Nigeria's Independence

On October 1, 1960, Britain granted Nigeria its independence. The reason? After World War II, Britain lacked both the financial and military power they needed to keep control over Nigeria (F). So, they made a sort of deal with Nigeria. If all three parts (North, East, and West) could get along, Nigeria would become an independent member of the British Commonwealth (A).To help with this process, Britain granted some control over their independent sectors with a general rule (made by the British) over all of them (F). The Western and Eastern sectors of Nigeria were happy with this situation as it gave them more independent power, but Northern Nigeria didn't want their own self-government (C). Why? Because they "feared that their region might lose its claim to an equal share in the operation and opportunities of the federal government if it was not given enough time to catch up with the educationally advanced south"(C). However, they eventually had to govern themselves.This made the separate parts of Nigeria gradually get along until Britain deemed them worthy of being their own independent country once again.

However, Nigeria's time of hardship was not yet over. Three of the eastern states seceded and made their own country: Biafra (D)! Unfortunately for them, wars soon broke out, and Biafra had to surrender and rejoin Nigeria (D). Nigeria was now a republic (the Federal Republic of Nigeria) (A)! The first elected leader was Nnamdi Azikiwe.