The decolonization of Nigeria, mirroring the broader African experience, was a transformative period marked by the dismantling of colonial structures and the emergence of independent states. This process, spanning roughly from the mid-1950s to 1975, was driven by a combination of evolving European attitudes towards colonialism and the growing African resistance to colonial rule. The end of the colonial period and the establishment during 1957-76 of all the former colonies as independent states was attributable both to a change in European attitudes toward Africa and the possession of colonies and to an African reaction to colonial rule born of the economic and social changes it had produced.
Decolonization of Africa
Changing European Attitudes
In the early 20th century, Europeans held a firm conviction in the superiority of their civilization. Yet hardly had their colonies been established than these convictions began to be challenged. World War I, and the immense misery and loss of life it caused, led some Europeans to doubt whether nations who could so brutally mismanage their own affairs had any moral right to dictate to other peoples. Some reflection of this view was seen in the League of Nations and the system of mandates applied to the former German colonies.
The Great Depression of the 1930s dealt a second blow to European self-confidence. It began to be argued that a remedy lay in more active development of the overseas territories controlled by Europe. If more European capital and skills were directed to the colonies, so that they could produce more raw materials for European industry more efficiently, both Europe and the colonies would gain; as the colonies became wealthier through the exploitation of their resources, the people of the colonies would buy more from Europe.
The idea that the colonies should be actively developed, in the European as much as in the African interest, was broadened during and after World War II. Furthermore, during 1940-44, when France itself was in German hands, it was only from the colonies and with their resources that Gen. Charles de Gaulle and his associates could continue the fight. The British funding policy, initiated in 1929, of providing the funds needed for colonial development was greatly expanded in the 1940s and extended to social as well as economic plans.
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After the war the governments of both Britain and France required their colonial administrations to draw up comprehensive development plans and in effect offered to provide the funds for those that could not be funded from local resources. In view of past history, the need for such plans was probably greater in the French colonies than in the British, and the French West African program for 1946-55 envisaged the investment of $1,108,000,000, compared with programs totaling $549 million for the four British colonies.
Virtually all of the financing for the French program came from France itself. But some of the British colonies had built up considerable reserves from the high prices commanded by their produce during the war and immediate postwar years, and they themselves were able to provide much of the money needed. This tended to accentuate already existing disparities.
Consider the varying levels of expenditure in different colonies:
| Colony | Total Expenditure | British Contribution | Per Capita Expenditure |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gold Coast | $300 million | 4% | $60 |
| French West Africa | $1,108 million | N/A | $60 |
| Nigeria | $220 million | 42% | $7 |
| Sierra Leone | $21 million | 45% | $10 |
| Gambia | $8 million | 35% | $27 |
The accompanying political changes were more cautious and turned out to be inadequate to accommodate African aspirations-which had been derived from social changes occasioned during the classical period of colonial rule and further whetted by the policies of active economic development.
On the British side, during 1945-48 the legislative councils were reformed so that African representatives outnumbered the European officials. Political advance for the French colonies was naturally seen in terms of increased African participation in French political life. Delegates from the colonies in fact participated in the making of the new postwar French constitution, but this was subject to referenda in which metropolitan French votes predominated.
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Emergence of African Leaders
By the later 1940s, however, there were appreciable numbers of Africans in both the French and the British colonies who had emerged from traditional society through the new opportunities for economic advancement and education. In coastal areas Christian missionaries and their schools had advanced with the European administrations.
Relatively few Africans started up the French educational ladder-school attendance by the mid-1950s was some 340,000, about 1.7 percent of the total population-but those who did found themselves in a system identical with that in France. In British West Africa schools had got a footing before there was much administration to control them, and their subsequent development was more independent. The British educational system therefore developed into a pyramid with a much broader base than the French one.
By the mid-1950s there were more than two million schoolchildren in Nigeria, about 6 percent of the total population and a much higher proportion of the population of the south, in which the schools were concentrated; in the Gold Coast there were nearly 600,000, some 12 percent of the population. In 1948 universities were established in the Gold Coast and Nigeria; by 1960 the former territory had about 4,500 university graduates and the latter more than 5,000.
By the 1940s there was enough education to make European-style political activity possible in all the coastal colonies. Following this, in 1918-20, a National Congress of British West Africa was formed by professionals to press for the development of the legislative councils in all the British colonies into elective assemblies controlling the colonial administrations. In French West Africa early political activity was concentrated in the four towns of Senegal whose people possessed political rights before 1946.
By the late 1940s both the French and the British territories possessed an educated, politicized class, which felt frustrated in its legitimate expectations; it had made no appreciable progress in securing any real participation in the system of political control. Implementation of the development programs led to a noticeable increase in the number of Europeans employed by the colonial regimes and their associated economic enterprises.
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On the other hand, because many Africans had served with, and received educational and technical training with, the British and French armies, the war had led to a great widening of both African experience and skills. Furthermore, the postwar economic situation was one in which African farmers were receiving high prices for their produce but could find little to spend their money on, and in which the eagerly awaited development plans were slow to mature because European capital goods were in short supply.
Path to Independence
On 6 March 1957, Ghana (formerly the Gold Coast) became the first sub-Saharan African country to gain its independence from European colonisation. Starting with the 1945 Pan-African Congress, the Gold Coast's (modern-day Ghana's) independence leader Kwame Nkrumah made his focus clear. In the conference's declaration, he wrote, "We believe in the rights of all peoples to govern themselves. We affirm the right of all colonial peoples to control their own destiny.
Prime Minister Harold Macmillan gave the famous "Wind of Change" speech in South Africa, in February 1960, where he spoke to the country's Parliament of "the wind of change blowing through this continent." Macmillan urgently wanted to avoid the same kind of colonial war that France was fighting in Algeria. Britain's remaining colonies in Africa, except for Southern Rhodesia, were all granted independence by 1968.
The British penetration of Nigeria met with various forms of resistance throughout the country. The Ekumeku, who were well organized and whose leaders were joined in secrecy oaths, effectively utilized guerrilla tactics to attack the British. The Ekumeku, however, became a great source of Igbo nationalism.
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Post-Independence Challenges
After achieving independence, postcolonial leaders began the difficult work of setting up new governments. They faced huge decisions: How should their governments be organized? Who would be in charge? Many countries emerged from colonialism with little political experience. The Democratic Republic of Congo, for instance, had never held an election prior to independence.
New administrations also faced the legacy of colonial borders, which many imperial powers had drawn with little regard for national, political, or economic realities on the ground. Local leaders did not always share the same vision for their societies, which often fueled conflict.
Many empires set up their colonies exclusively to export a small handful of raw materials like cotton, iron, and petroleum. Without diverse exports or industrialized societies, many newly independent countries experienced difficulty keeping up in the hypercompetitive global economy.
Industrialization requires investment in factories and energy sources.
Cold War Influence
Decolonization did not occur in a vacuum. As World War II faded into the Cold War, the United States and the Soviet Union sought to win the support of newly independent countries. The two superpowers backed protest movements, funded aid packages, and provided military support to advance their respective goals.
In certain instances, the United States and the Soviet Union supported opposing factions in postcolonial civil wars. Take Vietnam, for example. When North Vietnam invaded the south in 1955, the United States, China, and Russia ratcheted up their support for the respective sides, sending financial aid, weapons, and soldiers, which fueled a devastating, two-decade conflict. This type of conflict-in which the United States and the Soviet Union supported opposing sides in foreign countries-is known as proxy war.
Legacy of Decolonization
The world map fundamentally changed during the era of decolonization with roughly a hundred countries coming into existence between 1945 and 1989. Even in independent countries, the legacy of colonialism and decolonization remains visible. Most former colonies adhere to their colonial-era borders, and many of those countries still use their former colonizers’ languages: for example, twenty-five African nations list English as an official language and twenty-one list French.
Today, debates persist over the lasting effects of colonialism and decolonization-specifically why some former colonies like Singapore and South Korea have developed stable democracies and strong economies while others like Libya and North Korea have experienced decades of authoritarianism and underdevelopment. Others argue that decisions made by postcolonial leaders hold greater bearing on today’s political and economic outcomes.
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