POLITICAL PARTIES

The first Nigerian political party was formed in 1944 by Herbert Macaulay and Nnamdi Azikwe. It was known as the National Council of Nigeria and Cameroons (NCNC). Herbert Macaulay was born in 1864 and he died in 1946. He was a politician, an engineer, a musician, and a journalist.

 

Nnamdi Azikwe was born in 1904 and he died in 1996. He was a journalist and a politician. He was the first premier leader of the Eastern Region of Nigeria in 1954. Due to pressure from the protest, The British government began to allow Nigerians to hold such positions in the government and Nnamdi Azikwe ruled the Eastern region of Nigeria.

In 1960, Nigeria became independent and Nnamdi Azikwe became the First governor-general of the country, and then the First President of Nigeria in 1963.

 

Ekpo Margaret was born in 1914 and died in 2006. She was the leader of the women’s division of the NCNC and after Nigeria gained independence, she was elected into parliament. There were several political parties that pressurized the British government to give Nigeria independence. Some were NPC (Northern people’s Congress) and Action group (AG).

 

The AG was formed in 1951 and Obafemi Awolowo was the leader. Awolowo was born in 1909 and he died in 1987. He later became the First premier leader of the Western region of Nigeria.

 

The NPC was formed in 1949 by Ahmadu Bello who was born in 1910 and later died in 1966 and Tafawa Balewa who was born in 1912 and also died in 1966. Ahmadu Bello became the first premier leader of the Northern Nigeria in 1954 while Tafawa Balewa became the First prime minister of Nigeria.

 

By an act of the British parliament, Nigeria had her independence on October 1st 1960 after 100years of British rule. The new and independent Nigeria was led by a Governor-general and a Prime Minister.

 

A parliament is an arm of government that proposes Law of a country. It may also be called a Legislature.

 

After Independence, the Queen of England was still the head of state of Nigeria. But it changed in 1963 when Nigeria became a Republic.

 

A Republic is a form of government in which its Head of state is not a King or Queen. In republic, Leaders are elected by citizens and Nigeria has since remained a Republic till today.

 

Africa has many natural resources such as Palm oil, Rubber, diamonds, etc. During the mid-19th century, countries like France, Germany and Great Britain in Europe thought of colonizing some good parts of Africa to take over and control the people and resources forcefully.

 

In 1884, the leaders of those countries had a meeting in Germany whose capital is Berlin to talk about colonization. There was a race of competition between them to colonize and take control of Africa this is also known as ‘The Scramble for Africa’.

 

In 1885, British traders came with British soldiers and took over some parts of Niger delta. Some parts were colonized, Benin kingdom in 1897 and sokoto Caliphate in 1903. The British always won if Nigerian communities stood up against them because they had modern and better weapons.

 

AMALGAMATION

The British government controlled all the territories that made up Nigeria. This territories were divided into 3; Colony of Lagos, The protectorate of Northern Nigeria, and Protectorate of Southern Nigeria.

 

In 1914, Lord Frederick Lugard decided to join the 3 territories into one called Nigeria. This process was known as the AMALGAMATION of Nigeria.

 

Lord Lugard was the British governor of the Northern and Southern protectorate of Nigeria.

 

Nigeria became the one country under a British government led by Lord Lugard making Nigeria part of the British Empire.

 

After the colonization by the British, the British thought of how to rule the country so they divided Nigeria into 3 regions which were the Northern Region, Eastern Region, and Western Region. Each region had a British Lieutenant governor. They also introduced the use of a system called INDIRECT RULE. This means that the British would first tell the traditional rulers anything they wanted to amend or create, then the traditional rulers would tell their communities what the British said.