NIGERIAN STRUGGLES - Rapid Shift to Capitalism

The war led directly to this rapid growth of the working class. By the beginning of 1942 the harbors of West Africa became busy ports of call for convoys bound for the Middle and Far
Eastern theaters of war. Simultaneously a great chain of airports grew up near the main towns for handling the stream of aircraft carrying men and supplies to North Africa and the Far East. A huge construction program ranged from the building of mud huts in military camps to the building of up- to-date airdromes, new roads, railroads and harbor facilities. These activities were accompanied by the intensified exploitation of vital raw materials, such as ores, foodstuffs, lumber and rubber.To supply the necessary manpower
thousands of natives were literally hurled from their primitive agrarian and tribal mode of living into the modern world of machinery and capitalism. These developments produced far-
reaching dislocations in the social structure of Nigeria. Processes that in peacetime would have taken generations are today being completed in weeks or months. Simultaneous with the rapid rise of the trade-union movement there has developed a large and powerful Nigerian nationalist movement in which the trade unions play a leading part. This political movement has cut across tribal traditions, religious ties, Mohammedan, Christian, Pagan, and the barrier of diverse
native languages. Nigeria, with its numerous native states and tribes, has hitherto been bound together only by geographical proximity and the bureaucratic apparatus of the British
imperialist overlords. Now its people are developing a national consciousness.
The nationalist movement took on definite shape in August 1943 when a delegation of editors of West African newspapers in Great Britain issued a memorandum on “The Atlantic Charter and West Africa.” Basing their claim on Clause 3 of the Atlantic Charter which affirms “the right of all people to choose the form of government under which they may live,” they asked for the immediate abrogation of the Crown Colony system of government and the substitution of representative government. The authors of the memorandum declared “that factors of capitalism and imperialism have stifled the normal growth of these territories.” The memorandum set forth a series of proposals for reforms in education, health, social welfare, agriculture, mining, finance, trade and commerce. Upon the return of the press delegation to Africa, a campaign
to popularize these demands was started under the leadership of Nnamdi Azikiwe, editor of the West African Pilot, largest Nigerian daily newspaper, and secretary of the delegation. On
January 20 of this year a constitutional convention was held in Lagos, capital of Nigeria, which formulated and adopted a
draft constitution and a program of economic and social reforms. The convention set up the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons for the purpose of uniting in federation all progressive organizations in the country. The June 26 Daily Comet reports that 126 organizations have affiliated with the Council. Among them are sixty tribal unions,
the two leading political parties – the Nigerian National Democratic Party and the Union of Young Democrats eleven social clubs, eight professional associations. The most significant are the two leading trade union organizations – the West African Union of Seamen and the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria with its 86 affiliated unions and membership of over 500,000. An editorial in the May 17 West African Pilot says that the Council has a following of over 6 million people. Alarmed by these developments the British Colonial Government set about to counter the popular insistence on a new constitution. Shortly after this convention a White Paper containing proposals for the reform of the Constitution of Nigeria was issued with the approval of the British Colonial
Secretary, in the name of Sir Arthur Richards, Governor of Nigeria. By this proposed constitutional revision the British imperialists sought to prevent the emanation of a draft
constitution from the people themselves through the Constitutional Convention.
Calling a special meeting of the Legislative Council in March, Richards presented a constitutional draft demanding immediate acceptance before the people had an opportunity to study it. The Council, made up of a majority of white officials and a minority of hand-picked chiefs, voted acceptance.
At the same session of the Legislative Council Richards secured approval for two bills. One granted the British Government the right to confiscate all African lands wherever minerals were discovered. The other gave the Governor power to dispose of any chief who supported the Nationalist movement against the British.
Taking up the challenge of the Governor, Azikiwe called upon the natives to rally around the National Council, and fight to defend their ancestral lands. Without these the Nigerians will surely sink into further economic enslavement like the natives of South Africa and Kenya. Mass meetings throughout Nigeria
passed resolutions denouncing the “Uncle Toms” who voted support for Richards and demanded that the Colonial Office rescind the undemocratic constitution and take its hands off the African lands. In the face of this nation-wide insurgency the Governor flew to London to consult with the Colonial Office. Meanwhile the natives collected over $50,000 for the
expenses of a delegation to London. Head of the delegation was Herbert Macauly, Nigeria’s “elder statesman,” who successfully fought the British thirty years ago when the Government attempted to confiscate tribal lands belonging to Chief Elako, active ruler of Lagos. The delegation of twelve included representatives from the most important tribes, Christian, Moslem and Pagan. Azikiwe was appointed secretary.