Origins Rooted in Regional Economic Philosophy THE establishment of the Bank of the North in 1959 was not an accident of history but a deliberate response to structural economic imbalance within colonial and early post-colonial Nigeria. On the eve of independence, formal banking activity was heavily concentrated in the Southern regions, leaving Northern Nigeria largely […]
A Federation on the Brink BY early January 1967, Nigeria was facing an existential crisis. Barely seven years after gaining independence from Britain, the country had been pushed to the edge by political rivalry, ethnic distrust and violent military interventions. The coups of 1966 had not only dismantled the First Republic but also shattered confidence […]
By GODWIN KELECHI A Lingering Question in Nigeria’s Historical Memory MORE than six decades after Nigeria’s first military coup of 15 January 1966, one question continues to resonate strongly within Igbo political and historical consciousness: why were the Igbo people collectively punished for the actions of officers whose motivations and identities were neither exclusively Igbo nor […]
THE AMALGAMATION AS A COLONIAL ECONOMIC PROJECT A Union Proclaimed from Afar ON 1st January 1914, a single administrative decision taken in Britain altered the political trajectory of West Africa. Through a formal colonial proclamation, the British government merged the Northern Nigeria Protectorate, the Southern Nigeria Protectorate, and the Colony of Lagos into one entity—the […]
Voices Beneath the Ledger: Slavery, Memory, and the Triplets Story Introduction: Mythmaking in the Shadows of Slavery THE story of three enslaved triplet sisters born on a Mississippi plantation in 1845 — whose singing unsettled masters and whose disappearance remains unexplained — circulates widely in digital culture as a haunting antebellum tale. Yet rigorous historical […]
By AROH ANTHONY Reconstructing an Indigenous History THE historical narrative of the Ukwuani-Ndosumiri people offers an instructive case study in African indigeneity. Anchored in the Ndokwa region of Delta State, the group is widely recognized as an aboriginal population whose identity predates later migratory inflows into Delta North. This recognition is grounded in linguistic evidence, cultural […]
MILITARY AND STRATEGIC ANALYSIS The Birth of a Breakaway State WHEN the Eastern Region of Nigeria declared independence as the Republic of Biafra in May 1967, its leaders believed they could sustain a viable state through popular mobilisation, defensive warfare, and international sympathy. The declaration followed years of ethnic violence, political breakdown, and military coups […]
A Society Structured by Measure and Control IN the rigid social hierarchies of early modern Europe, bodies were not merely physical realities; they were social verdicts. Weight, complexion, lineage, and gender determined one’s proximity to dignity. Within this world lived Lady Eliza, the only daughter of a landed aristocrat whose wealth insulated him from scandal […]
Decolonizing African Minds: Confronting the Invisible Chains THE formal end of colonial rule in Africa—marked by the lowering of foreign flags and the raising of national anthems—did not conclude the continent’s struggle for autonomy. Historians and political analysts increasingly argue that the most enduring conquest was psychological. By reshaping African thought, colonial powers embedded self-doubt, […]
By GODWIN KELECHI Major Kaduna Nzeogwu’s Death: War, Memory and an Unresolved Historical Controversy MAJOR Chukwuma Kaduna Nzeogwu remains one of the most polarising figures in Nigeria’s political and military history. A principal actor in the January 1966 coup, his life and death continue to attract scrutiny, not only for their political implications but also for […]