14 - Social Changes

Summary

This chapter discusses the various social changes experienced in Nigeria during its colonial phase. It brings together the various events, changes, and processes established in previous chapters, focusing on their impacts, specifically on the social landscape of Nigeria. It takes important topics such as women’s rights and industry and explores what they were like in precolonial times, the changes seen during the colonial period, and the social ramifications of these changes. In colonial Nigeria, colonial officials fostered social change to promote British economic and political interests. Generally, this meant the diffusion of Western ideas, customs, material culture, and institutions, among many others. These were to be promoted (often violently) at the direct expense of their Indigenous counterparts (except for Northern Nigeria, which retained many Islamic and Indigenous institutions). The specific impacts of these efforts and the social changes seen during this period will be explored in detail. Finally, the chapter explores the social development of Nigeria’s Western-educated elite. Through direct exposure to Western customs and their hypocrisy, they would organize in opposition to colonial rule, culminating in Nigeria’s independence.