Discovery of Crude Oil and Development of the Industry - Research Paper Example

Respecting each group’s traditions and cultures, it administered Nigeria by first establishing a protectorate in the north from 1901 to 1906, followed by the establishment of the protectorate of Southern Nigeria in 1906 and finally amalgamating both protectorates to create the Colony and Protectorate of Nigeria in 1914.2 Its first governor-general, Frederick Dealtry Lugard and all British administrators henceforth succeeded in temporarily unifying Nigeria by refusing to absolutely rule the divergent ethnic groups.

Instead, they took the role of supervisor, adviser and administrative assistant to the traditional tribal chiefs or councils, whoRule Policy.3 Nigerians however, were gripped by the yen to disassociate themselves from colonial Britain and World War II gave them the opportunity to seek out independence which Britain consented to. Nigeria became independent on October 1, 1960, and 6 days thereafter was admitted to membership in the United Nations.4Central to Nigerians’ antipathy to British dominion was the fact that Nigerians never were allowed to control their own purse strings.

Gifted by nature with fertile land and enviable natural resources that had since earlier times beckoned Portuguese and British traders to barter with Nigerian gold, ivory, spices, and palm oil, Nigeria had been self-sufficient economically with all its agricultural and mineral produce. Nigerian land had also yielded quality cacao, tobacco, palm products, peanuts, soybeans, and cotton among others that during the British rule, various foreign companies were enmeshed in Nigeria’s economy resulting to profits going outside the country instead.