Today 1st of October, 2023 marks Nigeria's 63rd Year of Independence. 63 years after been freed from colonial rule by Britain, Nigeria is indeed standing strong with a population of over 200 million people and an uninterrupted democracy that's already lasted for 24 years not a lot, but for Nigerians it's a milestone considering the 33 years spent in military rule. Now for most people the fore mentioned information is common but there is a much more popular question ask on every Independence Day celebration- how developed is the country since from 1960- it is also no secret that the answer to this question is much more negative than positive. But today we are not going to talk about the development status of the country but rather the most important and glaring issue the country has faced since 1960, "unity". In 1914 the British colonial administration led by Lord Lugard fused together three regions from Western Africa, the conservative Nothern Nigeria Prote
The London Conference of 1953 was the idea of Oliver Lyttleton who in an address to the British House of Commons, in 1953 suggested a new constitution to tackle among other issues, the relationship between the regional and central government, independence of the country and deficiencies of the Machperson Constitution. 19 delegates attended, 6 from the 3 regions and 1 from Cameroon. The London Conference between July and August came up with the following resolutions. - Nigeria became a federation. - Self-government to be given to regions that want it. - Governor to become Governor-general while regional governors to become lieutenant governors. - Separate administration for Cameroon if the people so desired it. - Legislative power to be shared between the central assembly and regional legislative. A resumed constitutional conference was held in Lagos 1954, with the Nigerian leaders in attendance. Below shows the summary of the conference. - Governor of Nigeria became gover