The policies that shaped events in the relationship between the British and the Eastern Provinces of Nigeria 1940-1950

Abstract

This article is titled the policies that shaped events in the relationship between the British officials and the people of the eastern provinces of Nigeria 1940-1950. The paper attempts to analyze the colonial policies that shaped the relationship between British official and the Nationalist politicians in the Eastern provinces. It argues that the British colonial empire combined two contradictory principles; self-government and freedom in London, autocracy and denial of freedom outside the metropole particularly in the Eastern Provinces. Not only was the organization of government different but also were the administration of justice, policies and relations to education. It has been shown that unequal relationship existed between the metropolitan powers and the Eastern provinces of Nigeria. The findings from this paper have supported the conclusion that the British had corporate interest of imposing an enclave economy based on production for exports and the imposition of consumer goods on the colony.

Keywords: Native policies, contradictory principle of self-government, autocracy and trusteeship