British Colonialism In Nigeria

The British Empire, once known as “the empire where the sun never sets,” is the most powerful political entity in the history of the world. Namely, it possessed colonies on all continents. In Africa, Nigerians lived under British rule from 1900 to 1960. Throughout this period of reign, many changes were made to their traditional lifestyle. Even though we tend to only see the unfavorable effects of colonization, British colonizers have had both positive and negative impacts on Nigeria’s traditional society by influencing its political structure, economy and education. British colonialism destabilized Nigeria’s political system. The West African country was governed by means of indirect rule. This means that, in opposition to direct rule, the

In fact, during World War II, the British people used a great amount of Nigeria’s budget to satisfy the needs of war. For instance, the colonizers encouraged the production of cash crops more than the production of food crops. A cash crop is “a crop for direct sale in a market, as distinguished from a crop for use as livestock feed or for other purposes”, while a food crop is used for consumption by the population. The exportation of cash crops brought incomes to England and provided them with raw materials such as wheat and cotton. These crops could have helped Nigeria’s economy, unfortunately, the British people used them at their advantage. In fact, they bought them at very cheap prices and then sold them to the Nigerians at very expensive costs. Moreover, the most fertile soils were used for cash crops. Consequently, less lands were available for food crops. Unfortunately, colonialists did not only take Nigeria’s natural resources but also its

That is to say, the two zones did not abide by the same educational rules. This phenomenon caused inequality between the urban and rural areas. For instance, in The Joys of Motherhood, Nnu Ego was able to bring her sons to school in Lagos. Whereas, in the village of Ibuza, children worked in their parents’ farms because they did not have access to schools. For that reason, the tribes who were more educated could occupy higher positions in the society and had more advantages. On the other hand, the less fortunate tribes formed the minority. Notwithstanding this imbalance, colonialism brought standard education to Nigeria. Formal education came with colonialism. As a matter of fact, the British missionaries introduced education to Nigeria at their arrival in 1842. They taught them "The three Rs" which are how to read, write and do arithmetic. As a consequence, Nigerians became more educated, knowledgeable and skilled. Moreover, this education raised awareness among the citizens. That is to say, they realized the unfairness of colonization and started soliciting their freedom. This common goal brought them