Before the advent of the British colonialists (as preferred by Dr. Benjamin Nnamdi Azikiwe first ceremonial president of Nigeria) and not colonial masters, Nigeria as a socio-political entity was neither in existence nor contemplated; the territories that now make up Nigeria existed in fragments. We have the Benin Empire, the Lower Niger Kingdoms (popularly referred to as the Oil Rivers), the Fulani Empire of Zodge (later referred to as Sokoto), and the Kanem-Borno Empire. In addition, there were the Oduduwa Empire of the Yoruba, and the Aro-Chukwu Empire of the Ibo. Another was the Aboh Empire that sprang from the Benin Empire.
However, there was no systematic contact between one empire and the other. There were isolated trade contacts among the people of the Lower Niger Kingdom and the Benin Kingdom. Different names were used for the territories now incorporated in Nigeria and the whole area was referred to as the Hausa Territories, the Niger Empire, the Niger Sudan and the Niger Coast Protectorates. In January 1894, Miss Flora Shaw, a journalist with the Times newspaper on colonial affairs, wrote an article and suggested the name ‘Nigeria’ for all the territories around the River Niger. In 1902, Miss Flora Shaw was married to Sir Frederick Lord Lugard who was at that time the High Commissioner for the protectorate of Northern Nigeria, who was also destined to become the Governor General of Nigeria. In other words, the naming of a nation was a woman’s suggestion to her husband who was in a position of authority to implement it.
The Nigerian state, created in 1914, as an act of British colonialism, by the amalgamation of two existing British colonial states, the Protectorate of Northern Nigeria and the Colony and Protectorate of Southern Nigeria was 100 years old on the 1st day of January 2014. It is most appropriate at this point to define the meaning and effect of ‘amalgamation’. Obviously, amalgamation means the fusing or merging of two bodies or entities into one, with the result that both cease to exist and are replaced by the new body or entity. In other words, on their amalgamation in 1914, the Protectorate of Northern Nigeria and the Colony and Protectorate of Southern Nigeria ceased to exist as separate legal entities and were replaced by a single entity called the Colony and Protectorate of Nigeria.
Many Nigerians have aired their views on the amalgamation that is now 100 years. A former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Professor Tam David-West, stated without mincing words that the country exists along ethnic and religious divides, insisting that there was nothing to celebrate because the amalgamation was a mistake. This is because from 1914 till date, Nigeria cannot showcase any tangible achievements. We are yet to get a nation because we don’t love ourselves. We are still living with ethnic sentiment. We still have divisions along ethnic and religious lines. Therefore, there is need for us to have a behavioural rebirth as well as truly people or autochthonous constitution to move the country forward. The amalgamation in 1914 was by treaty, obviously, in international law, any treaty that is not dated expires after 100 years and invariably marks the end of the country as it ceases to be legal entity. However, let us take the confab seriously to avoid imminent danger that can lead to break-up. The way things are currently in Nigeria, peaceful breakup is not possible and nothing should be done by anybody to plunge our country, the giant of Africa into another civil war, no nation can survive two civil wars. However, the problem of insecurity in the country needs to be urgently and adequately addressed for the benefits of all Nigerians.
It is a truism to say that before 1906, the territory was administered as three separate units; the Lagos Protectorate, the Southern Protectorate and the Northern Protectorate. In 1906, the Protectorate of Southern Nigeria was merged with the Lagos Protectorate and brought under one administration but the Northern Protectorate was administered separately. The circumstances that forced the British Government to amalgamate the Northern Protectorate with the Southern Protectorate in January 1, 1914 were motivated neither by political exigencies nor by a closer cultural understanding among the diverse elements of conglomeration that was later to be called Nigeria. It was abundantly clear that the primary interest of the British administration was economic. It was also crystal clear that the Northern Protectorate because of its geographical location and cloudy economic prospects was not likely to be viable. No doubt, the Lugard’s administration was finding it rather difficult to maintain the Northern Protectorate which was already running into deficit.
Speaking on the financial difficulties of the north and the anticipated prosperity that would follow the projected amalgamation of the Northern Protectorate with the Southern Protectorate, Lugard stated that the prosperity of the Southern Protectorate as evidenced by the liquor trade had risen over 57%. The liquor trade alone yielded revenue of one million one hundred and thirty-eight thousand pounds in 1913. This, he believed was the result of the amalgamation of the Lagos Protectorate with the Southern Protectorate which constituted a perpetual drain on the purse of the British taxpayers. Obviously, the Northern administration could not have survived without the imperial grant-in-aid which in the year before the amalgamation stood at one hundred and thirty-six thousand pounds and had an average of three hundred and fourteen thousand five hundred pounds for the 11 years ending March 1912. However, the burden of financing Northern Nigeria seemed to have been revisited, if not successfully, at least bitterly, by the southerners. The expenditure of the British taxpayers’ money in financing a colonial territory was a contradiction of the British Colonial policy, enunciated sixty years before by Earl Grey, which stipulated that “the surest test for the soundness of measures for improvement at an uncivilized people is that they should be self-supporting”. In addition, the Northern Protectorate was not only landlocked, but hounded by territories that fell under the influence of other European times. It was therefore inconceivable how the economic position could have improved without aid from the South.
Commenting on his appointment of Sir Lugard as the man for the amalgamation, Harcourt, the Colonial Secretary referred to his foresightedness in the creation of Northern Nigeria, and believed that Lugard “reclaimed it from the known… gave it a legal code, and established land systems. This may be a model and inspiration to other protectorates”. In his views, Lugard amalgamated Nigeria, much was expected of Lugard. Since Lugard wanted to live up to his expectation was evident in his determination to be the final judge of what was good for Nigeria and in his refusal to accept advice from his colleagues. It was quite true that E. D. Morel in what he described as the “unauthorised scheme for amalgamation” proposed breaking the country into four provinces namely the Central State with Zungeru as the headquarters, the Northern State with Kano as the headquarters, the Western State with Oshogbo as the headquarters, and the Eastern State with Calabar as the headquarters. The Central State was to be bound on Southwest by the River Niger, on the South-Southeast by the Benue River, and was to include the Tiv areas, up to the southern portion of Zaria Emirate, the Provinces of Bauchi, Niger, Yola, Muri, and Nasarawa. The Western Provincial state with its capital at Oshogbo was to include Ilorin and Kabba Provinces, the Mid-Western Nigeria, and the whole of Yoruba territories west of the Niger. The Eastern Province with headquarters in Calabar was to include all the territories south of the River Benue and East of the River Niger, but excluding the Cameroons under German occupation. The Northern Province was to include all the Emirates with Islamic civilisation. One important advantage in Morel’s scheme was the isolation and the homogenisation of the Muslim emirates where at least Islamic civilisation would have been left intact.
If the association was achieved, there would have been two major consequences. There would have been clear separation of the Muslims from the non-Muslims of the North especially the TIV. This would have averted frequent conflicts between the TIV and the Northern Nigerian Government, conflict that helped prepare the ground for the 1966 military coup. Another is that the Yorubas who are now lumped up with other Muslims in the North would have been able to join other Yorubas of the Western Region of Nigeria. Incidentally, these two points which were un-cleared in 1911 remained to plague Nigerian politics. Morel’s intention was to provide for the division of the country into province in line with the natural geographic boundaries and existing political conditions, involving a few changes. Morel’s scheme seemed to have contracted the Lugard’s proposals, because Lugard wanted the North intact, and the separation of the North and the South carried to other spheres like the introduction of the Provincial Court Ordinance. Morel on the other hand saw the end to these separatist tendencies as the only panacea for the division and antagonism between the North and the South. Lugard rejected Morel’s proposals because he had been critical of colonial policy as the editor of the African Mail. Lugard also rejected the advice of his lieutenant governor for the Northern Province. Temple advocated breaking the country into seven provinces, three in the North and four in the South. There were other issues on which Lord Lugard erred and invoked upon himself the criticism of his opponents. http://www.ndokwareporters.com/amalgamation-of-northern-and-southern-nigeria-in-1914-was-it-a-mistake-by-charles-ikedikwa-soeze/
Commissioner in Akwa-Ibom State kneels for the state's first lady- Mrs Akpabio
