British Imperialism In Nigeria Essay

Introduction

On October 1st 1960 , British rule over Nigeria as a colony ended, as well as most of its official structure. Nigerian leaders were left with the task of taking up the leadership of the Nigerian people from the British with a promise of democratic rule; however within fifteen years after independence various institutions experienced great changes bringing great instability and uncertainty to the newly founded government. Northern and Southern regions of Nigeria both felt the impacts in education, politics, religion and ethnically. This causes one to wonder what the British Imperialistic government did differently, and why the difference between the Southern and Northern region became so evident in the fifteen years after independence.
This essay will evaluate the question `why did the differences between Northern and Southern Nigeria become so evident in the fifteen years following independence from British rule?´. To answer to this question, this paper will investigate areas directly affected by both the coming of colonialism as well as its departure, such as politics and leadership, religious and ethnic differences as well as economic difference between these regions.
Furthermore establishing a concrete overview as to how Nigeria was run under the British

Nigeria’s economic prospects were what fueled the passion of most politicians from both the North and South of Nigeria. This meant that when Nigeria finally gained independence these politicians made sure that there was no room for outside interference with how the country’s economy was run. Therefore, to understand the reason for the economical difference between Northern and Southern Nigeria in the fifteen years following independence one would have to examine the financial decisions and events that set Nigeria’s economy on a path that was nothing short of disappointing by the end of