Obiagu1:

Exactly but they don't want that because of the economic and political gain they obtained from the amalgamation. We lost our capital and control of our politics and economy.

Obiagu1:

Now we are begging for seaports, airports, etc. Oil company headquarters were all moved to Lagos. We lost everything.

It was though that Lagos might make a suitable alternative as it had a good harbour and as they had recently aided the king their in his battle for the throne......The Royal Navy set up a base their in 1861. Lagos would prove to be a strategically useful and became a large commercial hub in itself [/b]as traders realised that they could expect the protection of the Royal Navy to protect them from pirates or other troublemakers. It would also demonstrate Britain's commitment to the area to other European nations interested in colonising the area. The French were trying to expand their influence and from the 1880s the Germans would also try to move into the area. Britain's military and commercial presence in the area was enough to allow them to claim a protectorate over the area at the Berlin Conference of 1885.

In 1887,[b] the Lagos colony was expanded into the interior in 1887, it officially joined the in 1906.

Slaves freed by the Royal Navy when they captured slave trading vessels in the 1830es settled at the coast of western Nigeria, a.o. at LAGOS; British missionaries and traders followed. In 1851 the Royal Navy interfered in a local power struggle, deposing King Kosoko. In 1861, Britain proclaimed a PROTECTORATE over Lagos to keep Kosoko from coming back.
The climate at Lagos was unhealthy for Europeans; the city long was administrated from Freetown (Sierra Leone), later from Accra (Gold Coast). In 1886, Lagos was declared a separate colony.
Meanwhile, the ROYAL NIGER COMPANY acquired wide lands to the north and east of Lagos, which became part of the NIGER COAST PROTECTORATE in 1894, which was renamed COLONY AND PROTECTORATE OF SOUTHERN NIGERIA in 1900. In 1906, Lagos was integrated into the Colony and Protectorate of Southern Nigeria, the capital of which was relocated from Calabar to Lagos.

GAR3TH: According to the British government the colony of lagos was the city of lagos at least in the beginning.



http://www.britishempire.co.uk/maproom/lagos.htm

~Bluetooth:


Are you sure you really know the source of the wealth of the colonialist ?

Obiagu1: It was Sir Walter Egerton that started using the resources of the Protectorate of Southern Nigeria to develop Yoruba land after he moved the capital from Calabar to Lagos in the same year.

odumchi:

I don't think we should be thinking about that. Rather, I think we should be angry at the fact we allowed the British to challenge us in our own land and usurp our indigenous governments and authorities. It was then that all was lost not when we were united with the Yoruba.

Besides, the move that really ruined us (even after colonization) was the union of Northern Nigeria and Southern Nigeria.

Obiagu1: Often times, we blame Sir Frederick Lugard for causing the problem in Nigeria by amalgamating Protectorate of Northern Nigeria with Colony and Protectorate of Southern Nigeria in 1914 but that was not actually the root of the problem. The root of the problem dates back a few years in 1906 when Colony of Lagos was amalgamated with Protectorate of Southern Nigeria by Sir Walter Egerton to form the infamous Colony and Protectorate of Southern Nigeria.

Before this infamous amalgamation in 1906, the present SE and SS (including Edo) had nothing to do with the SW. It was Sir Walter Egerton that started using the resources of the Protectorate of Southern Nigeria to develop Yoruba land after he moved the capital from Calabar to Lagos in the same year. The once booming Southern Nigeria or call it Niger Coast Protectorate started losing its steam.

So Sir Frederick Lugard was not the problem. Sir Walter Egerton caused our problem and we will revert it.

odumchi:

I don't think we should be thinking about that. Rather, I think we should be angry at the fact we allowed the British to challenge us in our own land and usurp our indigenous governments and authorities. It was then that all was lost not when we were united with the Yoruba.

Besides, the move that really ruined us (even after colonization) was the union of Northern Nigeria and Southern Nigeria.

sheyguy: If it is true the wealth of the present ND and SE was used to develope the West, why did they still choose to go with Nigeria?

Obiagu1:

Did we have any choice? What could we have done against the British military power?

odumchi:

We could've did what the Ethiopians did. That's why they're the only African country to escape European colonization.

Obiagu1:

The wealth from the Protectorate of Southern Nigeria (SE/SS) was used to develop Lagos. Before that 1906 amalgamation, Colony of Lagos was not viable and had to be attached to Ghana for survival. There was no known company, like Royal Niger Company, operating in the Colony. The only known source, slavery, ended in 1861. You guys were busy fighting wars and there was no known commercial activity going on.

To further sustain you guys, when Western Region was created, the British cut a part of Southern Nigeria, the former Midwest, and gave to you guys for survival in the whole ill advised scheme to make Nigeria work. All is bullshit.

Obiagu1:

Yes we tried but were defeated. What other options do you have when you lose to the might of the British? You're citing Ethiopia, how many other Africans survived such onslaught?

PhysicsQED:

You keep trying to construct some scenario where the West benefited either politically or economically from being united with the rest of Nigeria at the expense of others but I doubt that it's consistent with the facts. It makes sense to argue that the rest of southern Nigeria lost politically and maybe for some, economically, by being united with the colony and protectorate of Lagos, but there's no reason to ignore the reality that the colony and protectorate of Lagos, like almost every other region, also lost economically and politically by being attached to the other protectorates.

As far as I can tell, between 1962 and 1999, the area that originally comprised the colony and protectorate of Lagos frequently lost politically, ultimately not having much real control of their own destiny except for the times OBJ resurfaced from the depths through being at the right place at the right time. If that colony/protectorate had been on its own as a country, this would not have been an issue.

In the 1950s, the Western region was the richest region, off of cocoa produced in areas that would have fallen in the territory of the colony and protectorate of Lagos in earlier times. Not only was there oil found in Ondo since the 70s or 80s, there was oil that would much later be found offshore near Lagos, so there isn't really an economic argument there.

I think you should just acknowledge that even the group you set out to prove was some kind of leeching appendage would actually have been better off on their own and actually lost by being appended to others just like the other groups did. It's the only conclusion that makes sense.

You're talking about cocoa, was Nigeria a major player then? NO! When Lagos was made capital in 1906, Nigeria was not known as a major cocoa exporter, where they? The whole money used to develop Lagos and even develop cocoa production in Western Region came from where? It was later that cocoa became a major source of income. It's not a traditional African crop like Palm oil or is it?

Talking about losing economically, we lost a lot! Seaports in Southern Nigeria were neglected in favour of Lagos.

Southern Nigerians started moving to Lagos, the new capital, pay taxes to which government? What did Lagos have that Calabar lacked? Both have no known mineral resources that you will point as the reason for the change, so there was no reason to move it to Lagos

Why was Ilorin, a Yoruba territory, not added to the Colony of Lagos? Why did they carve out Midwest and joined it to the Colony of Lagos instead?

We equally lost cohesion we built over the years through trade. Through Calabar and Bonny, we built relationship over the years from trading slaves to palm oil to exchanging missionaries. Through Warri and Nembe, same thing. Those towns were dominated mostly by small groups yet the major groups like Ibibio, Igbo (East and West), Urhobo, Edos had to deal with those smaller groups like Efiks and Itsekiris. This was centuries of cooperation built through good and hard times, quarrels and conflicts, peace and harmony.

In Colony of Lagos, they dealt with no one. Just them! ... and one wonders why we don't agree politically?

PhysicsQED:
Yes, obviously cocoa is not indigenous to Nigeria. Could you give a reference on where the money used to develop Lagos and then cocoa production actually came from with specifics on which money came from where?

PhysicsQED:
The British deliberately merged the existing provinces into 3 ethnically/culturally/religiously based regions which roughly (but not exactly) corresponded to the actual major divisions between the peoples of the colony without any thought about what the consequences would be if it were ever an independent country. Basically it was all just for administrative convenience - i.e., there was no specific reason it had to be that way.

Obiagu1:

See question Could you give a reference on where the money used to develop Abuja with specifics on which money came from where?

Ethnically, culturally, religiously Where did you get this nonsense from? How did this 3 criteria eliminate Ilorin?

So Colony of Lagos has more ties with Urhobos, Igbos, Esans, etc or your mind just thinks Bini?

Colony of Lagos has ties with Ghana too Mister, it was done for economical reasons with the believe that the remain part of Southern Nigeria could stand on their own.

The British had, from onset, set out to merge the three protectorates, Lagos, Southern Nigeria and Northern Nigeria even before Lord Lugard set foot on Nigerian soil.
They had to find a balance.

Obiagu1:

The wealth from the Protectorate of Southern Nigeria (SE/SS) was used to develop Lagos. Before that 1906 amalgamation, Colony of Lagos was not viable and had to be attached to Ghana for survival. There was no known company, like Royal Niger Company, operating in the Colony. The only known source, slavery, ended in 1861. You guys were busy fighting wars and there was no known commercial activity going on.

To further sustain you guys, when Western Region was created, the British cut a part of Southern Nigeria, the former Midwest, and gave to you guys for survival in the whole ill advised scheme to make Nigeria work. All is bullshit.

As early as 1886, when Lagos Colony was separated from the Gold Coast, an Executive Council for the Lagos Colony was established. But Frederick Lugard had reduced the powers of this Executive Council to the status of a Legislature. In 1906, when the Lagos Colony was merged with the Protectorate of Southern Nigeria, the competence of this Legislative Council was extended to cover Lagos and the Southern Protectorate. In order to compensate the inhabitants of the Lagos Colony who were de jure British subjects and enjoyed the rights of British citizens, a small Legislative Council for Lagos Colony was introduced for the purposes of enacting Laws and scrutinising estimates and expenditure. The Legislative Council consisted of ten official and six unofficial members.

Onlytruth: I don't know why even PhysicsQED is struggling to understand the simple points being dished out by Obiagu1. The British ab initio never came to Africa to lose money or subsidize anyone. They came to make profit. People should remember that the ONLY REASON they came to Africa was to MAKE MONEY. That is why the legal entities they had were COMPANIES (not some charity or even religious organizations). The religious orgs were just appendages to the real motive -economic.
Once you understand that, it becomes easier to understand that any part of the companies that were not making money must be merged with the viable one. Period.
Google just acquired Motorola, and their first sets of actions have been to map out people to fire (in Motorola) and some Goolge employees to move from Google to Motorola. Nokia has laid off about 30,000 employees and closed their plant in Finland, and moved all their manufacturing to Asia, and is attached like a leech to Microsoft, receiving $1 billion annually from Microsoft.
In the days of British colonial business (yes it was a business!),they would have merged Finland with China or Vietnam. Simple.
From that perspective, it becomes very easy to understand that Lagos/SW had to be attached to the East once they detached administratively from Ghana et al.
I don't blame them, I blame our fathers that allowed them to do that. Heck I even blame some of our fathers for abandoning the Biafran war/campaign. lol
You are only as progressive as you are determined to fight. If you give up easily, you should not complain when poverty and deprivation comes knocking.

GAR3TH: @Onlytruth The OP stated that the whole reason why the Southern Protectorate was merge with the Colony of Lagos was because the British wanted to use the resources of the southern protectorate to develop Lagos. He believe that colony of lagos was poor and lacked funds which is completely incorrect. not only was Lagos the economic trade Hub of west Africa due to its ports back in the 1900 but it was a well developed crowned colony. The colony of Lagos was annexed to Great britian meaning the people of lagos were British subjects and enjoyed the rights of British citizens. The colony of lagos also had its own executive council who governed lagos. On the other hand the protectorate of southern Nigeria was not Annexed and remained a protectorate. Being a protectorate the people living there did not have british citizenship but they were ruled by british. Even after the merge a small Legislative Council was set up just for lagos to help the british citizens of Lagos Colony to enacting Laws and scrutinising estimates and expenditure seperate from the South protectorate. Hence why after the merge it is call the colony and protectorate of southern Nigeria. So to say Lagos was a the parasite in the merging is wrong, the were self governed and a economic hub.

PhysicsQED:

I'm not failing to understand anything.

You can't just insinuate that because cocoa is not a traditional African crop that it was only being sold in the 50s when that is false (rather, it was only worth a lot more starting around the early 50s), and you can't also just insinuate that the sale of palm oil from the rest of southern Nigeria was covering the costs of the colony of Lagos when the colony of Lagos was itself selling palm oil unless you can show that the palm oil and other revenue from the colony of Lagos was so much less than that of the rest of southern Nigeria that it would not have been able to stand alone. This is a very simple thing to understand.

PhysicsQED:

I'm not failing to understand anything.

You can't just insinuate that because cocoa is not a traditional African crop that it was only being sold in the 50s when that is false (rather, it was only worth a lot more starting around the early 50s), and you can't also just insinuate that the sale of palm oil from the rest of southern Nigeria was covering the costs of the colony of Lagos when the colony of Lagos was itself selling palm oil unless you can show that the palm oil and other revenue from the colony of Lagos was so much less than that of the rest of southern Nigeria that it would not have been able to stand alone. This is a very simple thing to understand.

Dede1:


Baring the melancholic exaggeration of western region’s achievement in 50s, the aforementioned region pledged poverty in 1951 when Shell D’arcy threatened to discontinue crude oil exploration in Southern Protectorate. The hype about cocoa being major earner for western region of Nigeria was a political gimmick. The actual revenue earner was timber from what later became mid-western region.

There was no doubt British directed every source of revenue toward Lagos Colony which acted as the seat of colonial government.

Obiagu1: My point remains that Lagos was living and doing good since after their wars but they were not moving at the expected rate. Their finances were reasonably good. However, there was other options for the merger, Lagos and North first before the South but that option was not favoured. Already Lagos was in debt after borrowing heavily (between 800,00 - 1,250,000 pounds) to construct Lagos-Ibadan rail line and their finances was shaky.

Meanwhile, Southern Nigeria that was just born in 1900 proposed a staggering 15,000,000 pounds for her rail line, guess what happened, it was shelved to finish the Lagos line first. Our first lose.

After that follows the dredging of Lagos port in favour of Calabar

Dede1:
Baring the melancholic exaggeration of western region’s achievement in 50s, the aforementioned region pledged poverty in 1951 when Shell D’arcy threatened to discontinue crude oil exploration in Southern Protectorate. The hype about cocoa being major earner for western region of Nigeria was a political gimmick. The actual revenue earner was timber from what later became mid-western region.

There was no doubt British directed every source of revenue toward Lagos Colony which acted as the seat of colonial government.