Nigeria's Story: A Nation was Born Nearly 100 Years Ago

The story of Nigeria's pre-colonial and early post-colonial history. It chronicles the amalgamation of the Northern and Southern Protectorates in 1914, as well as the key figures and empires preceding it such as Usman don Fodio, King Jaja of Opobo, the Kanem-Bornu Empire, Nok art, Amina "The Warrior Queen", Oluadah Equiano, Lord Frederick Lugard, Nigeria's first doctor, lawyer, engineer, female pharmacist, and Sir Louis Odumegwu Ojukwu (father of Emeka Ojukwu).

- [Presenter] Nigeria,
unique, fascinating, a country

of multiple tribes, cultures,
religions, and expressions.

A country full of promise.

On January 1st, 2014 Nigeria
will mark one hundred years

since the amalgamation of the North

and the South to form one country.

How did this melting
pot of diverse people,

language, and culture become one nation?

How did this vast
territory with artificial

borders become one country?

Evidence of civilization
traces back as far

as the 8,000 year old Dufuna Canoe,

with the most sophisticated
design of its time,

discovered in present day Borno State.

Similarly, the terra-cotta
art of the Nok people

reveal an advanced culture thriving

in the area now called Kaduna State.

Before the Europeans ever set
foot on West African soil,

the territory that makes
up present-day Nigeria

was dominated by independent
empire and city-states

from the great Kanem-Bornu Empire,

which expanded through long-distance trade

and military technology
to the Iboku civilization,

The first bronze casters in Africa,

who sourced materials
from as far away as Egypt.

From thousand year old Benin Empire,

with its infrastructure and
far-reaching diplomatic links

to the formidable military
and administrative machine

of the vast Oyo Empire, and the power

of the great Sokoto
Caliphate in the 19th century

under the legendary
Sheikh Usman Dan Fodio.

These pre-colonial states were
highly organized societies

with evolved administrative
systems, courts,

diplomatic functions, educational centers,

and successful methods of
commerce and agriculture.

Rulers expanded their
economies through trade,

and sometimes expanded
their trade through war.

Amina, the Warrior Queen
through her military conquests,

made Zazzau, now Zaria,

the center of the North-South Saharan

and East-West Sudan trade
in the 16th century.

Amina was also the originator
of the earthen walls

that fortified Zaria and other cities

that she conquered, such as Kano.

Trade networks stretch as far
as Europe and the Middle East.

And by the time the Portuguese
landed on the coast of Benin

in the late 15th century,
West Africans had been trading

with foreign nations for 400 years.

The Portuguese explorers
were soon followed

by the British, French and Dutch.

First, they came for our
pepper, palm oil, groundnuts,

cocoa, cloth, beads and ivory.

Then, they came for our people.

25 million men, women and children,

seized and shipped to work as slaves

in the cotton fields of the Americas,

the deserts of Arabia, the
farms and factories of Europe,

and the plantations of the West Indies.

Three Africans also became
part of European society.

Most famously, Olaudah Equiano,
the first African to write

a novel, his celebrated
autobiography published in 1789.

Taken as a slave from Igboland,

Equiano eventually bought his freedom,

worked all over the world,
and married an English Lady.

There was also ex-sailor,
Captain James Labulo Davies,

a London-based Yoruba billionaire,

who arrived with 16 gold carriages

for his wedding in 1861
to Sarah Forbes Bonetta,

the adopted African
goddaughter of Queen Victoria.

After the legal abolition
of the slave trade in 1807,

the British used a
combination of religion,

commerce and politics to secure trading

advantages for British companies.

When the indigenous rulers
proved uncooperative,

British diplomacy often gave
way to British gunboats.

This was seen when a British naval force

entered Lagos Bay in December 1861,

deposed the king and installed
a more pliable ruler,

and eventually annexed Lagos
as the first Crown colony

in Nigeria, now governed
directly from Britain.

However, the path to British
rule did not always run smooth.

Nigerians from north
to south, east to west,

fought valiantly to
preserve their freedom.

We salute heroes like the
former slave from Amaigbo,

the most prosperous city-state
in the Delta region.

His name was Jaja, King of Opobo.

He received a sword of honor in 1875

from Queen Victoria after Opobo soldiers

helped the British in the Gold Coast,

but when British
exclusionist policies began

to threaten the livelihood
of local traders,

Jaja's vigorous opposition
became a deep thorn

in the flesh of imperial ambitions.

Afraid of the influential
King, the British lured Jaja

onto a ship and gave him an ultimatum:

surrender himself or face the bombardment

of Opobo by naval forces.

He was deported to the West Indies,

never to see his beloved Opobo again.

We salute the indomitable
Chief Nana Olomu,

who valiantly protected
the economic and political

independence of the Itsekiri Kingdom

for more than 10 years until 1894,

when he too was forcible deported

for being a treat to colonial interests.

We salute the great Oba
Ovonramwen of Benin,

who resisted British attempts
to take over his trade routes,

even banning them from
entering his territories.

In 1897, after a punitive
expedition to Benin,

the great Oba was forced into exile

in Calabar, while the British regiment

looted the ancient city's
priceless treasures.

Nigeria is still negotiating
for their return today.

We salute the brave Ekumeku
resistance movement,

a secret army of
thousands of Ibo warriors,

who used conventional and
innovative guerrilla warfare

to take down Royal Niger Company
outposts in the southeast.

Even as late as 1909, the
Ekumeku were instrumental

in defending the town of
Okwachuku from colonial invasion.

We salute the courageous Sultan
Mohammedu Atairu the first,

who after the sacking of Sokoto Caliphate

continued to fight British invasion,

leading his warriors on
horseback against their cannons

until he died in battle at Brumi in 1903.

The treaty of Berlin of 1884
had divided approximately

10,000 African states into 52 countries,

shared amongst the European powers.

Britain expanded its
interest through the powerful

trade conglomerate, The
Royal Niger Company,

formerly United Africa Company, UAC,

headed by Sir George Taubman
Goldie, a man so instrumental

that at a time, the
British considered naming

the country Goldiesha in his honor.

The British were desperate
to control trade routes

because in the 19th century,
the volume and economic value

of agriculture export by
independent Nigerian states

was much greater than that of Britain.

Using military might and
reneging on trade agreements

at every turn, the Royal
Niger Company seized control

of the Delta region, took
over key western states,

like Ijebu, Abeokuta, and spread north,

where technocrat and army
officer Frederick Lugard

transformed the RNC's commercial influence

into British political control.

Continuing the British
policy of indirect rule,

Lugard deposed uncooperative rulers

and installed new Emirs
and leaders in their place.

Some went on to do great things.

Sarkin Katsina Mohamman Dikko,
installed by the British

in 1901, set up new
administrative structures,

promoted commerce and
education, founding Katsina,

later Barewa College, and
the first school for girls,

and was also the first Northern Emir to go

on the Hajj and to fly in a plane.

In 1900, Calabar became
the capital of the new

Protectorate of Southern Nigeria,

while Zungeru became capital

of the new Protectorate
of Northern Nigeria.

In 1906, the Lagos colony
and the Protectorate

of Southern Nigeria were merged
with Lagos as the capital.

Between 1900 and 1914, the
Protectorates made impressive

economic gains, all of which
now went to the British Empire.

The cocoa and groundnut
trade were booming.

Tin and coal were discovered
in Jos and Enugu, respectively.

The Lagos-Kano railway lines were built,

and the construction of a port in Ekwere,

Port Harcourt expanded the export trade.

These new opportunities were exploited

by astute Nigerians like
wealthy groundnut trader,

Alhaji Alhassan Dantata,
multi-millioniore transport

and shipping magnate Sir
Louis Odumegwu Ojukwu,

who later became founding member

and first President of The
Nigerian Stock Exchange.

And Candido Da Rocha, who
made a fortune selling water

and whose former mansion
in Lagos still stands,

fittingly named Water House.

A growing crop of Nigerian
professionals had also emerged,

from trailblazers like
the first Nigerian doctor,

Nathaniel King, who qualified in 1875.

And the first lawyer,
Christopher Sapara Williams

called to bar in 1879,
to George Adebayo Agbebi,

who qualified as the first
Nigerian engineer in 1911, and

Miss Oreoluwa Green, the first
African female pharmacist.

Some became political
leaders like England-educated

Prince Bassey Duke Ephram,

who led a delegation of the
Calabar people to London

in 1913 to make representations
on land tenure reform.

This professional class
became the forefront,

a new nationalist movement,
led by Herbert Macaulay,

grandson of the first African Bishop,

Samuel Ajayi Crowther, who
raised political awareness

through his newspaper,
The Lagos Daily News.

On January 1, 1914, Britain amalgamated

the two Protectorates spanning 330,000

square miles into one Nigeria.

The creation of Nigeria
was no random accident

or political whim, as now
Governor-General Lugard

stated in among his amalgamation speech:

His Majesty's government
after long and mature

consideration, arrived
at the conclusion that

it would be to the great
advantage of the countries

known as Southern and Northern Nigeria

that they should be amalgamated
into one government,

conforming to one policy and
mutually co-operating for

the moral and material
advancement of Nigeria as a whole.

Amalgamation changed the way
we as Nigerians saw ourselves.

It inspired those who
believed in the possibility

of a different future
and who in turn inspire

the men and women that drove that train

of self-determination to its
final stop at independence.

And along this journey,
we became truly Nigerian,

not just in name, but in our hearts.

In the course of our rich history,

we have seen the heights of greatness

and the depths of cruelty.

We have seen the birth
of new civilizations

and the death of ancient empires.

Our testimony is this, we were beaten

but never broken, subdued
but never conquered.

Today, we are many, yet we are one people,

one nation, forever united
by a shared struggle,

a common heritage, and a bright future.

We are Nigerians.

(upbeat music)