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Nigeria EMERGENCE OF NIGERIAN NATIONALISM
British colonialism created Nigeria, joining diverse
peoples
and regions in an artificial political entity. It was not
unusual
that the nationalism that became a political factor in
Nigeria
during the interwar period derived both from an older
political
particularism and broad pan-Africanism rather than from
any sense
of a common Nigerian nationality. Its goal initially was
not
self-determination, but rather increased participation in
the
governmental process on a regional level. Inconsistencies
in
British policy reinforced cleavages based on regional
animosities
by attempting simultaneously to preserve the indigenous
cultures
of each area and to introduce modern technology and
Western
political and social concepts. In the north, appeals to
Islamic
legitimacy upheld the rule of the emirs, so that
nationalist
sentiments there were decidedly anti-Western. Modern
nationalists
in the south, whose thinking was shaped by European ideas,
opposed indirect rule, which had entrenched what was
considered
to be an anachronistic ruling class in power and shut out
the
Westernized elite.
The ideological inspiration for southern nationalists
came
from a variety of sources, including prominent
American-based
activists such as Marcus Garvey and W.E.B. Du Bois.
Nigerian
students abroad joined those from other colonies in
pan-African
groups, such as the West African Students Union, founded
in
London in 1925. Early nationalists tended to ignore
Nigeria as
the focus of patriotism; rather, the common denominator
was based
on a newly assertive ethnic consciousness, particularly
Yoruba
and Igbo. Despite their acceptance of European and North
American
influences, the nationalists were critical of colonialism
for its
failure to appreciate the antiquity of indigenous
cultures. They
wanted self-government, charging that only colonial rule
prevented the unshackling of progressive forces in Africa.
Political opposition to colonial rule often assumed
religious
dimensions. Independent Christian churches had emerged at
the end
of the nineteenth century because many European
missionaries were
racist and blocked the advancement of a Nigerian clergy.
European
interpretations of Christian orthodoxy also refused to
allow the
incorporation of local customs and practices, even though
the
various mission denominations themselves interpreted
Christianity
very differently. It was acceptable for the established
missions
to differ, but most Europeans were surprised and shocked
that
Nigerians would develop new denominations independent of
European
control. Christianity long had experienced "protestant"
schisms;
the emergence of independent Christian churches in Nigeria
was
another phase of this history. The pulpits of the
independent
congregations provided one of the few available avenues
for the
free expression of attitudes critical of colonial rule.
In the 1920s, there were several types of associations
that
were ostensibly nonpolitical. One group consisted of
professional
and business associations, such as the Nigerian Union of
Teachers, which provided trained leadership for political
groups;
the Nigerian Law Association, which brought together
lawyers,
many of whom had been educated in Britain; and the
Nigerian
Produce Traders' Association, led by Obafemi Awolowo.
Ethnic and kinship organizations that often took the
form of
a tribal union also emerged in the 1920s. These
organizations
were primarily urban phenomena that arose after large
numbers of
rural migrants moved to the cities. Alienated by the
anonymity of
the urban environment and drawn together by ties to their
ethnic
homelands--as well as by the need for mutual aid--the new
city
dwellers formed local clubs that later expanded into
federations
covering whole regions. By the mid-1940s, the major ethnic
groups
had formed such associations as the Igbo Federal Union and
the
Egbe Omo Oduduwa (Society of the Descendants of Oduduwa),
a
Yoruba cultural movement, in which Awolowo played a
leading role.
A third type of organization that was more pointedly
political was the youth or student group, which became the
vehicle of intellectuals and professionals. They were the
most
politically conscious segment of the population and stood
in the
vanguard of the nationalist movement. Newspapers, some of
which
were published before World War I, provided coverage of
nationalist views.
The opportunity afforded by the 1922 constitution to
elect a
handful of representatives to the Legislative Council gave
politically conscious Nigerians something concrete to work
on.
The principal figure in the political activity that ensued
was
Herbert Macauley, often referred to as the father of
Nigerian
nationalism. He aroused political awareness through his
newspaper, the Lagos Daily News, while leading the
Nigerian National Democratic Party (NNDP), which dominated
elections in Lagos from its founding in 1922 until the
ascendancy
of the National Youth Movement (NYM) in 1938. His
political
platform called for economic and educational development,
Africanization of the civil service, and self-government
for
Lagos. Significantly, however, Macauley's NNDP remained
almost
entirely a Lagos party, popular only in the area with
experience
in elective politics.
The NYM first used nationalist rhetoric to agitate for
improvements in education. The movement brought to public
notice
a long list of future leaders, including H.O. Davies and
Nnamdi
Azikiwe. Although Azikiwe later came to be recognized as
the
leading spokesman for national unity, his orientation on
return
from university training in the United States was
pan-African
rather than nationalist, emphasizing the common African
struggle
against European colonialism. He betrayed much less
consciousness
of purely Nigerian goals than Davies, a student of Harold
Laski
at the London School of Economics, whose political
orientation
was considered left-wing.
By 1938 the NYM was agitating for dominion status
within the
British Commonwealth of Nations, so that Nigeria would
have the
same status as Canada and Australia. In elections that
year, the
NYM ended the domination of the NNDP in the Legislative
Council
and moved to establish a genuinely national network of
affiliates. This promising start was stopped short three
years
later by internal divisions in which ethnic loyalties
emerged
triumphant. The departure of Azikiwe and other Igbo
members of
the NYM left the organization in Yoruba hands; during
World
War II, it was reorganized into a predominantly Yoruba
political
party, the Action Group, by Awolowo. Yoruba-Igbo rivalry
had
become a major factor in Nigerian politics
(see Ethnic Relations
, ch. 2).
During World War II, three battalions of the Nigeria
Regiment
fought in the Ethiopian campaign. Nigerian units also
contributed
to two divisions serving with British forces in Palestine,
Morocco, Sicily, and Burma, where they won many honors.
Wartime
experiences provided a new frame of reference for many
soldiers,
who interacted across ethnic boundaries in ways that were
unusual
in Nigeria. The war also made the British reappraise
Nigeria's
political future. The war years, moreover, witnessed a
polarization between the older, more parochial leaders
inclined
toward gradualism and the younger intellectuals, who
thought in
more immediate terms.
The rapid growth of organized labor in the 1940s also
brought
new political forces into play. During the war, union
membership
increased sixfold to 30,000. The proliferation of labor
organizations, however, fragmented the movement, and
potential
leaders lacked the experience and skill to draw workers
together.
In the postwar period, party lines were sharply drawn
on the
basis of ethnicity and regionalism. After the demise of
the NYM,
the nationalist movement splintered into the Hausa- and
Fulani-
backed Northern People's Congress (NPC), the
Yoruba-supported
Action Group, and the Igbo-dominated National Council of
Nigeria
and the Cameroons (NCNC, later the National Council of
Nigerian
Citizens). These parties negotiated with the British
government
over constitutional changes, but cooperation among them
was the
result of expediency rather than an emerging sense of
national
identity. Because of the essentially regional political
alignments of the parties, the British government decided
to
impose a political solution for Nigeria based on a
federally
structured constitution.
Nigeria's first political party to have nationwide
appeal was
the NCNC, founded in 1944 when Azikiwe encouraged
activists in
the National Youth Movement to call a conference in Lagos
of all
major Nigerian organizations to "weld the heterogeneous
masses of
Nigeria into one solid bloc." The aged Macauley was
elected
president of the new group, and Azikiwe became its
secretary
general. The party platform renewed the National Youth
Movement's
appeal for Nigerian self-government within the
Commonwealth under
a democratic constitution.
At its inception, party membership was based on
affiliated
organizations that included labor unions, social groups,
political clubs, professional associations, and more than
100
ethnic organizations. These bodies afforded unusual
opportunities
for political education in existing constituencies, but
the NYM,
which was fading out, was absent from the list of NCNC
affiliates. Leadership of the NCNC rested firmly with
Azikiwe, in
large part because of his commanding personality but also
because
of the string of newspapers he operated and through which
he
argued the nationalist cause. In the late 1940s, the NCNC
captured a majority of the votes in the predominantly
Yoruba
Western Region, but increasingly it came to rely on Igbo
support,
supplemented by alliances with minority parties in the
Northern
Region. The NCNC backed the creation of new regions, where
minorities would be ensured a larger voice, as a step
toward the
formation of a strong unitary national government.
The Action Group arose in 1951 as a response to Igbo
control
of the NCNC and as a vehicle for Yoruba regionalism that
resisted
the concept of unitary government. The party was
structured
democratically and benefited from political spadework done
by the
NCNC in the Western Region in the late 1940s. As a
movement
designed essentially to exploit the federal arrangement to
attain
regional power, however, the Action Group became the
NCNC's
competitor for votes in the south at the national level
and at
the local level in the Western Region.
The Action Group was largely the creation of Awolowo,
general
secretary of Egbe Omo Oduduwa and leader of the Nigerian
Produce
Traders' Association. The Action Group was thus the heir
of a
generation of flourishing cultural consciousness among the
Yoruba
and also had valuable connections with commercial
interests that
were representative of the comparative economic
advancement of
the Western Region. Awolowo had little difficulty in
appealing to
broad segments of the Yoruba population, but he strove to
prevent
the Action Group from being stigmatized as a "tribal"
group.
Despite his somewhat successful efforts to enlist
non-Yoruba
support, the regionalist sentiment that had stimulated the
party
initially could hardly be concealed.
Another obstacle to the development of the Action Group
was
the animosity between segments of the Yoruba
community--for
example, many people in Ibadan opposed Awolowo on personal
grounds because of his identification with the Ijebu
Yoruba.
Despite these difficulties, the Action Group rapidly built
an
effective organization. Its program reflected greater
planning
and was more ideologically oriented than that of the NCNC.
Although he did not have Azikiwe's compelling personality,
Awolowo was a formidable debater as well as a vigorous and
tenacious political campaigner. He used for the first time
in
Nigeria modern, sometimes flamboyant, electioneering
techniques.
Among his leading lieutenants were Samuel Akintola of
Ibadan and
the oni of Ife.
The Action Group was a consistent supporter of
minority-group
demands for autonomous states within a federal structure,
and it
even supported the severance of a midwest state from the
Western
Region. This move assumed that comparable alterations
would be
made elsewhere, an attitude that won the party minority
voting
support in the other regions. It also backed Yoruba
irredentism
in the Fulani-ruled emirate of Ilorin in the Northern
Region and
separatist movements among non-Igbo in the Eastern Region.
The Northern People's Congress (NPC) was organized in
the
late 1940s by a small group of Western-educated northern
Muslims
who obtained the assent of the emirs to form a political
party
capable of counterbalancing the activities of the
southern-based
parties. It represented a substantial element of reformism
in the
Muslim north. The most powerful figure in the party was
Ahmadu
Bello, the sardauna (war leader) of Sokoto, a
controversial figure who aspired to become the sultan of
Sokoto,
still the most important political and religious position
in the
north. Often described by opponents as a "feudal"
conservative,
Bello had a consuming interest in the protection of
northern
social and political institutions from southern influence.
He
also insisted on maintaining the territorial integrity of
the
Northern Region, including those areas with non-Muslim
populations. He was prepared to introduce educational and
economic changes to strengthen the north. Although his own
ambitions were limited to the Northern Region, Bello
backed the
NPC's successful efforts to mobilize the north's large
voting
strength so as to win control of the national government.
The NPC platform emphasized the integrity of the north,
its
traditions, religion, and social order. Support for broad
Nigerian concerns occupied a clear second place. A lack of
interest in extending the NPC beyond the Northern Region
corresponded to this strictly regional orientation. Its
activist
membership was drawn from local government and emirate
officials
who had access to means of communication and to repressive
traditional authority that could keep the opposition in
line.
The small contingent of northerners who had been
educated
abroad--a group that included Abubakar Tafawa Balewa and
Aminu
Kano--was allied with British-backed efforts to introduce
gradual
change to the emirates. The support given by the emirs to
limited
modernization was motivated largely by fear of the
unsettling
presence of southerners in the north and by the equally
unsettling example of improving conditions in the south.
Those
northern leaders who were committed to modernization were
firmly
connected to the traditional power structure. Most
internal
problems within the north--peasant disaffection or rivalry
among
Muslim factions--were concealed, and open opposition to
the
domination of the Muslim aristocracy was not tolerated.
Critics,
including representatives of the middle belt who plainly
resented
Muslim domination, were relegated to small, peripheral
parties or
to inconsequential separatist movements.
In 1950 Aminu Kano, who had been instrumental in
founding the
NPC, broke away to form one such party, the Northern
Elements
Progressive Union (NEPU), in protest against the NPC's
limited
objectives and what he regarded as a vain hope that
traditional
rulers would accept modernization. NEPU formed a
parliamentary
alliance with the NCNC.
The NPC continued to represent the interests of the
traditional order in the preindependence deliberations.
After the
defection of Kano, the only significant disagreement
within the
NPC related to the awareness of moderates, such as Balewa,
that
only by overcoming political and economic backwardness
could the
NPC protect the foundations of traditional northern
authority
against the influence of the more advanced south.
In all three regions, minority parties represented the
special interests of ethnic groups, especially as they
were
affected by the majority. The size of their legislative
delegations, when successful in electing anyone to the
regional
assemblies, was never large enough to be effective, but
they
served as a means of public expression for minority
concerns.
They received attention from major parties before
elections, at
which time either a dominant party from another region or
the
opposition party in their region sought their alliance.
The political parties jockeyed for positions of power
in
anticipation of the independence of Nigeria. Three
constitutions
were enacted from 1946 to 1954 that were subjects of
considerable
political controversy in themselves but inevitably moved
the
country toward greater internal autonomy, with an
increasing role
for the political parties. The trend was toward the
establishment
of a parliamentary system of government, with regional
assemblies
and a federal House of Representatives.
In 1946 a new constitution was approved by the British
Parliament and promulgated in Nigeria. Although it
reserved
effective power in the hands of the governor and his
appointed
executive council, the so-called Richards Constitution
(after
Governor Arthur Richards, who was responsible for its
formulation) provided for an expanded Legislative Council
empowered to deliberate on matters affecting the whole
country.
Separate legislative bodies, the houses of assembly, were
established in each of the three regions to consider local
questions and to advise the lieutenant governors. The
introduction of the federal principle, with deliberative
authority devolved on the regions, signaled recognition of
the
country's diversity. Although realistic in its assessment
of the
situation in Nigeria, the Richards Constitution
undoubtedly
intensified regionalism as an alternative to political
unification.
The pace of constitutional change accelerated after the
promulgation of the Richards Constitution, which was
suspended in
1950. The call for greater autonomy resulted in an
interparliamentary conference at Ibadan in 1950, when the
terms
of a new constitution were drafted. The so-called
Macpherson
Constitution, after the incumbent governor, went into
effect the
following year.
The most important innovations in the new charter
reinforced
the dual course of constitutional evolution, allowing for
both
regional autonomy and federal union. By extending the
elective
principle and by providing for a central government with a
Council of Ministers, the Macpherson Constitution gave
renewed
impetus to party activity and to political participation
at the
national level. But by providing for comparable regional
governments exercising broad legislative powers, which
could not
be overridden by the newly established 185-seat federal
House of
Representatives, the Macpherson Constitution also gave a
significant boost to regionalism. Subsequent revisions
contained
in a new constitution the Lyttleton Constitution, enacted
in
1954, firmly established the federal principle and paved
the way
for independence.
In 1957 the Western and the Eastern regions became
formally
self-governing under the parliamentary system. Similar
status was
acquired by the Northern Region two years later. There
were
numerous differences of detail among the regional systems,
but
all adhered to parliamentary forms and were equally
autonomous in
relation to the federal government at Lagos. The federal
government retained specified powers, including
responsibility
for banking, currency, external affairs, defense, shipping
and
navigation, and communications, but real political power
was
centered in the regions. Significantly, the regional
governments
controlled public expenditures derived from revenues
raised
within each region.
Ethnic cleavages intensified in the 1950s. Political
activists in the southern areas spoke of self-government
in terms
of educational opportunities and economic development.
Because of
the spread of mission schools and wealth derived from
export
crops, the southern parties were committed to policies
that would
benefit the south of the country. In the north, the emirs
intended to maintain firm control on economic and
political
change. 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. Broadening political
participation and
expanding educational opportunities and other social
services
also were viewed as threats to the status quo. Already
there was
an extensive immigrant population of southerners,
especially
Igbo, in the north; they dominated clerical positions and
were
active in many trades.
The cleavage between the Yoruba and the Igbo was
accentuated
by their competition for control of the political
machinery. The
receding British presence enabled, local officials and
politicians to gain access to patronage over government
jobs,
funds for local development, market permits, trade
licenses,
government contracts, and even scholarships for higher
education.
In an economy with many qualified applicants for every
post,
great resentment was generated by any favoritism
authorities
showed to members of their own ethnic group.
In the immediate post-World War II period, Nigeria
benefited
from a favorable trade balance. The principal exports were
agricultural commodities--peanuts and cotton from the
Northern
Region, palm products from the Eastern Region, and cocoa
from the
Western Region. Marketing boards, again regionally based,
were
established to handle these exports and to react to price
fluctuations on the world market. During the 1950s, the
marketing
boards accumulated considerable surpluses. Initially,
imports
lagged behind exports, although by the mid-1950s imports
began to
catch up with exports, and the surpluses decreased.
Expansion in
the nonagricultural sectors required large imports of
machinery,
transport equipment and, eventually, intermediate
materials for
industry. In time there also were increased administrative
costs
to be met. Although per capita income in the country as a
whole
remained low by international standards, rising incomes
among
salaried personnel and burgeoning urbanization expanded
consumer
demand for imported goods.
In the meantime, public sector spending increased even
more
dramatically than export earnings. It was supported not
only by
the income from huge agricultural surpluses but also by a
new
range of direct and indirect taxes imposed during the
1950s. The
transfer of responsibility for budgetary management from
the
central to the regional governments in 1954 accelerated
the pace
of public spending on services and on development
projects. Total
revenues of central and regional governments nearly
doubled in
relation to the gross domestic product
(GDP--see Glossary)
during
the decade.
The most dramatic event, having a long-term effect on
Nigeria's economic development, was the discovery and
exploitation of petroleum deposits. The search for oil,
begun in
1908 and abandoned a few years later, was revived in 1937
by
Shell and British Petroleum. Exploration was intensified
in 1946,
but the first commercial discovery did not occur until
1956, at
Olobiri in the Niger Delta. In 1958 exportation of
Nigerian oil
was initiated at facilities constructed at Port Harcourt.
Oil
income was still marginal, but the prospects for continued
economic expansion appeared bright and further accentuated
political rivalries on the eve of independence.
The election of the House of Representatives after the
adoption of the 1954 constitution gave the NPC a total of
seventy-nine seats, all from the Northern Region. Among
the other
major parties, the NCNC took fifty-six seats, winning a
majority
in both the Eastern and the Western regions, while the
Action
Group captured only twenty-seven seats. The NPC was called
on to
form a government, but the NCNC received six of the ten
ministerial posts. Three of these posts were assigned to
representatives from each region, and one was reserved for
a
delegate from the Northern Cameroons.
As a further step toward independence, the governor's
Executive Council was merged with the Council of Ministers
in
1957 to form the all-Nigerian Federal Executive Council.
NPC
federal parliamentary leader Balewa was appointed prime
minister.
Balewa formed a coalition government that included the
Action
Group as well as the NCNC to prepare the country for the
final
British withdrawal. His government guided the country for
the
next three years, operating with almost complete autonomy
in
internal affairs.
The preparation of a new federal constitution for an
independent Nigeria was carried out at conferences held at
Lancaster House in London in 1957 and 1958 and presided
over by
the British colonial secretary. Nigerian delegates were
selected
to represent each region and to reflect various shades of
opinion. The delegation was led by Balewa of the NPC and
included
party leaders Awolowo of the Action Group, Azikiwe of the
NCNC,
and Bello of the NPC; they were also the premiers of the
Western,
Eastern, and Northern regions, respectively. Independence
was
achieved on October 1, 1960.
Elections were held for a new and greatly enlarged
House of
Representatives in December 1959; 174 of the 312 seats
were
allocated to the Northern Region on the basis of its
larger
population. The NPC, entering candidates only in the
Northern
Region, confined campaigning largely to local issues but
opposed
the addition of new regimes. The NCNC backed creation of a
midwest state and proposed federal control of education
and
health services. The Action Group, which staged a lively
campaign, favored stronger government and the
establishment of
three new states, while advocating creation of a West
Africa
Federation that would unite Nigeria with Ghana and Sierra
Leone.
The NPC captured 142 seats in the new legislature. Balewa
was
called on to head a NPC-NCNC coalition government, and
Awolowo
became official leader of the opposition.
Data as of June 1991
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