NIGERIA
“Giant
of Africa”
(A Brief History)
1.
Introduction
2.
History and Evolution
3.
The Atlantic Slave Trade
4.
Pre-Independence Nationalist
Movement
5.
Women in Nigeria
6.
Current Geopolitical Structure
7.
Conclusion
Introduction
Nigeria,
with an estimated population of 126,635,626
is the largest black nation in the world.
The Federal Republic of Nigeria, as it is officially known, covers an
area of 356,669 square miles on the coast of West Africa. Its borders are contiguous with the Federal
Republic of Cameroon to the east, Niger
Republic to the north and Benin
Republic to the east. In the northeast, Nigeria
has a 54-mile long border with the Republic
of Chad, while its Gulf
of Guinea coastline stretches for
more than 500 miles from Badagry in the west to Calabar in the east, and
includes the Bights of Benin and Biafra. Today, Nigeria
is divided administratively into thirty-six states and the Federal Capital
Territory of Abuja (CIA World Factbook, 2001).
Like Africa
as a whole, Nigeria
is physically, ethnically, and culturally diverse. This is partly due to the fact that Nigeria
is today inhabited by a large number of tribal groups, according to the
Encyclopædia Britannica, an estimated 250 of them speaking over four hundred
languages, many with dialects. Muslims
and Christians comprise more than 80 percent of the population while the rest
are identified with indigenous religions.
However, Nigeria’s
greatest diversity is in its people.
These peoples have so much culture and history that it is imperative to
chronicle this history as it relates to their current economic and political
struggles. Dating back to the kingdoms
and empires of the early seventeenth century, from their involvements in the
Atlantic slave trade to its entire merger, this extensive history has blended
down to what is currently Nigeria
and is thus necessary in order to understand what has become of this once
fruitful and promising state.
Back to Top
History & Evolution
Nigeria only came
into being in its present form in the year 1914 when Sir Frederick Lugard, the
Royal governor of the protectorates, amalgamated the two protectorates of
Northern and Southern Nigeria. Sixteen
years earlier, Flora Shaw, who later married Lugard, first suggested in an
article for The Times that the several British Protectorates on the Niger
be known collectively as Nigeria
(Crowder, 21). Basically, the entire
Niger-area under British control became Nigeria.
It was in 1861 that the British
first annexed any part of Nigeria
as a colony, and attached it successively to West African Settlements,
including Sierra Leone
and the Gold Coast colony. The annexing
of Lagos, a coastal town and now
the largest city in Africa, led to the establishment of
a Southern protectorate in Nigeria,
and by 1906 both regions were united and designated a British colony. However, as Michael Crowder in his Story
of Nigeria states, “it would be an error to assume that the people of Nigeria
had little history before its final boundaries were negotiated by Britain,
France and Germany
at the turn of the twentieth century.”
In fact, the story of Nigeria
as it is known today goes back more than two thousand years. Within Nigeria’s
frontiers were a number of great kingdoms that had evolved complex systems of
government independent of contact with Europe. These included the kingdoms of Ife
and Benin,
whose art had become recognized as amongst the most accomplished in the world;
the Yoruba Empire of Oyo, which had once been the most powerful of the states
of the Guinea
coast. In the north, there were the
great kingdoms of Kanem-Borno, with a known history of more than a thousand
years; the Fulani empire which for the hundred years before its conquest by Britain
had ruled most of the savannah of Northern Nigeria. And finally, there were the city states of
the Niger Delta, which had grown in response to European demands for slaves and
later palm-oil; as well as the politically decentralized but culturally
homogenous Ibo peoples of the Eastern region and the small tribes of the
Plateau. All these state structures
grew tremendously through some form of trade, either internally or externally
with foreigners. One of the most
profitable of such trades being the trade with Europeans in humans, popularly
known as the Atlantic slave trade. Back to Top
The Atlantic Slave Trade
The major impact of Europeans on West Africa
was due to the Atlantic slave trade.
For the greater part of four centuries the trade dominated relations
between both the African and European peoples, and it continued to affect them
profoundly even when it was officially ended.
According to Crowder, Ewuare the Great may have been the first Oba
(king) of Benin
to meet a European (Crowder, 66). An
arrangement was made officially in 1472 when the Portuguese merchant Ruy do
Siqueira gained his majesty’s permission to trade for slaves, as well as gold
and ivory, within the borders of the Oba’s kingdom (Hines, 27). Contrary to speculations, the slave trade
was not a European innovation. Domestic
slavery was prevalent throughout the region, and many indigenous economies,
including those of the forest regions relied on some aspect of the slave trade,
whether it was collecting, marketing, or conveying the human cargo. Nevertheless, African participation in the
trade should not divert attention from the fact that the Atlantic slave trade
began with the arrival of Europeans, continued so long as the Europeans
required slave labor, and ended at European convenience.
In the sixteenth century, the demand
for slaves for the New World plantations had redirected
the slave trade from trans-Saharan trade routes to the coastal ports, and from
thence turned into the largest forced migration in history. Michael Crowder, who gave an extensive
account of the statistics in his Story of Nigeria, illustrated just how
cruel and depopulating this trade was:
Conservative estimates put the total number of slaves
exported from West Africa and Angola
as high as 24,000,000 of which probably only 15,000,000 survived the notorious
Middle Passage across the Atlantic. In the sixteenth
century about 1,000,000 slaves were transported to the Americas,
in the seventeenth century, some 3,000,000, and in the eighteenth century some
7,000,000 or 70,000 a year. Of these about 22,000 were shipped annually from
ports in Nigeria.
Benin and its
colony of Lagos sent about 4,000
and the ports of Bonny, New Calabar and Old Calabar, which grew up directly in
response to European demands for slaves, together with the Cameroons
sent some 18,000. Even in the nineteenth century, when many major European
powers had abolished slavery, and when the British Navy patrolled the coast of Africa,
another 4,000,000 slaves were taken across the Atlantic.
Many of these came from Yorubaland, where civil war produced thousands of
captives to be sold into slavery.
It
was also well noted that the men taken as slaves from the Nigerian coasts were
captives of war, or sometimes, like in the forest regions, were children sold
by their parents in the hope that they might find a more profitable life
elsewhere. For the Ibo, slavery was
said to have recommended itself as a relief from overpopulation and
insufficient land (Country Study Handbook).
It will be very interesting to find
out how the many Nigerians, who were forcibly settled in the New
World, fared. Well
basically, according to a country studies report published by the Federal
Research Division of the U.S Library of congress, most of them lost their
tribal identities, especially in those territories where families were broken
up indiscriminately and where no consideration was given to the welfare of the
slaves. It is noted also that this was
particularly difficult in the West Indies where common
participation was forbidden. However,
different tribes reacted differently to the new situation. The Yoruba, who were usually captured and
sold as a result of wars, were transported in large numbers, and many of them
found their way to Brazil and Trinidad where their masters were less oppressive
in attitudes thereby helping them maintain their culture. In fact, some religious ceremonies practiced
today in Brazil
can still be recognized by Yoruba from Nigeria. A further feature of this cultural exchange
between Nigeria
and Brazil was
the repatriation of large groups of slaves who revolted between 1807 and 1813. This also explains some of the European
surnames borne by some Yoruba and other coastal ethnic groups in Nigeria
today. The Ibo, on the other hand, were
not as organized as the Yoruba and were usually captured individually. It must also be pointed out that a large
number of slaves from Ibo territory were either already slaves or outcasts from
their own societies (Crowder, 77). Back to Top
Pre-Independence
Nationalist Movement
It should be remembered that no such
entity as “Nigeria”
existed until 1914. It was the creation
of a British government, which had seized control of its areas shortly after
the abolishment of the slave trade.
From then until October 1, 1960,
when she gained her independence, Nigeria
was under British colonial rule.
It was in 1807
that the British Parliament enacted legislation prohibiting the slave
trade. To enforce a blockade on the
Middle Passage, the Royal Navy detailed a squadron to patrolling the West
African coast stationed off the Niger Delta.
Though a lively slave trade continued until the 1860’s, it was gradually
replaced by other commodities, this shift in trade led to increasing British
intervention in the affairs of Yorubaland and the Niger Delta. Britain
granted a Royal Charter to the Niger Company in 1886 and gave it political
authority in the areas it controlled. By the end of the century their
commercial activities had extended British influence up the Niger
River to include the Muslim north (Arnold,
p. ix).
Since independence in 1960, the nation has struggled
and even fought to create a sense of nationalism. As an artificial creation involving such widely differing groups
of people, there have always been doubts as to whether Nigeria
can survive as a sovereign federation, a status it obtained in 1963. Prior to this started the Nigerian
Nationalist Movement, one in which Nigerians started to think of themselves,
much less as members of distinct ethnic groups but as citizens of one political
entity. It is said in many quarters
that Nigerian nationalism must have manifested itself right from the first
encounter between Europeans and the local inhabitants. Its goal initially was not self
determination, but rather increased participation in the governmental process
on a regional level. This movement
produced such prominent personalities as Herbert Macaulay, revered today as
‘the father of Nigerian Nationalism,’ and descendant of Bishop Crowther, a
freed slave. Also, there was Dr. Nnamdi
Azikiwe, President of the newly formed indigenous senate and eventually
Governor-General of the independent federation; Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, Nigeria’s
first indigenous prime minister; and Chief Obafemi Awolowo, radical activist
and leader of the Action Group. The ideological inspiration for some of
these nationalists came from a variety of sources, including prominent
American-based activists such as Marcus Garvey and W. E. B. DuBois (Country
Study Handbook).
Back to Top
Women in Nigeria
On the contrary, the success of the nationalist
movement was not achieved by men alone, but by Nigerian women as well. The early stages of nationalist revolt
against entrenched British rule also took the form of local skirmishes like the
“Aba Women’s Riots.” In 1928 to 1930, Aba
women rose in protest against the oppressive rule of the colonial
government. These Ibo women of eastern Nigeria
feared that the head-count being carried out by the British was a prelude to
women being taxed. The women were
particularly unhappy about the over-taxation of their husbands and sons which
they felt was impoverishing them and leading to economic hardship. They also resented the British imposition on
the community of warrant chiefs, many of whom carried out what the women
considered to be abusive and extortionist actions. Their actions eventually forced the local chiefs to relinquish
their power, but not until after more than 50 women and an unknown number of
British troops and civilians were killed before authorities suppressed what is
today known as the Women’s War of Nigeria.
While they had less influence than men, women did control local trade
and specific crops, and they also protected their interests through assemblies.
Today, Nigeria
has many women’s organizations, most of them professional and social
clubs. However, the main organization
recognized as the voice of women on national issues is the National Council of
Women’s Societies (NCWS). Many of the
women’s groups were affiliated with NCWS, which tended to be elitist in
organization, membership and orientation.
In the 1980s, women from lower social strata in the towns, represented
mainly by the market women's associations, became militant and organized mass
protests and demonstrations in several states. Their major grievances ranged
from narrow concerns such as allocation of market stalls to broader issues such
as the standard of education of their children. As in other West African countries, women play a very important
role in family life in Nigeria
and this has given them the opportunity to branch out into various professions
and businesses. Back to Top
Current Geopolitical
Structure
Since independence, Nigeria
has experienced three republics, five coups and a civil war, not to mention a
severely battered economy. This,
amongst others, helped to shape the various geopolitical changes that Nigeria
has undergone since then.
Under the first republic, between
1963 and 1966, Nigeria was run with three administrative units that reflected
the three main geographical regions, the Northern Region of predominantly Hausa
and Fulani ethnic groups; the Western Region mainly Yoruba and the Eastern
Region of the Ibo. These ethnic
divisions partly led to the Nigerian Civil War, also known as the Biafran War,
which lasted from 1967 to 1970 and during which twelve states were
established. Three military regimes and
two coups later, the Second Republic
was underway but for a short period between 1979 and 1983. By this time, the number of states had
increased to nineteen. An additional
two states were created in 1987 and the Federal
Territory moved from Lagos
to Abuja officially in 1991. After two separate state creation exercises,
Nigeria now has
36 states and is currently in its Fourth republic.
The oil-rich Nigerian economy has
been long hobbled by political instability, corruption, and poor macroeconomic
management. Nigeria's
former military rulers failed to diversify the economy away from overdependence
on the capital-intensive oil sector. In
all, the military has held power for 29 years of the 42 years since
independence. Corruption is a very
serious problem in Nigeria
today and there is still much debate as to who has been more corrupt in the
past, the military or democratic politicians.
Civilians have also been blamed for mismanaging the economy and the
value of the Naira, Nigeria’s
local currency, has been steadily on a decline.
As one of the leading oil producers
in the world, Nigeria
has been a member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)
since 1971. The largely subsistence
agricultural sector has failed to keep up with rapid population growth, and Nigeria,
once a large net exporter of food, must now import food. However, more attention will have to be paid
to non-oil exports if any growth in the economy is to be sustainable. Nigeria
is also an active member of the U.N, the Commonwealth of Nations
and the Organization of African Unity, O.A.U.
It also stands as the headquarters for the Economic Community of West
African States (ECOWAS), the regional body of West African nations. Back to Top
Conclusion
President Olusegun Obasanjo, a former military ruler
before the Second Republic
but now a civilian, is presently the chief executive running the affairs of
this ever growing nation. He has been
faced with various challenges ever since assuming office in 1999 including that
of rebuilding an already tarnished economy, attracting foreign investment and
debt relief, and institutionalizing democracy by keeping the military in the
barracks.
Through a brief history of Nigeria,
it is very evident that Nigeria’s
strength in diversity might also be its undoing. Consequently, it is most
important that the Obasanjo administration defuses longstanding ethnic and
religious tensions, if it is to build a sound foundation for economic growth
and political stability.
For
Further Study
- Federal Research Division. Area Handbook Studies. 1991.
Nigeria:
A Country Study. U.S.
Library of Congress.
<
http://memory.loc.gov/frd/cs/ngtoc.html#ng0000>
- Crowder, Michael.
The Story of Nigeria, 4th Edition.
London:
Faber and Faber, 1978
- Arnold,
Guy. Modern Nigeria,
London: Longman, 1977.
- Hatch,
John Charles. Nigeria:
A History, London: Secker
& Warburg, 1971.
- Encyclopædia Britannica. "Nigeria"
<http://search.eb.com/eb/article?eu=120185>
- CIA – The World Fact book 2002. “Nigeria”
< http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/ni.html>
- The Women’s War in Nigeria
(1929 – 1930). December
16, 2000
<http://www.onwar.com/aced/data/whiskey/womens1929.htm>
