Nationalism is the resistance to sentiments and activity to alien control and in the case of Nigeria, it was a resistance to British rule. Nigeria’s resistance was in different phases namely the traditional Nationalism phase, the conservative phase, the radical phase, and the regional/ethnic nationalism phase. In order to get a glimpse into Nigeria nationalist movement, this article would review a chapter from a book. This chapter is written by G. O. Olusanya titled Nationalist Movement In Nigeria.
The chapter is a discourse on the nationalist movement in Nigeria, it discusses the emergence and growth of the nationalist idea, the pillars of the chapter includes the emergence and growth of political organization, the impact of both the first and second world war on nationalism movement such as the Zikist Movement, AG and lastly the march to independence.
Modern Nigeria was under British rule up to 1960, during this period, British rule faced different nationalist agitation, but before then, Nigerian Nationalist idea had already been at work because of series of reasons eg. Jihad, missionaries who encouraged the creation of modern state and unity of common subjection by the British.
The late 19th century nationalism was called the era of traditional nationalism. This was carried out by indigenous rulers and individuals who refused to give up their territory to the British without a fight and thus they employed violence an example was Jaja of Opobo. Bishop James Johnson built indigenous African church.
After the traditional nationalism phase, there was recorded growth in the nationalist movement and this was due to several reasons such as the first world war. The Garveyite and Pan African movement etc. these led to the political consciousness and political organization in the different locations. This new phase was dominated by conservatives and Lagos was the center of the nationalist resistance and protest by political organizations. The early political organization was People’s union which was not very effective and they championed specific causes such as the agitation against water. There were two important parties that were at the forefront of nationalist resistance and movement, this was National Congress of British West Africa (NCBWA) and NNDP, they used memorandum, Herbert Macaulay also laid the foundation for protest.
The second world war led to the usage of allied propaganda and democracy and by 1950, bodies such as trade unions, Zikist movement devoted to constitutional proposals and changes, this was the radical period of nationalism. From 1950 there was ethnic and regional nationalism, there was A.G for Yoruba, N.P.C for the North, by 1953 it had appeared that the British were ready to grant independence but was delayed until 1960 when independence was given.
The chapter reviewed can be found in Groundwork of Nigerian History Edited by Obaro Ikime The full citation is Olusanya G.O 1980. Nationalist Movement. In Obaro Ikime (ed.). Groundwork of Nigeria History. Ibadan. Heinemann Educational Books. pp 545-560.
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