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In recent years there has been much debate on the New Scramble for Africa and
whether or not it is a curse for Africas nations; Nigeria is Africas largest oil producer and is at
the forefront of this scramble. Nigeria was colonized by Britain from 1900 to 1960 when they
gained their independence. While under colonial rule, Nigerias economy became more
developed and its people more educated. However, the British colonials hindered any growth to
the Nigerian economy that would not benefit them and made Nigeria so dependent on Britain
that when independence was gained in October 1960, Britain left behind an unstable
government. After World War II neo-colonialism, as it was called by the first Ghanaian
President Kwame Nkrumah, was introduced to Nigeria. Although during this period Nigerias
economy grew, this growth wasnt sustained due to widespread corruption and Nigerias inability
to sustain the industry. The New Scramble for Africa is an immense opportunity for Nigeria to
develop itself and help stabilize the economy. Indian investments cover a wide area of interests
from pharmaceuticals to plastics and these investments as well as any in the future will be
beneficial to Nigeria. On the other hand, none of the benefits that will be brought by these
investments will be useful to the people of Nigeria as corruption is rampant in the Nigerian
government and all financial profit will not be used to help Nigerias citizens. As a result of this
corruption, the New Scramble for Arica is a curse as not only will the Nigerian people benefit
from the capital made but Nigeria will also lose its natural resources.
The First wave of colonization, commonly referred to as the Old Scramble for Africa,
started in the late 19th century with powerful countries such as France, Britain and Portugal. This
scramble began for a multitude of reasons, however they can all be put into three primary

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motives for the colonization of Africa: economic, political and social. The scramble for Africa
started from the impact of inter-European power struggles and competition for dominance.
Political distinction over other states was very important to countries such as Britain and France
in the 19th century and a way to demonstrate economic power was to acquire new land around
the world. In addition, the capital industrialization being undertaken required numerous amounts
of raw materials and the search for this market impacted the Europeans decision to colonize
Africa. Another result of this industrialization was that troubling social problems became more
rampant in Europe such as unemployment, poverty and homelessness. To counteract these social
problems, European countries exported the excess population to Africa thereby creating jobs and
producing more jobs for their citizens. By choosing to colonize Nigeria, Britain impacted Nigeria
in numerous ways that can still be seen even today such as economic policies and even language.
Under British rule, Nigeria changed in a multitude of ways and not always for the better. Britain
introduced Western education to Nigeria in the form of schools, teachers and books. Previously,
Nigeria had no formal education for their youth but with Western Education introduced, multiple
generations were able to secure jobs for themselves in cities and earn wages. Under this Western
Education was the introduction of the English language to Nigerians. Nigeria had been, and still
is, split into 250 ethnic groups and English brought the Nigerian people an ability to
communicate effectively with people of different regions and ethnicity. Conversely, upon the
arrival of the British colonials, a deeper wedge was driven between the South and the North. The
North, being where the conservative Muslim caliphates dwelled, wasnt open to the changes
being brought about by the colonials. As a result, Western Education and Christianity spread
rapidly in the South making it more developed than its less developed counterpart. This disparity

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is still present in the Nigerian dynamic and is the reason behind much political and social
tension.
British colonial rule greatly affected the economy of Nigeria, for better and for worse.
The reason behind colonization was inherently selfish as powerful European countries were
looking to exploit any resources possessed by the African countries; this is why one of the first
reforms implemented by the British colonials was tax. Through taxation, not only would the
Nigerian government gain funds to expand, develop and built an economy but Britain would also
gain from this taxation. Furthermore, the British brought Nigeria into contact with the Global
Market during this colonial period. This exposure to trade allowed Nigeria to export
commodities to countries all over Europe and thereby build their economy. The production and
exportation of varied commodities and raw materials such as palm oil, kernels, cocoa, cotton and
rubber was highly encouraged by the colonials and eventually the Nigerian economy became
dominated by trade. The Nigerians, being a very agriculturally based people, were comfortable to
remain an agricultural state however this affected the economy as it became very uniform and
dependent on commodity markets of the industrialized Western world for its foreign exchange.
Nigeria was economically exploited by British colonials and were also hindered from any market
expansion that wasnt to the benefit of the colonials as this would reduce their dependency on
Britain. First to increase the volume of trade, the British built roads that were able to reach
multiple trading ports and brought the Nigerian market to a much wide variety of consumers. On
the other hand, the same colonial powers introduced restrictions on trade that regulated what
imports could be received and what exports could be show to the market. By doing this, freedom
of choice in marketing goods was taken away therefore weakening the local rulers and stopping
the Nigerian market from reaching its full potential. As a result of Nigerias dependence on

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British guidance, they had no choice but to grow whichever crops the European colonials
deemed necessary and didn't get a chance to diversify their economy until they got their
independence in 1960. Although the British colonials greatly improved and developed the
Nigerian economy through the building of roads and railways, they severely constrained it from
any improvement that wasnt deemed beneficial to the British.
After World War II, Britain became bankrupt and Nigeria became introduced to
neocolonialism. At first, neocolonialism seemed like a blessing to the Nigerian economy,
however it was really driven by the political interests of Western businesses who worked with
corrupt Nigerian officials to exploit its natural resources. During the 50s and 60s,
manufacturing and industrialization became more prominent and more emphasis was placed on
manufacturing instead of agriculture. As a result, Nigeria abandoned the known agriculture
industry for the unknowns of industrialization. Previously, Nigeria had been effectively raising
enough money, through the agricultural trade, to sustain itself ; however, the capital to invest in a
new sector of the market wasn't readily available. At the beginning, through multiple investments
from Western Nations, Nigeria was able to develop a basic manufacturing system. In fact, many
manufacturing industries were built and the Nigeria economy experienced a growth of 8% per
year. Hydroelectric dams were built to generate electricity and secondary and automobile
assembly plants were built to create more job opportunities and as a result of Nigerias limited
fund, these things were financed with foreign assistance from countries such as France and USA.
Furthermore, the iron and steel industry was started with the help of Russia- which was called
the Soviet Union- but this industry never reached a satisfying level of production. This influx of
Western influence began to breed the corruption and greed that is seen in Nigeria even today. The

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oil boom that occurred in brought a serious shortage of labour in the agricultural sector as
agricultural workers quickly migrated to jobs in the manufacturing sector that was more popular.
Although the emphasis on manufacturing helped at first, the loss of workers in the agricultural
sector meant that Nigeria was no longer exporting commodities that had previously sustained
their economy, instead they need them to be imported which resulted in a loss of capital and a
downturn of the economy. Neo colonialism didn't help the economy of Nigeria because the
influence of Westerners and their insistence on industrialization caused Nigeria to abandon their
prominent agricultural sector and therefore lose money previously gained through exports.