Today, Nigeria does not seem to be moving forward. Why is this? Is it because of our corrupt leaders? Is it because most of the young Nigerians are idle when it comes to political matters? Should we blame the British for creating Nigeria by merging three major tribes into one territory? Yes, the British are to blame for the ills of our so-called Nigeria. Although our leaders share in this blame, the British should bear most of the blame. Perhaps a concise look at Nigeria’s early history will give us a clue as to why the British should be blamed for Nigeria’s troubles.

Historically speaking, the three main tribes; Hausa, Igbo, and Yoruba merged in 1914 to form a single territory. Later, this unique territory became known as Nigeria, which roughly translates to “people living in the Niger area.” Why did these giant tribes merge? The answer is simple. These tribes merged to simply fulfill a trade deal. Let me expand on this. After the Napoleonic wars of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, the British established trade with Nigeria. At this point, the British made a business deal with the Royal Niger Company (RNC), formerly called the United African Company (UAC). The RNC eventually came under full control of the British government in 1900, and the British used this means to expand their control over the three major tribes. In 1901, Nigeria became a British Protectorate, and the three main tribes finally merged in 1914. Here, it becomes obvious that Nigeria was simply created to fulfill a trade deal, made by the British and the RNC at the turn of the century. XIX. . The British had no idea that they had just made a huge mistake.

Due to the relentless and brilliant efforts of Nigeria’s best intellectuals, Nigeria (a conglomeration of the three main tribes, Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba), became an independent territory. In fact, the founding fathers of independent Nigeria included; Haha Wachukwu, Adedoyin, Tafawa Balewa, Obafemi Awolowo, Nnamdi Azikwe, just to name a few. Despite the intelligence of these good men, they deeply distrusted each other. During the first republic, Awolowo felt that the Yorubas should be the ones in power, and he too was unhappy as leader of the opposition party (AG). Azikwe also felt that the Igbo were more fit for the crown and was also unhappy about forming a coalition with Tafawa Balewa, as ceremonial chief (a role similar to that of the Queen of England). In fact, Azikwe only agreed to this because Chief Festus Okoti-eboh forced him to. Thus began the disunity in Nigeria.

The Igbo-hating general from the North further exacerbated the problem. In the north, the Igbos were being mercilessly massacred. Even the cabbage. Ojukwu (leader of the eastern region) feared that this would turn into genocide. It was for this reason that he (Ojukwu) announced a break with Nigeria, which led to the Civil War. At this point, the level of disunity rose to another level. To make the problem of disunity even worse, the British also made a big mistake by creating a northern region that was much larger than the other two regions. The two regions containing the main Yoruba and Igbo tribes were very intimidated by this. At this point again, the level of disunity rose to a much higher level. A Hausa man would always want to favor another Hausa man, just like the Igbos and Yorubas. This disunity eventually led to the problem of nepotism, corruption, greed, etc., which has continued to plague Nigeria to this day.

My point is this, as a result of this disunity that has given rise to other problems, the best way forward is a consensual and mutual breakup of the three main tribes; Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba. The Hausa region should become an independent Nation, governed and governed by a Hausa man. Likewise the Yoruba and Igbo region. After all, each region has its own unique natural resources to support it. Once this is done, the level of disunity will be reduced to a minimum, as well as its descendants (corruption, nepotism, greed, etc.). At this point, it is important to emphasize that a mutual, consensual breakup should not be confused with an “enemy breakout.” When the three main tribes finally become independent countries, they should still relate to each other as neighboring countries, just as Togo today relates to the Republic of Benin and Ghana, as neighboring countries.

In all, the unity of Nigeria has been fixed since its creation by the British. Nigeria is where it is today due to disunity, which has given rise to the problem of corruption, nepotism, greed, etc. To address these issues, we must address disunity. The best way to deal with disunity is to correct the mistakes of the British. The only way to correct this mistake is to embark on a consensual and mutual breakup. Therefore, a consensual and mutual break from Nigeria is the best way forward.