NIGERIA

this british colony and protectorate has three main divisions: (1) the colony, up to 1906 called lagos colony, (2) the southern provinces and (3) the northern prov- inces. the provinces form the protectorate, but for descriptive purposes the colony may be regarded as part of the southern provinces. the total area is about 335,000 sq. miles. the native population, based on the 1921 census returns and partly estimated is slightly over 18,000,000; and the european popu- lation about 4,000. the capital is lagos (¢.v.). there are over 20 other large towns. i. political history in ro11 nigeria consisted of two very different, and for polit- ical purposes distinct dependencies of the crown. southern nigeria (that is, the colony and protectorate of southern ni- geria), with an area of about 76,000 sq. m., stretched inland from the guinea coast through a tropical belt of generally dense forest nigeria land to a line irregularly corresponding with the latitude of 710" n. northern nigeria, with an area of 255,700 sq. m., com- posed largely of open prairie, hill country and dry desert plains, extended from the latitude of 7’ 10” to the frontiers of the french and zinder territory on the north, to french dahomey on the west and to the german cameroons on the east. the popula- tion of southern nigeria was about 8,000,000 and the population of northern nigeria, with more than three times the area, was about 0,000,000. in both divisions primitive and very back- ward races had been overrun and influenced by civilisations of a higher type. in the south the new civilisation had been euro- pean and christian; in the north, arab and mahommedan. the interdependence of these two regions was obvious, and their amalgamation had long been urged upon the imperial government. it was not, however, until ror1 that the secretary for the colonies, mr. l. v. harcourt, determined to adopt the policy. sir frederick lugard, who had been the first high com- missioner for northern nigeria, was asked to initiate and carry out a scheme of amalgamation, being in 1912 appointed governor at the same time of both southern and northern nigeria. the preliminary work was completed in about 18 months, and on jan. 1 1914 the governments of southern and northern nigeria were formally amalgamated, sir frederick lugard receiving the personal title of governor-general. the geographical divisions of north and south were maintained. two lieutenant-governors were appointed, one for the northern and one for the southern province, an administrator was appointed to the colony, the juris- diction of the legislative council was now confined to the narrow limits of the colony’s 1,400 sq. m. and the governor-general re- tained, in his central secretariat, services necessarily general to the whole. these were intentionally limited, and as much responsibility as possible was delegated to the two lieutenant- governors. at the time of amalgamation northern nigeria was divided into 12 provinces, the native communitics being for the most part each under its native ruler, the five principal native states being known as first-class emirates, while each independent chief- tainship, however small, retained its treasured liberty, and this system of government was maintained. the southern provinces at that period, consisted of three divisions under provincial com- missioners. they were the territories east of the niger, west-of the niger and the hinterland of lagos. the native races in the hinterland of lagos and to the east of the niger were in a much less advanced state of tribal organisation than were the tribes in the north and scarcely fitted for any form of enlightened self-rule. fetish worship, cannibalism and barbarous practices were rife. on the west of the niger, however, three native states, yoruba, egbe and benin, were strongly organised. they were induced to renounce the exceptional position they enjoyed, under treaties made with great britain, and to accept conditions similar to those of the first-class emirates of the north. the introduction of the new system was accompanied by some difficulty, and in 1918 an easily suppressed rising in egbcland gave momentary uneasiness. indirect rule has now been fully accepted in both egbeland and yorubaland and the report of 1924 especially mentions that it is working admirably in benin. the way for the extension of such indirect rule as might be found possible, was prepared by the division of southern nigeria into nine provinces (later increased to ten), each under a british resident, as in the north. | the world war.—the outbreak of the world war within seven months of amalgamation postponed the consolidation of the new system. patriotic sentiment in the protectorate ran high. every department was depleted by volunteers for active service, and it was with difficulty that the administrative ma- chine was held together with the remnant of overworked staff retained. for four years, the first thought of every englishman in nigeria was given to the war. and not of the englishmen only. the war served at once to test and to exemplify the solid results of british rule. throughout the war period the great native chiefs of the north were constant and unflagging in their loyalty. they contributed liberally to red cross and other war 1077 funds. they prayed for british victory in their mosques. they joined in public thanksgiving when victory was won, and they rendered the great service, when the country was practically denuded of troops, of maintaining absolute tranquillity in their dominions. the native troops of the west african frontier force did gal- lant service, both in the arduous campaign carried out under the leadership of generals dobell and cunliffe in the cameroons, and in what was to them foreign service in east africa. the cameroons campaign which opened in aug. and sept. 1914, with reverses all along the british line, at mora (aug. 25) and garua (aug. 29) in the north, and at nsanakang (sept. 6) in the south, lasted until feb. 1916. it was a severe test for the troops en- gaged. the fighting was heavy, but they stood it well. early in 1915 the campaign, in which french troops took an active part, was reorganised. british forces in the north were placed under the command of general cunliffe, and the final taking of garua and the storming of banyo hill under his leadership on nov. 6 1915, in face of a hail of dynamite bombs, was a feat of which any regiment might be proud. the conquered territory was divided between france and great britain, to be adminis- tered under mandate according to the provisions of the treaty of versailles. ‘the portion taken by great britain was 31,000 sq. m., with an estimated population of 600,000 (see cameroons). reforms.—while the war, by arresting material development also delayed the application of schemes for the moral welfare of the native population, some progress was made. the judicial and legal systems of the two protectorates were, on amalgama- tion, combined. one chief justice for the whole of nigeria, with four puisne judges, were appointed, and each lieutenant-governor was provided with a legal adviser. the reorganisation of the two systems and the revision of the laws of the two protector- ates, was a long and heavy job. the first reforms were initiated in 1914. after 10 years of working, the system introduced had been found to be generally beneficial and acceptable. notwith- standing the difficulties of the moment, an education ordinance was promulgated in 1916, having for its object the reform and co-ordination of the systems of the north and south. it set a definite standard, of which the principal aim was to substitute self-discipline and the formation of character, for set examina- tions in literary subjects, and generally to fit local education to local needs. a forestry ordinance of the same year (1016) dealt with the rapid destruction which was taking place of the forests that constitute the principal wealth of the southern provinces, and its provisions have safeguarded this asset of the country for future development. not the least achievement of the war pcriod was the elimina- tion of the traffic in foreign ‘‘ trade spirits ’’ on which the revenue of the southern provinces had largely depended. it was the declared policy of the amalgamated government to kill this trade by gradually raising the duty. conditions of war hastened the process. before the war the revenue from this traffic formed 34.26% of the revenue of southern nigeria. by theend of the war it had fallen to a proportion of 1-23. it was held that this result established two important conclusions. first, that the govern- ment of nigeria could dispense with revenue derived from spirits, secondly, that the produce trade could be conducted successfully without them. as from feb. 1 1919 the importation of trade spirits was formally prohibited in all the west african colonies and protectorates. constitutional changes.—sir frederick lugard retired at the end of the war, and sir hugh clifford succeeded him as gover- nor of nigeria in july rorg. it was an era of material prosperity, and at the close of his five years of governorship, sir hugh clif- ford had the satisfaction of leaving behind him a country in which great economic progress had been made under his rule. in other respects sir hugh’s tenure of office was notable for two modifications in the system of administration. the first was the extension and reorganisation of the central secretariat, a step which in practice tended to curtail the responsibility and initia- tive of the lieutenant-governors and residents of provinces. the second was the abolition of the advisory nigerian council 1078 established under the amalgamation scheme, and the restoration of the jurisdiction of the legislative council for the colony over the whole of the southern provinces. in the new and enlarged council the elective principle was introduced. the introduction of this elective principle, of which experience in the west indies has not been altogether encouraging, was new to west africa, though it is now also applicd to sierra leone and the gold coast. the new council still has an official majority, but includes three elected unofficial members representing the municipal area of lagos, and one elected unofficial member representing the municipal area of calabar. the fitst elections for this council were held in sept. 1923, and the council was inaugurated by the governor on oct. 1 1923. the governor retains the power to legislate for the northern provinces, but the council may discuss affairs of interest to any part of nigeria. the last year of sir hugh clifford’s period of office was marked by an incident which gave profound pleasure alike to the native population and the europeans. this was the visit of the prince of wales, the first heir to the throne who had ever visited the tropical regions of west africa. he landed at lagos in april 1925, and visited the principal native towns, where he was every- where received with demonstrations of enthusiastic loyalty. in sept. 1925 sir hugh clifiord was succeeded as governor by sir graeme thomson. ii. economic conditions railways and mines.—trade development has depended largely on the increase of communications. the western rail- way from lagos to kano, save for the bridging of the niger at jebba, was completed in 1911. (the river was bridged in rg14.) meanwhile the udi coalfields, on the left bank of the lower niger, had been made known and working was begun in 1912. a suit- able site for a new port had been found on the bonny river, and from this place, named port harcourt, it was determined to build a railway to the coalfields. this development may be viewed as the inauguration of a recognised railway policy. a new capital of the northern provinces had been established at kaduna, in the province of zaria, where the railways from lagos and port harcourt reach, and thus constitute it the centre of the system. the total railway mileage of nigeria at the end of the war was 1,110 miles. the principal development since the war has been the continuation of the udi line towards ka- duna, of which a section of 141 m. to the benue was opened for traffic on aug. 1 1924. by feb. 1926 railhead had reached jag- inde, over 100 m. further north. in 1925 the building of a line from zaria, northwest to gusau (120 m.), tapping a rich cotton and ground nut area was sanctioned. the development of the udi coalfields was satisfactory. the railway reached udi in may 1916 and the first truck of coal was delivered at port harcourt in the last week of that month. the discovery of this supply of fucl was of first importance to the development of local transport. by the end of the war the out- put of the field was already substantial. in the r924 report it is given as 201,923 tons for the year. the coal is of excellent quality, equivalent for steam-raising purposes to 80% of best welsh. the tin mining industry in the bauchi highlands, well established before the war, increased its output from 4,140 tons in 1913 to 9,000 tons (valued at £1,425,000) in 1924. agriculture, etc-—the chief wealth of nigeria is, however, sylvan, agricultural and pastoral. the figures of the ground nut trade illustrate the value of the railway in creating trade. before the lagos-kano line was built there were no exports of these nuts. in 1913 19,000 tons were exported. in 1918 the bulk had increased to 57,500 tons. in the railway report 1924-5 the nuts carried are given as 100,724 tons, of which the value was £434,445. but the most important export of nigeria continued to be palm kernels and palm oil; the oil palm being abundant in the southern provinces. the administration, however, sought to broaden the basis of production and gave encouragement to the cultivation of cocoa and cotton, supplementing with regard to cotton the efforts which the british cotton growing association began in 1903. the introduction of a long stapled american nikisch—nile variety of cotton in the northern provinces gave excellent results. by r91g~20 the industry was well established, the sea- son’s export being 3,500 bales; for the 1924-5 season it was 21,000 bales. the cocoa industry also proved successful, the shipments in 1924 being 4,375 tons. trade—the external trade suffered as a result of the war, but towards its close a gencral recovery was noticeable. an interesting change took place in the direction of some of this trade. trade with germany, which had ceased with the out- break of the war, was to a great extent absorbed by the united states. in 19123 trade with germany was valued at £3,885,000 and american trade was practically nil. in 1917 the position was reversed. german trade was nil, and american trade was valued at £1,812,000. afier the war, however, german compctition revived. in 1924 germany took 13% of the total trade and the united states but 5°%%. in the year named great britain supplied 71% of the imports and took 60% of the exports. besides the products indicated—palm kernels, palm oil, ground nuts, cocoa, cotton lint and tin—hides and skins and timber are important exports. the principal imports are cotton goods, hardware, cut- lery, iron, steel and machinery, coopers’ stores, bags and sacks, tobacco, grain, flour, kola, nuts and salt. spirits have become a negligible quantity. the following statistics show the progress made and the influence of the war on trade:— value of value of total value 12,635,866 15,004,874 imports exports of trade £ £ £ 1913 6,331,751 7,197,646 13,529,397 ioi 4 6,276,957 6,420,461 12,697,418 1915 4,983,728 4,946,228 9,929,956 1916 5,174,474 6,029,546 11,204,020 1917 5,808,592 8,602,486 14,411,078 1918 7,423,158 9,511,971 16,935,129 1919 10,798,671 14,675,789 25,474,460 1920 25,216,000 16,987,000 42,203,000 1921 10,550,287 9,655,915 20,206,202 1922 10,689,000 10,421,000 21,110,000 11,457,000 11,672,000 23,129,000 27,640,740 the mid years of the war show the lowest figures touched. in the two years succeeding the war a great boom carried the total of trade to the unprecedented figure of £42,203,000. the boom was followed by a slump of some severity. nevertheless, it will be observed that under the more normal conditions reached the total trade of nigeria in 1924 was slightly more than double the total trade of 1913. the increase in the price level of com- modities must be taken into account, but even so the advance is considerable. reventte.—revenue moved largely in correspondence with trade. taking 1913 and 10923~4 (in 1921 the accounts were altered to make the financial year end by march 31) the figures of revenue and expenditure were: 1913, revenue £3,362,000, expenditure £2,916,000; 1923-4, revenue {6,260,000, expenditure £<\co1,000. ‘there was at the end of the year 1920 an excess of assets over liabilities of £3,206,780, a surplus which fully justified the issue in oct. 1921 of a loan of £3,000,000 for the continuation of the eastern railway and the carrying out of public works. bislrograpiry.—lady lugard, a tropical dependency (1905); c.l. temple, native races and their rulers (1918), and nofes on the tribes . . . and states of the northern provinces of nigeria (1922); cg. t. bosden, among the ivos (1921): ‘ langa langa” (h. b. h. hodge), up against it in nigeria (1922); sir f. d. lugard, the dual mandate, 2nd ed. (1923); f. w. h. migeod, through nigeria io lake chad (1924). sce also the geographical survey of nigeria (crown agents for the colonies, london, 1921, etc.); reports on nigeria (colonial office, london, annual); colonial office list (london, annual); c. k. meck, the northern tribes of nigeria (1926). (f. nikisch, arthur (1855-1922), hungarian conductor (see 19.690), died in leipzig jan. 23 1922.