Nigeria Tourism
Nigeria was a British colonial creation. It came into being in January 1914 with the amalgamation of the Colony of Lagos (first annexed in 1861), the Southern Protectorates (established 1885 – 1894) and the Northern Protectorate (pacified by 1903). Hitherto, the British had administered them as separate but related territories. Local involvement in government was introduced as early as 1922 when southern politicians, from Lagos and Calabar, took seats in the central legislative assembly. Their northern counterparts did not have legislative experience until 1947 when a new constitution introduced the principle of regional representation. The 1954 constitution created fully-fledged regional governments, and federal elections were held in 1959 the year before independence.
Nigeria was granted its independence on 1 October 1960, originally with Dominion status. In 1963, Nigeria broke its direct links with the British Crown, and became a Republic within the Commonwealth. The independence constitution provided for a federation of three autonomous regions - Northern, Western and Eastern - each with wide-ranging powers, its own constitution, public service, and marketing boards. The overarching but weaker federal government had powers limited to national issues, including control of the police and army, and economic planning. The political system was derived from the Westminster model. A fourth region – the Mid-West – was created in 1964 to satisfy the demand of the minorities.
In the early 1960s, the inherited regional structure led to a series of crises and conflicts, both within and between the 3 ethno-centric regions, as competition grew for control over the federal centre. The 1964 federal elections were marred by violence and rigging. Inter-party and inter-ethnic tensions continued leading ultimately to a military takeover in January 1966, led by Igbo officers. Thereafter Nigeria's post-independence history was marked by a series of military interventions in politics: coups, counter-coups, and a civil war (1967-70) when the Eastern Region attempted to secede as the Republic of Biafra. Over 1 million died in the conflict. Nigeria has only enjoyed 3 short periods of civilian rule – 1960-65, 1979-83, and 1999 to the present. The intervening periods, totalling 29 years, saw military governments in place.
In an attempt to break up the power of the regions, and forestall future conflict, the regional structure was dismantled in 1967, and replaced by 12 states. At the same time, the federal centre took back most of the powers to itself, and a new radical revenue sharing formula was established which deprived the new states of most of their derivation funds. Additional states were later created in phases in response to demands from powerful local interest groups – in 1976 the number rose to 19, in 1989 to 21, in 1991 to 30, and in 1996 to 36. No new states have been created since then although pressures for new states are ever present. A new Federal Capital Territory, at Abuja in the centre of the country, was created in 1976 but it was not fully operational until the mid-1990s.
