On 9 May 1913, Lugard submitted a formal proposal to the Colonial Office in which Northern and Southern provinces would have separate administrations, under the control of a "strongly authoritarian" Governor-General. The conference drafted the terms of a new constitution. Lugard's success in northern Nigeria has been attributed to his policy of indirect rule; that is, he governed the protectorate through the rulers defeated by the British. A third type of organisation that was more pointedly political was the youth or student group, which became the vehicle of intellectuals and professionals. Political activists in the southern areas spoke of self-government in terms of educational opportunities and economic development. [59], Lugard advocated constantly for the unification of the whole territory, and in August 1911 the Colonial Office asked Lugard to lead the amalgamated colony.[60]. Subsequent revisions contained in the Lyttleton Constitution, enacted in 1954, firmly established the federal principle and paved the way for independence. The so-called Macpherson Constitution, after the incumbent Governor-General John Stuart Macpherson, went into effect the following year. The basic economic units in each town were "houses", family-operated entities that engendered loyalty for its employees. In 1923 Herbert Macaulay, the grandson of Samuel Ajayi Crowther, established the first Nigerian political party, the Nigerian National Democratic Party, which successfully contested three Lagos seats in the Legislative Council. The Nigerian Resistance. Selected petitions and written correspondence between Igbo women and British officials between 1892 and 1960 shed fresh light on how women navigated . Following the defeat of an unsuccessful foray by Consul General James R. Phillips, a larger retaliatory force captured Benin City and drove Ovonramwen, the Oba of Benin, into exile. It was guerrilla warfare in the case of the Mau Mau Uprising in Kenya (1952-60) and Zimbabwe's war of independence (1965-79); it was all . NEPU formed a parliamentary alliance with the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC). Early British Imperialism. Any activity in the north that might include participation by the federal government (and consequently by southern civil servants) was regarded as a challenge to the primacy of the emirates. British and French traders did a large share of this business until 1807 when they were replaced by the Portuguese and the Spaniards. [11], The British led a series of military campaigns to enlarge its sphere of influence and expand its commercial opportunities. The NPC federal parliamentary leader, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, was appointed Prime Minister of Nigeria. The most powerful figure in the party was Ahmadu Bello, the Sardauna of Sokoto. As a latecomer in the struggle for colonies, Germany had to settle for four territories, called "protectorates," in . The British turned to Persia for oil.[83]. [19], The company considered itself the sole legitimate government of the area, with executive, legislative and judicial powers all subordinate to the rule of a council created by the company board of directors in London. of the Belgian colonial rule that eventually gave rise to a violent resistance against colonial rule, and the repression of this resistance resulted in the . In 1894 the territory was redesignated the Niger Coast Protectorate and was expanded to include the region from Calabar to Lagos Colony and Protectorate, including the hinterland, and northward up the Niger River as far as Lokoja, the headquarters of the Royal Niger Company. [42], The British had difficulty conquering Igboland, which lacked a central political organisation. In 1944 Macaulay and Nnamdi Azikiwe, an Igbo who had been educated in the United States, united more than 40 different groups to establish the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC). The British took an interest in Nigeria because of its resources. Other European powers acknowledged Britain's dominance over the area in the 1885 Berlin Conference. However, it is thought that the Nigerians themselves were providing the . In the north, the emirs intended to maintain firm control on economic and political change. [72], The Influenza pandemic made its way to the port of Lagos by September 1918 by way of a number of ships including the SS Panayiotis, the SS Ahanti, and the SS Bida. [61] John Anderson diplomatically suggested: If it is the necessity for formally submitting the drafts that hurts Sir F. Lugard, I should be quite prepared to omit that provision provided that the period of publication of the draft prior to enactment is extended from one month to two. The Macpherson constitution, promulgated in 1951, provided for a central House of Representatives, but friction between the central and regional legislatures, related to the question of where supreme party authority lay, soon caused a breakdown. The appointment of Joseph Chamberlain as colonial secretary in 1895 especially marked a shift towards new territorial ambitions of the British Empire. The High Commissioner will be guided by all the usual laws of succession and the wishes of the people and chief but will set them aside if he desires for good cause to do so. Armed resistance decreased in the 1920s but protest continued, "characterised by civil rights and civil . [76], The British treasury initially supported the landlocked Northern Nigeria Protectorate with grants, totalling 250,000 or more each year. Afeadie, "The Hidden Hand of Overrule" (1996), p. 1213. Although this trade grew to significant proportionspalm oil exports alone were worth 1 billion a year by 1840it was concentrated near the coast, where palm trees grew in abundance. In practice, Lugard used the annual sessions to inform the traditional rulers of British policy, leaving them with no functions at the council's meetings except to listen and to assent. This primary resistance was not unified and centered, yet it allowed understanding that the colonial rule and the presence of Europeans in Africa were negative (Chamberlain 89). Goods were made available on credit to African middlemen, who were expected to trade them at a pre-arranged price and deliver the proceeds to the company. Du Bois. nigeria resistance to colonial rule. The Resident also oversaw a Provincial Court at the region's capital. [19], West Africa also bought British exports, supplying 3040% of the demand for British cotton during the Industrial Revolution of 17501790.[27]. The movement brought to public notice a long list of future leaders, including H.O. Crowther, a liberated Yoruba slave, had been educated in Sierra Leone and in Britain, where he was ordained before returning to his homeland with the first group of CMS missionaries. David Ellis, "African and European relations in the last century of the transatlantic slave trade"; in Ptr-Grenouilleau. As a protectorate, it did not have the status of a colony, so its officials were appointed by the Foreign Office and not by the Colonial Office. Ethnic and kinship organisations that often took the form of a tribal union also emerged in the 1920s. One 1885 treaty read: We, the undersigned King and Chiefs [] with the view to the bettering of the condition of our country and people, do this day cede to the National Africa Company (Limited), their heirs and assigns, forever, the whole of our territory [] We also give the said National African Company (Limited) full power to settle all native disputes arising from any cause whatever, and we pledge ourselves not to enter into any war with other tribes without the sanction of the said National Africa Company (Limited). The slave trade was heaviest in the period 17001850, with an average of 76,000 people taken from Africa each year between 1783 and 1792. According to the Trans-Atlantic Slave Voyage Database, 308,800 were sold across the Atlantic from Lagos in 17761850. Native Administration was responsible for police, hospitals, public works and local courts. [67], This system, in which the structure of authority focused on the emir to whom obedience was a mark of religious devotion, did not welcome change. History of Islam in Nigeria. The Royal Niger Company had its own armed forces. In: Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs: (1999), vol. Frequently African armies of 20, 000 were defeated by European-led armies of 2,000 or less. Sometimes forced labour was used directly for public works projects. In addition to their economic grievances, they also called for the end of the reform of the native courts. Divide and rule policy: This was mainly applied in areas where African societies or population had poor relations as a result of differences between their leaders or divisions created by Christian religious sects to easily defeat Africans in case of impending resistance against colonial rule. In the immediate post-World War II period, Nigeria benefited from a favourable trade balance. The legitimate trade in commodities attracted a number of British merchants to the Niger River, as well as some men who had been formerly engaged in the slave trade but who now changed their line of wares. [31], Captain John Glover, the colony's administrator, created a militia of Hausa troops in 1861. Initial British attempts to open trade with the interior by way of the Niger could not overcome climate and diseases such as malaria. Alienated by the anonymity of the urban environment and drawn together by ties to their ethnic homelandsas well as by the need for mutual aidthe new city dwellers formed local clubs that later expanded into federations covering whole regions. The southern protectorate was divided into two provinces in 1939Western and Easternand in 1954 they, along with the northern protectorate, were renamed the Western, Eastern, and Northern regions as part of Nigerias reconstruction into a federal state. The central government, presided over by the governor-general and accountable to the secretary for the colonies in London, was more powerful but distant from the people. Examples of passive resistance include complex and/or costly application processes, a failure to provide guidance on how to request information, or enforcement mechanisms that are difficult to use. We also understand that the said National African Company (limited) have full power to mine, farm, and build in any portion of our territory. The British, when faced with dissent, tended to grant political reforms in an effort to dispel the attractiveness of more-radical . Many changes accompanied British rule: Western education, the English language, and Christianity spread during the period; new forms of money, transportation, and communication were developed; and the Nigerian economy became based on the export of cash crops. [74] The disease first found its home among the many trading ports along the West African coast. 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nigeria resistance to colonial rule