Understanding Nigeria
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AFRICA
CONTINENT with regions (North, South,
East, West)
1776-1870: Colonized by Europe and US
during last phase of colonialism
1807: Britain abolished slave trade
1834: Britain abolished slavery &
established “legitimate trade” in cash
crops, turning subsistence economies
into “mono crop” economies
AFRICA
1884: “Scramble for Africa” at the Berlin
Conference on West Africa
1884-1912: 5 EU nations—Germany, Italy,
Portugal, France, Britain ( + Spain,
Belgium) sliced Africa up like a pie
Most African nations fought for and won
independence from their colonizers in the
mid-1900s
1960: Nigeria became independent from
Britain
NIGERIA
Leading up to British
Colonialism
1804: Muslim “jihad” led by Usman Dan
Fodio
halted in the “middle belt” of Nigeria
Muslims established emirs (Muslim
leaders) and emirates (walled
kingdoms)
1870s: Christian missions settled in
Southern Nigeria
Portuguese Catholic, British Anglican,
US Baptist
Nigeria’s 3 Ethnic Majorities
Northern Nigeria - Dominated by Hausa &
Fulani, practiced Islam
Southeastern Nigeria - Dominated by
Yoruba, practiced Christianity
Pre-colonial = centralized “state” societies
Southwestern Nigeria - Dominated by
Igbo, practiced Christianity
Pre-colonial = decentralized “stateless”
societies
Nigeria’s Demographics Today:
Flash Forward
Population: 141 million (2005 UN estimate)
389 Ethnic groups
Hausa & Fulani:
Yoruba:
Igbo:
Ijaw:
Kanuri:
Ibibio:
Annang:
Tiv:
Efik:
29%
20%
20%
6.5%
4%
3.5%
2.5%
2.5%
2%
Muslim:
Christian:
Indigenous:
50% (mostly Sunni)
40%
10%
British Colonialism
Colonialism: Not only system of administration
but whole way of living & thinking (Frantz
Fanon’s The Wretched of the Earth; Black Skin,
White Masks)
1900: Lord Lugard led successful military
campaign establishing “Indirect Rule” in the
North
1914: Lugard’s “Amalgamation” of N and S
Nigeria into a unified nation-state
“Backwards North” v. “Educated South”
“Faced with the lack of sufficient resources
and personnel, governing through ‘native’
institutions was inevitable, consequently,
these institutions were modified British ideas
of government to suit British purposes. This
was the genesis of Indirect Rule” (Said
Abubakar).
Indirect Rule: “A type of cheap government
which was a façade of old institutions
controlled and directed by the British”
3 pillars: Native Courts, Native Administration,
Native Treasury, & “rules” (Mamdani 1996:53)
How did colonialism work
In Southeastern Nigeria?
1. WOMEN: British did not consider women
important in politics or administration, but
Igbo people did!
 Joys of Motherhood by Buchi Emecheta
 British gender values = women took care of home &
children
 Igbo women’s organizations: Association of Village
Wives & Women’s Title Societies
2. WARRANT CHIEF SYSTEM: replaced title
societies and age grades

 British appointed arbitrary men to represent villages
and carry out orders of the
District Officer (D.O.): young, ambitious, “literate” men
(not traditional leaders)
3. ECONOMY: Subsistence-based to Cash-based
 Taxation: property taxes, personal income
taxes; fixed, compulsory way of counting
people
 Women’s objections
 Already fed and educated the children
 Controlled domestic sector
 Counting children threatened their fertility
 Cash Crops: cocoa, palm produce, kola nuts,
groundnuts, rubber
 used up land for subsistence crops:
cassava, yams, maize
 colonies economically dependent on global
economic system (i.e. stock market crash of
1928)
4. LABOR MIGRATION
 people migrate to urban centers (Lagos,
Ibadan) to earn wages to pay taxes
5. ETHNIC NATIONALISMS: different ethnic
groups clustered together in new urban
places
 formed “unions” based on cultural,
historical, political alliances
 British encouraged separation to suppress
resistance
6. RELIGION & EDUCATION
 British used mission schools to “educate”
Southern Nigerians: gender values, English
language, Christian values, etc.
Organized Resistance
Nigerians learned the “master’s tools” so that
they could eventually fight the British on their
own terms!
Igbo Women's War of 1929 (resistance ex.)
1000’s of Igbo women traveled to Oloko to
protest warrant chiefs’ restrictions of
women’s roles in government.
Attacked 16 native courts, forced w.c. resign
“Sitting” as protest tactic: sang & danced
around w.c. homes & offices & invaded their
space until they would listen.
I Saw the Sky Catch Fire by T. Obinkaram
Echewa