Federation of Nigeria

Abstract

The Federation comprises a number of areas formerly under separate administrations. Lagos, ceded in Aug. 1861 by King Docemo, was placed under the Governor of Sierra Leone in 1866. In 1874 it was detached, together with the Gold Coast Colony, and formed part of the latter until Jan. 1886, when a separate ‘colony and protectorate of Lagos’ was constituted. Meanwhile the National African Company had established British interests in the Niger valley, and in July 1886 the company obtained a charter under the name of the Royal Niger Company. This company surrendered its charter to the Crown on 31 Dec. 1899, and on 1 Jan. 1900 the greater part of its territories was formed into the protectorate of Northern Nigeria. Along the coast the Oil Rivers protectorate had been declared in June 1885. This was enlarged and renamed the Niger Coast protectorate in 1893; and on 1 Jan. 1900, on its absorbing the remainder of the territories of the Royal Niger Company, it became the protectorate of Southern Nigeria. In Feb. 1906 Lagos and Southern Nigeria were united into the ‘colony and protectorate of Southern Nigeria’, and on 1 Jan. 1914 the latter was amalgamated with the protectorate of Northern Nigeria to form the ‘colony and protectorate of Nigeria’, under a Governor. On 1 Oct. 1954 Nigeria became a federation under a Governor-General.