Lagos

Eko 

Yours truly is reading Hansard of 1953 which is the British parliamentary records of what happened in the Constitutional conferences to create Nigeria.

Lagos was preferred by the Colonial because the Yoruba had built it to an advanced stage. The other attraction of Lagos was its geography with access to the Atlantic Ocean.

The shock was that having agreed in 1950, the Northern and the Eastern Representatives wanted the decision reversed. They wanted Lagos to be taken out of the Western Region and be considered Federal territory.

The debates were long with the Colonialists noting that historically, geographically and ethnically Lagos was Yoruba territory.

The British were minded to agree but were worried about how the Yoruba would react, Awolowo had already said it was not acceptable. They were also worried that as power rested with the regions with 45 % of the entire revenue of Nigeria coming from the Western Region there might be no Nigeria.

It was explained that a new capital be built somewhere else like Canberra. It was noted that as you could not take Edinburgh out of Scotland so you cannot take Lagos out of the Western Region.

There's a lot more, however why tell this story because the reason Lagos stayed in the Western Region was because essentially the British did not want a problem with the Yoruba.

The Yoruba Nationalists of today are just as determined as those who worked for Yoruba interests in the 1950s.

#everygenerationisanewpeople

#Oduduwa