Jaja of Opobo being exiled from the delta area by the British Consul, had been formalised at the 1885 Berlin Congress that simply divided Africa as spheres of influence of Britain, and the other European powers in Africa.source