Colonial federalism in Nigeria developed alongside the country’s existing ethnic, cultural and political identities. During the final decades of colonial rule, constitutional regionalisation, uneven political and educational development, and competition for governmental power increasingly aligned political parties with Nigeria’s Northern, Eastern and Western Regions.
The result was one of the defining contradictions of Nigerian decolonisation. Politicians who shared the broad objective of ending British rule increasingly competed over the structure and control of the country they expected to inherit.
By independence on 1 October 1960, Nigeria possessed a national government, but its strongest political organisations depended heavily on regional strongholds. This political structure shaped the First Republic and established patterns of regional bargaining that remained significant in Nigerian politics.
Nationalism Came Before Regional Party Dominance
Nigeria’s nationalist movement had developed long before the Northern People’s Congress, the Action Group and the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons became the dominant political organisations of the 1950s.
Herbert Macaulay founded the Nigerian National Democratic Party in 1923. The Nigerian Youth Movement later emerged as another important nationalist organisation, while newspapers, labour unions, professional associations and educated elites increasingly demanded greater Nigerian participation in government.
The National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons, commonly known as the NCNC, was formed in 1944 as a broad nationalist coalition. Herbert Macaulay became its first president, while Nnamdi Azikiwe soon emerged as its most influential political figure.
The NCNC incorporated numerous political, labour, professional and community organisations. Over time, political circumstances increasingly associated the organisation with the Eastern Region, where it developed its strongest governmental base.
This transformation occurred alongside the wider regionalisation of Nigerian politics.
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Colonial Federalism in Nigeria Strengthened the Regions
The first powerful force was constitutional change.
The Richards Constitution of 1946 reinforced a territorial structure built around Northern, Western and Eastern Regions. It introduced regional councils while preserving a central Legislative Council.
The Macpherson Constitution, which came into operation in 1951, went significantly further. It introduced elected Nigerian majorities into the central and regional legislatures and gave the regions greater political importance.
Regional politics became a major arena of governmental power.
Politicians could build parliamentary strength, enter executive government and establish political organisations capable of controlling large territories.
There was also a structural connection between regional and central politics under the Macpherson arrangements. Politicians therefore cultivated regional strength while simultaneously seeking influence at the centre.
The value of controlling a regional government increased further after the constitutional crisis of 1953.
The Action Group and the Political Rise of the West
The Action Group became publicly established as a major political party in 1951 under the leadership of Obafemi Awolowo.
Its roots were closely connected to Yoruba political and cultural mobilisation, particularly Egbe Omo Oduduwa. Awolowo had been deeply involved in the organisation, which promoted Yoruba cultural unity and political interests.
Egbe Omo Oduduwa and the Action Group were closely connected, although they remained distinct organisations.
The Action Group developed into a modern political party and established its principal electoral base in the Western Region. Under Awolowo, it became the dominant governing force in the region during much of the 1950s.
The Western Region also contained significant non-Yoruba populations, particularly in areas that eventually became the Mid-West Region in 1963.
The Action Group’s strongest support base was therefore concentrated among Western and predominantly Yoruba constituencies, while political competition continued within the wider region.
The Northern People’s Congress and Northern Political Power
The Northern People’s Congress developed from the northern organisation known as Jam’iyyar Mutanen Arewa.
Established initially as a northern cultural and political association, it became the dominant party of the Northern Region, particularly under the leadership of Ahmadu Bello, the Sardauna of Sokoto.
The NPC emphasised northern interests, gradual constitutional advancement and protection against southern political and administrative dominance.
These concerns were influenced by substantial educational and administrative disparities.
Western education had expanded much more extensively in many parts of southern Nigeria. Northern leaders feared that rapid independence without safeguards could leave northerners disadvantaged in the federal civil service, professions and other institutions.
The Northern Region also contained significant political opposition.
Aminu Kano’s Northern Elements Progressive Union, NEPU, challenged the conservative northern establishment. The United Middle Belt Congress and other political organisations represented communities whose interests differed from those of the NPC leadership.
Religious, ethnic, class and territorial divisions therefore remained important features of northern politics.
The Eastern Region and Minority Politics
The NCNC became increasingly associated with Nnamdi Azikiwe and the Eastern Region, but the East also contained substantial political and ethnic diversity.
Igbo communities formed the largest population bloc, while the region also included Ibibio, Efik, Ijaw and numerous other peoples.
Minority anxieties became an increasingly important feature of Nigerian constitutional politics.
Similar concerns existed in the West and North. Demands for new states developed partly because minority communities feared domination within the enormous three-region structure.
By the late 1950s, these concerns were serious enough for the British government to establish the commission chaired by Sir Henry Willink to investigate minority fears and possible constitutional safeguards.
The Willink Commission reported in 1958. It did not recommend the immediate creation of new states, but the minority question remained politically significant.
The eventual creation of the Mid-West Region in 1963 further altered the territorial structure inherited at independence.
The 1953 Self-Government Crisis Exposed the Fracture
The second powerful force behind regional political consolidation was disagreement over the pace and terms of independence.
On 31 March 1953, Action Group parliamentarian Anthony Enahoro moved that Nigeria should attain self-government in 1956.
Southern nationalists strongly supported fixing a date.
Northern representatives objected. Ahmadu Bello proposed replacing the commitment to 1956 with the phrase “as soon as practicable”.
The disagreement produced a bitter debate.
When northern legislators subsequently moved through Lagos, they encountered hostile crowds. Political antagonism later intensified during southern political campaigning in Kano.
Violence erupted in Kano in May 1953.
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Contemporary British parliamentary reporting recorded 46 people killed and 205 people treated or admitted to hospital during the disturbances.
Political agitation, regional antagonism, social tensions and disputes surrounding the self-government controversy all contributed to the crisis.
The episode demonstrated how constitutional disagreements could rapidly become connected to regional fears and political mobilisation.
The Lyttleton Constitution Strengthened Federalism
The political crisis contributed to constitutional negotiations in London in 1953 and Lagos in 1954.
The resulting Lyttleton Constitution of 1954 established a considerably more explicit federal structure.
Legislative responsibilities were divided between the federal and regional governments. The regions acquired substantial authority over important areas of domestic administration, while residual responsibilities largely belonged to them.
Colonial federalism in Nigeria had therefore reached a decisive stage.
Regional governments now possessed meaningful legislative, administrative and economic authority.
Eastern and Western Nigeria achieved internal self-government in 1957.
Northern Nigeria followed on 15 March 1959.
Regional leaders therefore acquired experience governing substantial territories before Nigeria itself became an independent state.
For politicians, controlling Enugu, Ibadan or Kaduna provided authority, administrative machinery, financial resources and an electoral base from which to compete for national influence.
Three Regional Strongholds, One Federal Prize
By the end of the 1950s, the major parties had developed clear regional centres of strength.
The NCNC was strongest in the East.
The Action Group was strongest in the West.
The NPC dominated much of the North.
Federal power, however, required cooperation across regional boundaries.
That reality became unmistakable during the federal election of 12 December 1959, the final nationwide parliamentary election before independence.
The House of Representatives contained 312 seats.
The NPC won 134 seats.
The NCNC won 81.
The Action Group won 73.
NEPU, which was allied with the NCNC, won eight seats. Smaller parties and independents accounted for the remainder.
No major party won an outright majority.
The NPC and NCNC subsequently formed the coalition that governed at independence, with Abubakar Tafawa Balewa of the NPC continuing as Prime Minister. The Action Group became the principal opposition, led federally by Obafemi Awolowo.
Ahmadu Bello chose to remain Premier of the Northern Region rather than move to Lagos to become federal Prime Minister.
Nnamdi Azikiwe subsequently became Governor-General of independent Nigeria in 1960 and, when Nigeria became a republic on 1 October 1963, its first President.
The arrangement reflected the structure of late colonial Nigerian politics. Parties required interregional cooperation to control the federation, while their bargaining strength depended heavily on maintaining their regional bases.
Why Regional Government Became Economically Important
The third powerful force was economic.
Government had become increasingly important in the distribution of scarce opportunities.
Regional administrations controlled or influenced public employment, scholarships, development projects, statutory corporations, agricultural institutions and access to government-backed finance.
Agricultural marketing boards accumulated substantial resources from export crops such as cocoa, palm produce and groundnuts.
Regional development corporations also became major instruments of economic policy.
Political office therefore affected access to jobs, credit, contracts and development resources.
These conditions encouraged political patronage.
Patronage involved the distribution of positions or advantages in ways that could strengthen political support. Corruption involved the improper use of public power or resources. Both became significant subjects in the politics of the late colonial and First Republic periods.
Foster-Sutton, Coker and Public Resources
The relationship between political power and public finance produced major official investigations before petroleum transformed Nigeria’s economy.
In 1956, a commission headed by Sir Stafford Foster-Sutton was appointed to investigate allegations concerning Nnamdi Azikiwe, then Premier of the Eastern Region, the African Continental Bank and the investment of funds connected with Eastern regional institutions.
The tribunal examined Azikiwe’s financial interests and the circumstances surrounding investments involving the Eastern Region Finance Corporation, the Eastern Regional Marketing Board and the African Continental Bank.
Several years later, the Coker Commission investigated the affairs of statutory corporations in Western Nigeria.
Its investigations documented serious financial irregularities and politically connected arrangements involving public institutions and interests associated with the Action Group.
The inquiries demonstrated that the relationship between political power, public institutions and party advantage had become an important issue before the major expansion of Nigeria’s petroleum revenues.
The later oil economy greatly increased the scale of resources available to the state and intensified competition over their distribution.
Ethnicity, Institutions and Political Power
Nigeria’s ethnic identities had histories extending beyond modern colonial political parties.
Yoruba, Igbo, Hausa, Fulani, Ibibio, Efik, Ijaw and many other identities existed before the regional political order of the 1940s and 1950s.
Colonial institutions changed their relationship to governmental power.
Once large territories became meaningful political regions with governments, legislatures and resources, politicians gained strong incentives to organise electoral coalitions around those territories.
Political leaders also exercised considerable agency.
Awolowo, Azikiwe, Bello, Balewa, Aminu Kano and many others formed organisations, constructed alliances, mobilised voters and responded to constitutional opportunities.
Regional politics therefore developed through the interaction of institutions, identities, political leadership, economic inequality and competition for governmental power.
The First Republic Inherited the Regional Structure
Nigeria became independent on 1 October 1960 with Abubakar Tafawa Balewa as Prime Minister and Nnamdi Azikiwe as Governor-General.
The new state inherited a federal system dominated by three exceptionally large regions.
Each possessed a major political organisation with a strong territorial base.
This structure made national coalition building necessary while also creating intense competition among the regions.
Political leaders understood that loss of control in a home region could weaken their influence at the federal level.
Minority communities sought protection from majority domination within the regions, while the major regional parties competed for influence at the centre.
These pressures combined with electoral disputes, the Western Region crisis, census controversies, corruption allegations, political violence and growing military dissatisfaction during the First Republic.
The regional political structure formed an important part of the environment in which these conflicts developed.
Why the History Still Matters
Modern Nigeria has moved far beyond the three-region structure.
The federation now contains 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory. Constitutional requirements seek to ensure that political parties possess a national character rather than operating formally as ethnic or regional organisations.
Nigeria’s contemporary electoral framework regulates political parties as national institutions.
The political landscape has also changed dramatically since the First Republic.
Yet competition for governmental power continues to involve regional coalition building, elite alliances, party defections and struggles over access to public resources.
Contemporary scholarship continues to identify weak party institutionalisation, elite influence, patronage and limited ideological differentiation as important features of Nigerian politics.
The parties themselves are different. The political institutions are different. The number of states is different.
The continuing historical connection lies in the political and economic importance of controlling government.
That is why the history of colonial federalism in Nigeria remains significant.
Conclusion
Nigeria’s nationalist politics developed through a complex interaction of regional institutions, unequal political and educational development, ethnic and minority identities, political leadership and competition for governmental resources.
The Richards Constitution strengthened regional structures. The Macpherson Constitution gave those structures greater political significance. The Lyttleton Constitution established a stronger federal division of authority.
Nigerian politicians built political organisations around the opportunities and challenges created by this system.
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The NCNC, Action Group and NPC increasingly depended on strong regional bases while competing for influence over the federation. Minority movements challenged majority dominance within the regions. Economic institutions increased the material importance of controlling government.
By independence, Nigerian nationalism had achieved its principal objective of ending British colonial rule, but the new nation inherited a political system in which its most powerful parties were deeply rooted in competing territorial strongholds.
The interaction of ethnicity, institutions, resources, inequality and political power became one of the defining features of Nigeria’s First Republic.
Author’s Note
The development of Nigeria’s late colonial political system shows how strongly political identities can be shaped by the institutions through which power is exercised. British constitutional reforms gave the regions increasing authority, while Nigerian leaders, parties and voters determined how those institutions were used. Regional governments became centres of political organisation, economic opportunity and national bargaining power. The resulting system prepared Nigerian leaders for self-government but also intensified competition among regions and deepened minority anxieties. The history of colonial federalism therefore remains essential to understanding both the achievements and the tensions that accompanied Nigeria’s transition to independence.
References
Federation of Nigeria. Official Gazette, Vol. 47, No. 15, 24 March 1960. Federal election returns for the 1959 House of Representatives election.
Northern Region of Nigeria. Report on the Kano Disturbances, 16th, 17th, 18th and 19th May, 1953. Government Printer, 1953.
United Kingdom Parliament, Hansard. Parliamentary records concerning Nigerian constitutional development, the 1953 Kano disturbances and Northern Regional self-government.
Foster-Sutton, Stafford, et al. Report of the Tribunal Appointed to Inquire into Allegations Reflecting on the Official Conduct of the Premier of, and Certain Persons Holding Ministerial and Other Public Offices in, the Eastern Region of Nigeria. HMSO, 1957.
Coker, G. B. A., J. O. Kassim and Akintola Williams. Report of the Commission of Inquiry into the Affairs of Certain Statutory Corporations in Western Nigeria. Lagos, 1962.
Suberu, Rotimi T. Nigeria’s Permanent Constitutional Transition: Military Rule, Civilian Instability and “True Federalism” in a Deeply Divided Society. International IDEA, Forum of Federations and ConstitutionNet.
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Falola, Toyin and Matthew M. Heaton. A History of Nigeria. Cambridge University Press.
Independent National Electoral Commission. Regulations and Guidelines for Political Parties, 2026.
Madueke, Onyedikachi. “Weak Parties, Strong Elites: Political Institutionalisation and Democratic Fragility in Nigeria.” African Identities, 2026.
