Struggles Of An African Giant

 By Oyeleke Elizabeth

A British author and philanthropist, Joanne Rowling writes, “We are only as strong as we are united, as weak as we are divided.” Also, American poet, Gwendolyn Brooks, notes that, “We are each other’s harvest; we are each other’s business; we are each other’s magnitude and bond.” 

There is a great unseen bond that binds the people of Nigeria together that is beyond human awareness and understanding. We are different superficially by our languages, cultures and religions but we are same fundamentally.’’

Nigeria has communities of people with different ideologies, religions, cultural practices and languages. The communities have an organised system of government which controls social, spiritual and economic affairs. From the 12th century till the colonial era, Nigeria consisted of kingdoms, empires and states. The prominent among them are: the Ife kingdom, the Oyo Empire, the Kanem-Bornu Empire, the Igbo kingdom and the Benin Kingdom. These groups were self-reliant and piloted the affairs of their people without interference.

In the 15th century, the Europeans ventured into Africa for trade and missionary purposes. Their relationship continued until the 19th century when there was a rise in industrial revolution and the British started to push into the hinterlands but they faced great resistance from the denizens. Great Britain was not the only European country that had eyes on Africa’s natural and human resources. Therefore, there was a struggle for control of Africa among the European countries. This led to the 1884-1885 Berlin conference, an initiative of Portugal, Otto Von Bismarck. the chancellor of Germany, and involved 13 nations in Europe with the inclusion of the United States of America to discuss how to colonise Africa. No African state was involved in the conference.

After the Berlin conference, the British gained control of Nigeria. Lagos became the first British colony in 1861, afterwards other parts of Nigeria were gained through treatise or conquest until all that is Nigeria was under British colonisation. During the first of British colonial rule, Lord Fredrick Lugard was appointed to conquer the northern part of Nigeria which comprises people from Sokoto and Kano. They put up resistance against the colonialists but were conquered. The Southern colony was conquered from 1850-1897 while the northern protectorates were conquered from 1900-1914.

Following the subduing of the colonies under British rule, on January 1, 1941, Lord Fredrick Lugard amalgamated the Southern colonies and the Northern protectorate to have complete political and economic control of the country. Lord Lugard put in place the indirect rule. That is governing Nigeria through their Local Authority. This system of government worked best in the northern part of Nigeria but proved impossible in the southern part, as the people did not fully acknowledge the power of the ‘chiefs.’

Lugard successfully amalgamated the land areas but not the people, as they have different histories, cultures, beliefs and systems of governance. This gave rise to tribalism in Nigeria.

On October 1st 1960, Nigeria gained independence from its colonial master and became an independent state. Though Nigeria got independence, its political system after independence began to make pronounced ethnic and regional disparities; this led to internal conflict such as; the Biafran war, Niger Delta militant rebellion, and recently, Boko Haram insurgency, and terrorism. The most calamitous of them all is the civil war of  1967-1970, which led to the death of many Nigerians. After the killing of the Igbo in the North, the Igbo strive to secede from Nigeria and become a sovereign state. But they lost the war to Nigeria military might and were retained as part of the country.

Over the years and till date, Nigerians struggle through their differences and try to unite. They have the manpower and resources but the minds of the people are still blindfolded and unable to see the beauty in each other’s differences. The British colonialists may have amalgamated these different people to satisfy their own selfish desires, but if we join forces genuinely, we can be more than the Giant of Africa.

*Oyeleke Elizabeth is a commentator on public issues. She wrote in via: elizabethoyeleke07@gmail.com