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Abstract:
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The opening line of Richard Bourne's Nigeria warns readers that ‘anyone who claims to understand Nigeria is either deluded, or a liar’ (p. ix). Or possibly both. Bourne's ambition, instead, is to chronicle a century in the history of perhaps the most complicated country in Africa. This is a lofty aim, and while this book is an accessible read and has some useful insights, it falls short of that goal. The rapid pace at which readers are introduced to events and names is dizzying, and the book describes more than it explains or illuminates the story of Nigeria.
The first hundred pages of the book address the years from the advent of the colonial period in 1914 to independence in 1960, and the first years of Nigerian civilian self-rule. From the start, this is a history of big men, and, initially, Nigerians are mostly relegated to secondary roles; Nigerian women are almost entirely absent throughout the text. Frederick Lugard, the British governor-general of Nigeria from 1914 to 1919, is the star of the first three chapters, and is succeeded in prominence in the text by other colonial officials. This opening is less a history of Nigeria, the country, than a history of the modern Nigerian state.
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