Nigeria at a glance, its regions and multicultural diversity

Population: Approximately 180 million Area: 923,768 sq. km

Major language: Igbo, Hausa, Yoruba Colonial language: English

Circa 800 BC. Jos plateau settled by nok, an ancient Neolithic and iron age civilization

16^th - 18^th centuries: Slave trade: Millions of Nigerians, mostly people from eastern and western region were forcefully and illegally trafficked as slaves by Britain and other European countries.

1850: The establishment of British colony which lasted for about 70 years

1922: Part of German Cameroun colony was added under the league of the nation’s mandate.

1960: Nnamdi Azikiwe and Herbert Macaulay led the fight for the independent of Nigeria.

1967 – Eastern region felt marginalization and tried to secede as the Republic of Biafra, sparking a civil war that lasted for three years.

Nigeria is a tropical country located on the west coast of African along the Gulf of Guinea, it borders the Republic of Benin by the West, Niger by the north, Chad by the north-east and

Cameroon by the east. It is a country with rich in natural resources, human resources and cultural diversity. The discoveries of the natural resources and their potentials were made manifest when Britain tried to exploit Nigeria without planting desirable facilities that promotes development in the country, rather they planted policies that inhibits technological advancement and economic progress in the country. Not only did they amalgamate people of different interests and heritages together, they also sat in motion conditions that favored the uneducated and incompetent region, and put them at the helms of the country's management thereby imposing and protecting their selfish interests in the country.

Source: www.mapsnworld.com

Figure 1.2: Showing the map of the African continent with its countries and their capitals Nigerian multicultural diversity

Nigeria, is a country of multicultural diversity of about 250 ethnic groups. Each group have their own separate language that differs from each other. Many of these languages have no

resemblances to each other at all as one group cannot understand any word from another group.

Nigeria, a country with enormous natural resources limits the utilization of only crude oil since oil discovery, the country and have forgotten to tap the other natural resources available at their disposal. Before venturing into these areas, it will be good to have a very good knowledge of Nigerian people. Combating and abating corruption must be the first step to take for a successful technology transfer in Nigeria. It will be of great importance to note that the effectivity of genuine functional technology transfer will be highly influenced by the social and economic conditions of Nigeria as an entity. The country has its rules, regulations, lifestyle, beliefs and ethics. These things must be fully analyzed and put in consideration for effective technology transfer.

Figure 1.3: Nigerian map showing the locations of some Nigerian tribes and languages Regions of Nigeria

Creation of regions and states in Nigeria and the year of their creations GOVERNMENT/REGIME YEAR NO NAME OF STATE AND REGION Lord Lugard 1952 4 Northern, Western, Mid-West and Eastern

General Yakubu Gowon 1967 12 North East, South East, Benue, Plateau, East Central, mid- West, Kano, Kwara, Lagos, North West, North Central, rivers, South Western states

General M. Muhammed 1976 14 Sokoto, Niger, Ondo, Oyo, Kaduna, Bauchi, Imo.

Kano, Cross River, Gongola, Anambra, Borno, Bendel, Ogun

General Ibrahim Babaginda 1987 2 Kastina, Akwa-Ibom.

General Ibrahim Babaginda 1991 10 Yobe, Osun, Taraba, Jigawa. Kogi, Abia, Delta, Enugu, Edo, Adamawa

General Sani Abacha 1996 6 Zamfara, Bayelsa, Gombe, Ekiti, Ebonyi, Nasarawa The Northern region

The northern part of Nigeria is dominated by the Hausa and Fulani tribes who are mainly cattle rearers before the invasion of Nigeria by the British colonies. The Fulani’s are believed to be nomads who came from other parts of Hausa speaking tribes. They are mainly Muslims of Islamic religion and were ruled authoritatively by the sultan dictator. The northerners were reluctant in embracing education due to their religious beliefs. However, the northerners were more harmonized people within themselves and were not much engaged in slavery, due to the lack of physical attributes Europeans needed for slaves.

The Western region

They are dominated by Yoruba tribe who are mainly farmers before the invasion of the British colonies. They were also the tribe that had the opportunity to have education, because Britain entered Nigeria through Lagos and made Lagos the capital due to the availability of seaport for

the transportation of natural resources by the British colony. They have a similar political system like the northern part.

The Eastern region

The eastern part of Nigeria is dominated by the Igbo tribe who are also known to be farmers, hunters, blacksmiths and traders before and after the invasion of the British colony. Just like Yoruba’s, the easterners had the opportunity to embrace education from their British masters because the colonial masters transported the resources from Nigeria through the coastal areas in the eastern region. The Igbo political system is contrast to that of the north and the west. Though they have monarchs, but they practiced a democratic system of government where the people decides the affairs of the community through every clan's representatives by “Ndi nze na ozo”.

Figure 1.4: The Nigerian map showing the regional areas after the independent

Figure 1.5: Nigerian map showing the two religious areas in Nigeria at present

Though the people from the eastern and the western region were the intellectuals and the

educated people that fought for the independence, the British colony deemed it necessary to hand the leadership to the northern region knowing fully well that they are incompetent due to the lack of the educational backgrounds and the knowledge to handle the affairs of Nigeria as a nation.

This will leave the country into endless conflicts and hinder development in the country and thereby further pave way for British colony to have access to the resources and still rule the country indirectly. In the northern region, although the Hausas were unwilling to embrace British education due to their Islamic faith and refused the acceptance of British Christian religion, Nevertheless, it was still easy for the British colony to manipulate and use them in other areas as they made their leaders (Emirs) reliable agents, even though that the colonial government was also afraid to alter their Islamic faith.

The eastern region that tried secession Figure 1.6 Other regions (western and northern)

Figure 1.7

Figure 1.6 and 1.7: Nigerian map showing the eastern region (Biafra Republic) that tried to secede from Nigeria

However, the southern protectorate (eastern and western region that hates each other) were later fused together. This hatred was clearly made manifest during the civil war when the westerners joined forces with the northerners to fight easterners, their fellow “southerners’”.

Lugard was unhappy with the easterners for resisting his influence in the area, this made him became bias and favorable to the northern region. He tried moving the capital from Lagos to Kaduna, a northern region where he can easily manipulate the people, but he did not succeed due to the fact that Kaduna had nothing to offer. In contrast, Lagos is a coastal area with sea ports, surrounded by sea and intellectuals. He also allocated the handling of the judicial authority to the northern emirs even though that they had no educational background for leadership.

1.2.2 Root causes of Nigerian underdevelopment and technological advancements