Obaba Museum

Last weekend, quite a number of people joined the presidency to mark the final independence day celebration of the Buhari led administration at the famous Eagle Square, the same venue for inaugurating new Nigerian heads of state since the 1990s. At least we got to see an Independence day celebration at the Eagle Square for the first time in a long while.

This year’s independence day was quite different, all over the country and even in cities at the United Kingdom there were various solidarity marches especially by the ‘ObiDients’. It seemed people were really more interested in voting in the next president than marking the Independence Day. In fact, the current political atmosphere suggests an increase in political participation amongst the adult population. Someone said the youths are now more focused on productivity and nation building so much that a popular reality show in Nigeria lost a great deal of following.

The journey of 62 years has been quite a bumpy ride for Nigeria and Nigerians but as the line in the anthem says, ‘the labour of our heroes past shall never be in vain’. Let’s take a trip back in history and consider some facts about the state now known as Nigeria.

In the year 1900, the British Government assumed formal control over the areas now known as Nigeria but to secure this arrangement, they purchased it from the Royal Niger Company at the cost of £865,000, so in Dr. Cartel’s words, ‘Nigeria started off as a business deal.

The nation formally came into being on January 1, 1914 when it was amalgamated into one territory known as Nigeria, incidentally the name was coined by the girlfriend of the Governor General, Flora Shaw who also happened to be a British reporter.

In 1945, Michael Imoudu led the first general strike that almost grounded the economy of the government.

In 1953, Chief Anthony Enahoro, an Action Group member, became the first person to move the motion for Nigeria’s independence, this motion was rejected by the members of the Northern People’s Congress and eventually degenerated into a bloody riot at Kano where a lot of Southerners were killed.

By 1957, the Western and Eastern region were granted self governing status.

On Saturday, the 31st of October 1959, the WNTV, Africa’s first television station was established by the Western region, today it is known as NTA.

On Saturday, the 1st of October 1960, Nigeria was granted Independence although, it would not become a full fledged sovereign nation till 1963 when it became a republic.

The first anthem Nigeria we Hail Thee was composed by Lilian Jean Williams, a British resident in Nigeria. It was changed in 1978 to the current anthem Arise o Compatriots. The lyrics are a combination of words and phrases taken from five of the best entries in a national contest. The words were put to music by the Nigerian Police Band under the directorship of Benedict P. Odiase (1934–2013). The Nigerian national anthem lyrics were created by five people: P. O. Aderibigbe, John A. Ilechukwu, Dr. Sota Omoigui, Eme tim Akpan and B.A. Ogunnaike.

On October 1960, Nigeria became the 99th member of the United Nations, Sierra Leone became the 100th a year later on the 27th September 1961.

On October 1, 1996 the last batch of states (6 of them) were created by General Sani Abacha, they include: Ebonyi, Bayelsa, Nasarawa, Zamfara, Gombe and Ekiti. So that means they also celebrated their 26th anniversary over the weekend.

Did you know that Nigeria is surrounded by Francophone countries?

Yes all four neighbours of Nigeria are French speaking countries colonized by France. This explains why we had to ditch the British Right hand drive for the left hand common with the French to facilitate interstate transport.

Which of these facts did you find interesting? Let’s