Challenge In Nigeria, 1948

[Music] [Music] the challenge in Nigeria is to Britain and Africans alike both want Nigeria to grow into an independent nation within the British Commonwealth what are the obstacles disunity poverty Die Hard tradition ignorance how fast can they be overcome how soon can Nigeria become a free Nation the British went to Nigeria in 1861 to put down traffic in slaves today Nigeria is Britain's biggest protectorate larger than France and Italy combined it has a greater population than those of Canada Australia and New Zealand put together its people speak many different languages with hundreds of dialects belong to different races practice different religions [Music] in the Muslim North On The Fringe of the Sahara live the Howa people rooted in Tradition often suspicious of when Western ideas they form half the population of Nigeria only 50 years ago their ancestors were ruthless slave Traders raiding and devastating The Villages of their weaker Neighbors in the south Britain accepted their principle of hereditary rule and today in the house of chiefs the Amir their rulers meet with British officials to administer the northern provinces in Carno the northern Capital there are houses with electric light telephones and piped water but modern ways have hardly touched the mass of people outside the cities the cattle herders of the open Plains live as their forefathers did and the trappings of civilization are distant indeed from the pagan people of the J plau in the Southeast the EOS farmers and small holders eager to learn sometimes ready to contribute their labor free for Community projects like this new road linking together two [Music] villag from among them the government recruits a great many of its Junior administrators and they have a strong sense of [Music] fun [Music] back in the southwest the Yas fishermen Boatman [Music] Farmer they have a long and cruel history of civil walls in which whole districts were devastated and their inhabitants massacred and enslaved now their Chiefs rule peacefully with British advice their capital ibadan is the largest negro city in Africa but deep in the interior old habits and old beliefs are still [Music] strong distances and lack of communication sharpen the isolation of tribe from tribe and are at the bottom of Nigeria's disunity the railways overworked and short of Rolling Stock are unable to carry all the food and produce that might be going to the port too much of the land is worn out primitive Agriculture and a population growing too fast have drained the soil of Life many a village is facing the terrible reality of soil erosion leading to lowered standards of living malnutrition and disease contagious diseases like yours hookworms often caught from infected water malaria carried by mosquitoes and epidemics of small poox yellow fever tyo blindness perhaps 10 times as common in Africa as in England sleeping sickness spread by the testy leprosy 68,000 cases treated in a year there is disease and poverty throughout Nigeria the unrelieved poverty of millions who eat out a be [Music] living OS the capital is badly overcrowded three out of five of the dwellings in the city have been condemned as not fit to live in people are drawn to Lagos by the hope of a better job with more money but there are not enough jobs the startling truth is that the population of Nigeria has doubled in 50 years of Peace there can be no solution to Nigeria's problems unless her development both economic and social can be made to keep Pace with this rapid growth of her peoples [Music] Haren enough challenges are they being met in part [Music] only new bridges are going [Music] up great efforts are being made to patch up Rolling Stock and to keep it in [Music] repair [Music] in England the building of new locomotives for Nigeria is speeded up and some are already on their way out mechanization has made a good beginning in the government owned ceries in the East and will increase output when the railways are ready to take the [Music] Cod the struggle to restore the fertility of eroded land has begun at Mina a dam is being built to irrigate parched soil and to supply villages with fresh water a generation of better Farmers is being built up slowly because there are always too few instructors but many young soldiers have come back from service in Burma and elsewhere anxious to learn and ready to pass on their new knowledge to the people in their [Music] Villages and Africans are being taught to fight disease at once they met with a hopeless fatalism the sleeping sickness service is cutting down great areas of bush destroying the breeding ground of the testy flly malaria is being kept down by the clearing out of mosquito samps hookworm diminishes when clean water is [Music] available leprosy is being treated now with new drugs which hold out the promise of more cure and the spread of knowledge is giving sufferers more confidence to come forward the devoted work of private and missionary societies has been strengthened and extended since 1945 by a new government level service but the crying need is for more doctors more nurses more trained medical staff more clinics and more hospitals for all these Services Nigeria needs more money and it is only from Nigeria's own resources that the money in the end can come the country has great resources exports in in 1947 amounted to 37 million Sterling Timber produced 3/4 of a million p in exports cotton [Music] 300,000 Palm kernels and palm oil 92 million pound ground nuts pets 6 and 1/4 million pound and this would have been far more if the railways had been able to move the [Music] stocks Coco 102 million PB £4 Million worth of a [Music] exported [Music] and along with the privately owned Industries there is growing up a government inspired Cooperative movement it sets out to improve the lot of the local Craftsman and smallholders the biggest of the cooperative protects the cocoa farmer helps him to sell his crops in the best market and to grow better cocoa from the taxes and duties paid by Industries the Nigerian government derives a good part of its Revenue but beyond that the British tax Fair through the colonial Development Fund is contributing 23 million to be spent in Nigeria during the next 10 [Music] years but the strongest challenge has still to be met ignorance and traditional mistrust or even fear of Western ideas in the Muslim North only one child in 58 gets a school education in the South it is one child in 70 there is no free education in Nigeria it usually costs from 7 to 1 and n p a week to send a child to school though fees are often reduced to what parents can afford the government has launched a scheme to provide free schools for all children but it will take 30 years to do it and in the bush which doctors and secret societies Juju a strongly rooted belief in Mysteries and spells good spells to protect a man at his crops evil spells to blight his enemies against all the is dark and obsolete teachers and missionaries have patiently fought and there have been great victories for [Music] knowledge many Africans have risen to distinction and today occupy important posts police officers barristers High Court judges at this moment about 600 are abroad learning to be Engineers doctors nurses administrators to reinforce those already hard at work but in both north and south and especially in the South there are critics who are dissatisfied with Nigeria's rate of progress in the north a handful of them simulated by books and newspapers urge a wider acception of Western ideas in the South there are nationalist movements the most vigorous led by Dr Nam deway best known as zck Demands a half share for Africans in the government Here and Now with full Independence in 15 years time his newspapers with the freedom that democracy gives them bitterly criticize and seek to discredit British plans and practices zik has localized support in the South but in the the north where half the people live his following is negligible nevertheless the questions he raises are important is Britain doing all she can as fast as she can to bring Nigeria to nationhood Britain has set out to build Nigeria into a democratic structure the pattern is complex The Village Chief is encouraged to consult his people and to accept majority decision British officials often administering large areas of the country give counsel and guidance hearing disputes teaching the principles of British Justice the Amir and Chiefs whose authority was recognized before Britain came to Nigeria helped to run the country under the system of indirect rule with the advice of a civil service under the governor in Lego in 1946 Nigeria took a great step forward a new constitution was adopted setting up in Northeast and West elected houses of assembly to take decisions on Regional Affairs at the same time the legislative Council was reformed and became a parliament for all Nigeria in both assemblies and Council Africans are in a majority and though they are subject to the overriding power of the governor all are able to learn and to practice the Arts of government how soon can Nigerians alone govern their country the sharp conflict is not over the ultimate aim but over the time it will take to achieve this aim it will not be enough to hand over the government to an educated minority or to return the people to the lordship of traditional [Music] [Music] rulers all the people must be enabled to exercise their and as Citizens all must realize that they are part of a Nation but there are brave beginnings of a new sense of community in the experiments in Cooperative effort and most hopeful of all in the movement for Mass education that has appeared notably in the East the brutal fact is that at this moment only about 1 in 30 can read and write house two British and Africans working together may have only a generation or two to accomplish what they thought to be the work of a century the challenge must be met in this Modern [Music] Age