The Role Of Anti-British Movement In Nigeria

V. Nálevka argues that the situation in Nigeria was a bit more complicated than in Gold Coast because this colony was comprised of several regions and each region had its own political structure. According to K. Lacina, significant economic and social changes occurred during the Second World War in Nigeria. Workers ' Party and national bourgeoisie noticed sudden increase of members, intelligentsia intensified the activity and anticolonial atmosphere grew stronger on the whole. At the same time the percentage of Nigerian in business increased and the first Nigerian banks were founded. The British companies made an attempt to gain some of the Nigerian businessmen for the British colonial policy thus the representatives of these companies appointed

Workmen and also clerks became involved in the movement. In 1945 they declared the first general strike in the history of this country. The strike fight included one thousand people. The next Anti-British movement occurred in November 1949 in Nigerian town Enugu. The police harshly suppressed the strike, 18 people were shot dead and 31 people were injured. This brutal strike suppression lead to a commencement of a new general strike and furthermore, to several demonstrations which took place in a few Nigerian towns. Although Great Britain made some repressive actions the strike movement continued up to a half of the 50´s. The colonial government already responded to stronger Anti-British movement in 1944. The government prepared a new constitution and Nigeria was divided into three regions (North, West and East) on a base of this constitution in 1947. At the same time the British government increased the number of African representatives in the legislative council. Great Britain followed one main aim - to prevent any other Anti-British actions. However the political party National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons, founded on 2. June 1944, headed the national liberation movement and in 1944 initiated a campaign where the representatives of this political party criticized the constitution (1944). Great Britain made repressive campaign against them. However Great Britain was

According to D. McDowall, “Between 1945 and 1965 500 million people in former colonies became completely self-governing. Nevertheless, Great Britain maintained economic and politic influence in independent states. One issue is whether decolonization changed more than only the sovereignty. One political power replaced another however many (maybe all) economic connections with Great Britain still existed. The changes could be positive which most of the Africans nations were expecting but also negative. So the second issue is whether the desire and hope of colonized nations were fulfilled. Formal political bonds with Great Britain were cut but new authoritative, somewhere maybe dictatorial, regime took place instead of colonial officers. Military coups occurred in some African´s countries and new leaders denied democratic rights to the inhabitants. Decolonization was inevitable process which arose from the reasons mentioned in this essay. Decolonization could not be evaluated as bad or good matter because it depended on many issues. Factors that influenced every colony depended on the integrity of each colony and on the type of British administration in colony. The important matters in the development of independence were for example the existence of conscious people, the presence of literate people, the length of colonial hegemony, the participation in political issues and religious. However, all