The True Origin Of Nigeria Shocked Me
It Was Never A Country
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There’s something I always say when I get into conversations about the direction of Africa as a continent, and Nigerians as a people; if you don’t know where you came from, you can’t know where you’re going. Knowing your history is one of the most essential parts of maintaining a culture and building a solid society that has both reverence for who they are and perspective for what matters. I believe one of the most damaging things to befall the African people is the loss of our history in terms of passing down the truth from generation to generation. While the details of our incredible ancestry dating back thousands of years is one that we need to reclaim, the other aspect is the truth of our colonisation by Europeans and the reason why Africa is in the situation it is in today. That is why the revelations I uncovered about the Nigeria were so shocking to me.
Nigeria was never meant to be a country. It was something else entirely. I want to acknowledge Burna Boy for bringing my attention to this in his song Another Story on his album African Giant. Thank you for inspiring this video and all of you let Burna Boy know he got to me and now I’m sharing this information with you.
The creation of Nigeria was never about democracy and never about Christianity. It was about money, business and profit; none of it for us. The area now known as Nigeria was called the slave coast up to 1870. This was the point at which the British had stopped slave trading and moved on to Palm Oil as their primary commodity out of Nigeria.
One of the main suppliers of Palm Oil was the Benin Kingdom and you have to watch my video of one of the greatest African kings most of you have never heard of, Oba Ovonramwen. This is an important story for me personally because I am from that region so they are my people and his fight with the empire over Palm Oil is one of the greatest stories of African colonial history.
Anyway, everyone wanted Palm Oil and especially the British. A man called George Goldie set up the United African Company in 1879 which was then changed to the National African Company. He structured the palm oil business in the Niger Delta region and by 1884 he had a monopoly that the British could exploit. In 1886 Goldie violated the agreement he had made with the chiefs and moved his operations into River Niger and Benue. The company was also renamed to Royal Niger Company.
Goldie tricked the Chiefs into signing unfair trade deals giving Goldie exclusive rights to export palm oil instead of what the chief’s thought would be free trade. These contracts were written in English, a language we didn’t understand and based on laws that were not our own. This is similar to the land deals done with Native Americans in what is now known as the United States Of America, where deals were done via contracts in English with laws that had nothing to do with the Native Americans.
There was a meeting called The Berlin Conference in 1884 - 1885 set up by Germany’s first chancellor Otto Van Bismarck. This was where colonial powers discussed how to carve up Africa and structure trade across the pieces of our continent that they would take. We were not a part of this conversation. The best way to think of this is like the NBA draft. Guys were out there making bids between lunch breaks and spa sessions.
At this conference, the kingdom of Opobo was given to Britain. When King Jaja Of Opobo tried to export his own palm oil he was accused of obstructing commerce and then exiled. How crazy is that? AND on his way home in 1891 he was poisoned with a cup of tea.
The Jaja Of Opobo story made other chiefs wary of their deals with the British. King Koko of Nembe-Brass was one of them. He tried to take down the Royal Niger Company and attacked the company Headquarters in Akassa, Bayelsa on January 29th 1895. King Koko captured 60 white men and lost 40 of his own soldiers. He used the 60 hostages to demand he be allowed free trade, the agreement he believed he had with the British Company. They refused and he killed 40 of his hostages.
The British Royal Navy retaliated by levelling the city of Brass completely on February 20th 1895. King Koko went into exile and the British not only took control of the palm oil he once had, but also fined the people of his £500 and confiscated their weapons. Tragically King Koko committed suicide in exile in 1898 after being branded an outlaw by the British Company that had taken his kingdom, Palm Oil and reputation.
The Royal Niger Company sold its territory to the British government for £865,000 in the late 1800’s. This territory was known as…NIGERIA.
In 1914 the southern protectorate and northern protectorate was combined by Lord Lugard. So just like that, the Royal Niger Company was rebranded as a country which would gain independence On October 1st 1960.
The Royal Niger company changed its name to the Niger Company Ltd. and it was then acquired by UNILEVER a company which still operates in Nigeria to this day.
That my brothers and sisters is how NIGERIA came to be. We have a long way to go to fix the country but we won’t ever have a hope in a solution to our problems if we don’t know how they started. The information in this article is just a small part of the foundations that led to unrest, civil war, economic instability and so forth. Remember, it’s not about asking anyone else to fix this, or even wasting time blaming those we know caused and perpetuated it, this is about knowing your history.
Nigeria was never a country we created. It was a company designed by colonisers for profit and a lot of the infrastructure put in place for that siphoning of resources out of our land is still very much in place today. Crude oil simply replaced Palm Oil and soon Lithium may replace Crude Oil. If you are from India you will know that your country has a very similar story to ours. Maybe I will write about The East India Company someday.
Honestly, I feel angry not just for what happened to my ancestors but the fact that I wasn’t taught about this in school in Nigeria and that our children are not being taught about these things now. Every Nigerian should know who we are and what we are up against.
There is also another detail I found out that really put this into perspective. You know why you’ve never heard of George Goldie even though he basically created Nigeria? He didn’t want you to know about him. He destroyed all his papers and apparently put a curse on any of his children if they wrote about him and his exploits. Even he knew what he had done was wrong and didn’t want to be remembered for it.
Nigeria was just a British fuel corporation they rebranded over and over again. It is like how EA release a new FIFA or MADDEN game that’s basically the exact same game every year.
Good luck to Nigeria. We are going to need it.
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What is sad we are told that he committed suicide BUT did he because colonizers will have us believe that we will kill ourselves because we are ashamed. Colonizers are know to kill us and make it look like we killed ourself
Also, lovely article, it was very insightful to read!