Britain Merged Northern, Southern Protectorates to Finance Nigeria with Southern Resources –Prof. Akintoye

The historian alleged that the amalgamation was not done for the benefit of the people of Nigeria, but for business reasons by the British colonial rulers.

Aprominent Nigerian historian, Prof. Banji Akintoye has claimed that the British colonial masters amalgamated Nigeria in 1914 basically to use the wealth from the southern region to finance the northern region.

The former leader of Ilana Omo Oodua Worldwide, the umbrella/apex body of the Yoruba self-determination struggle made this known on Wednesday during a global conference organised by Yoruba Nation Youth which was attended by Yoruba people living in Nigeria and the Diaspora.

The historian alleged that the amalgamation was not done for the benefit of the people of Nigeria, but for business reasons by the British colonial rulers.

He said, “Those ruling northern protectorates then had a serious problem of finance because the region did not have money to pay the white men working there.

“Whereas in the South, especially in Lagos and Yorubaland, we produced a lot of wealth that could pay all the workers and still have some remaining, and this was why the British thought that to solve the shortfall that was happening in the North, which was making the administrator there to go back to England to source for money, there was a need for amalgamation.

“After all, the southern part had money; the north did not have money. Let’s merge them to balance the finances.

“It was not a territorial amalgamation at all. It was a business administrative arrangement between the people – the white people ruling the North and the white people ruling the South.

“No Yoruba people signed an amalgamation letter in 1914. Even Alaafin (of Oyo) was only invited to witness the celebration and the same for the Sultan of Sokoto.”