Frederick Lugard was Nigeria’s most successful economic manager ever and I would actually like to see the next president replicate his feat

Ayo Akinfe

[1] On August 30 1894, British explorer Frederick Lugard began his expedition of the Niger which led to the eventual creation of the nation state called Nigeria. In just 20 years, Lugard had captured nearly 1m square kilometres, subduing about 20m people from 250 different ethnic groups. He created the biggest and most lucrative British colony south of the Sahara to the envy of the Germans and French

[2] After India and maybe Egypt, Nigeria was Britain’s third most prized possession worldwide. Within Nigeria’s borders you had unprecedented wealth. Palm oil, cocoa, rubber, groundnuts, cattle, coconuts, timber, etc were all widely available. What made Nigeria even greater was that the British could introduce crops like cocoa from South America or rice from Asia and they would just grow in abundance

[3] Many other British colonies had to be subsided at the outset but alas, Nigeria was self-financing from the word go. In the Northern Protectorate for instance, revenue quickly increased from £4,424 in 1901 to £274,989 in 1910. Down south, the Southern Protectorate financed itself from the outset, with revenue increasing from £361,815 in 1901 to £1,933,235 in 1910

[4] Let me break the down for you all - Gross domestic product (GDP) increased 62 fold over a nine year period in the Northern Protectorate, while in the Southern Protectorate, GDP more than doubled, multiplying by 2.6% fold between 1901 and 1910

[5] Nationwide, this meant that Nigeria’s GDP grew from £366,239 in 1901 to £2.2m in 1910. Within nine years our economy grew sixfold!!! If we were to replicate what Frederick Lugard did in the early 20 century today, our economy would grow from about $375bn today to $2.25trn in 2028

[6] Some people blame the British for their ruthlessness in Nigeria but alas, they had a mission. Frederick Lugard had no time for sentiments, he wanted raw materials and he made sure he got them. He built a narrow gauge railway track meant to carry cargo from Kano to both Lagos and Port Harcourt and had no interest in the humans that occupied Nigeria. For him, the end justified the means

[7] If the British wanted to build a railway track for humans, it would have been standard gauge and Port Harcourt would have been linked to Lagos too but alas, they were on a mission to create a cash cow and did it effectively. Do you know for instance that in 1936, of the £6,259,547 income generated for the Nigerian state, £1,156,000 went back to England as home pay for British officials?

[8] Frederick Lugard did not die a millionaire. He left behind less than the likes of Babangida, Abdulsalam, Obasanjo and Goodluck have today. He succeeded in his mission because he was single-minded and focused on the goal

[9] If we are to replicate Lugard’s success, we need a similar leader who is like a laser-guided missile, just focused on the task ahead. However, will Nigerians ever accept such a leader? The only problem with Nigeria is Nigerians. To sort Nigeria out, you the leader first of all need to change the way they think, alter their priorities and be prepared to be a friendless hermit like Lugard. Everyone will despise you for the tough and unpopular decisions you will have to take

[10] I suspect Lugard came up with the idea of Nigeria after reading Acts 13:1 in the bible and coming across the word Niger, which meant black. He then decided to fulfill a prophesy and create this massive black giant that would be the pride of the negro. The fact that the word Nigger went on the be used to describe blacks worldwide says it all. Our challenge now is just to realise Lugard’s dream and build this global superpower he envisioned