As a result of the acceptance of the Lord Lugard Amalgamation Report by the British Government, the Northern and Southern Provinces were joined together to form Nigeria on 1st January, 1914.
Constitutional Conference In Nigeria - The political crises that hit the country in 1953 created regional and ethnic animosities, which eventually led to the eventual breakdown of the Macpherson Constitution and the consequent promulgation of the Lyttleton Constitution of 1954.
The Nigerian constitutional crisis at the centre was precipitated by a motion for "self-government in 1956” tabled in the House of Representatives on 31st March, 1953 by Mr. Anthony Enahoro, a member of the Action Group. The motion was for Nigeria to be independent in 1956.
Eastern Regional Crises of 1953 - As a result of the Eastern Regional elections of 1951, the NCNC formed the government of the region and Mr. Eyo Ita, the Deputy National President of the party was appointed Premier. Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, the National President of the NCNC remained only a member of the Western House of Assembly where the party formed the opposition.
Nationalism in the African context may be defined as the struggles by Africans to free themselves from foreign rule, and to determine, after independence has been won, their own future. In the period before the Second World War, nationalism was aimed at resolving certain grievances of the elites.
The Northcrn Elements Progressive Union (NEPU) was formed in 1949. It was a breakaway faction of the Jamiyar Mutanen Arewa (JMA). NEPU was dissatisfied with the JMA’s conservative and gradualist approach to politics.
The Nigerian National Democratic Party (NNDP) was formed by Herbert Macaulay in 1923 thus becoming the first party in Nigeria and British West Africa. The party was formed to tight the Oluwa land case and to contest the three seats allocated to Lagos on the Legislative Council by the Clifford Constitution of 1922.
The Nigerian Youth Movement began as the Lagos Youth Movement in 1933. It was a protest movement to challenge the domination of Lagos politics by the Nigerian National Democratic Party. The party was renamed as Nigerian Youth Movement in 1936.
The NCNC emerged in the early 1940s to fill the void created by the collapse of the NNDP and NYM. It was formed through one of the meetings organized by the Nigerian Union of Students, an offshoot of the West African Students Union (WASU). The party was formally inaugurated on 6th August, 1944.
The Northern People’s Congress (NPC) was the first major political party in Northern Nigeria. It began as Jamiyar Mutanen Arewa (JMA) in 1948. The party was formally launched in October 1951.
The Action Group (AG) was founded in 1950 but was formally launched in April 1951. Chief Obafemi Awolowo, the Secretary-Generel of ‘Egbe Omo Oduduwa’ was the leader of the party, which emerged from the Yoruba cultural association.
The United Middle Belt Congress (UMBC) was formed in the early 1950s to promote the cause of the non-Muslim minority in Northern Nigeria. It developed largely as a protest movement against the dominance of the Northern People’s Congress (NPC) in the area.
Nationalism in the African context may be defined as the struggles by Africans to free themselves from foreign rule, and to determine, after independence has been won, their own future. In the period before the Second World War, nationalism was aimed at resolving certain grievances of the elites.
The first conference of the National Congress of British West Africa was held at Accra in Ghana in 1920 under the leadership of Casely Hayford, a Ghanaian lawyer. Dr. Akinwande Savage, a Nigerian, worked closely with Hayford in organizing the conference.
There was a late development of nationalism in French-speaking West African countries.
At a time when the educated elites in British West Africa were challenging colonial rule, and demanding self-government, the elite in French colonial territories were busy struggling for accommodation within the system. Many Africans were elected as members of the French Parliament in Paris.
Indirect rule is the system of government in which a colonial power makes use of the traditional institutions of the local people in the administration of a territory.
Before the advent of colonialism, the traditional rulers or chiefs in many parts of Africa exercised unlimited powers. The chiefs performed legislative, executive and judicial functions.
There were certain differences between British and French colonial policies in West Africa.
In the first place, the French regarded all her colonial territories in West Africa as one political unit, which was part of the Republic of France.
