How To Drink From A Poisoned Cup: Harold Smith And The Nigerian Story

On the eve of Nigeria’s 65th independency anniversary, I reflected connected Harold Smith. He’s not wide known successful Nigeria. And that’s astir apt to beryllium expected for a antheral whom the British constitution ostracised for decades for daring to beryllium different, earlier his death. He was everything the British assemblage authorities didn’t privation him to be, and helium paid for it.

But for his book, The Harold Smith Story, published by Lawless Publications 4 years ago, Smith would person died with the cognition of however a promising state was sabotaged by Britain, with consequences that would past for generations.

Sixty-five years aft the Union Jack was lowered, galore inactive talk wistfully of Nigeria’s “potential” for greatness, a imaginable that appears nary little elusive contiguous than it was erstwhile Smith arrived successful Nigeria successful 1955, caller from Oxford and 1 twelvemonth aft helium joined the British assemblage bureau arsenic a assemblage officer.

Gone, but alive!

Smith is gone now. He died 14 years ago, but lived agelong capable to revisit Nigeria 1 twelvemonth earlier the state celebrated its 50th anniversary. On that visit, helium was quoted arsenic saying, “My 20 years successful Nigeria were surely the champion years of my life. Nothing I’ve done since has equalled that.”

This nonfiction is not chiefly astir him, adjacent though helium would person been much than worthy. It’s astir Nigeria, astir however Smith’s relationship of his Nigerian odyssey reveals galore aspects of the state that we often place oregon underestimate, but which we indispensable face and flooded to marque progress.

I’ll instrumentality a fewer of them – the strategy of government, the civilian service, wealth politics, and corruption – each of which Smith covers extensively successful his book, naming names and places and giving examples successful galore instances.

It’s the system, stupid!

Let’s commencement with the strategy of government. There are respective accounts, of course, of however the British utilized and exploited indirect regularisation to foster part by promoting the domination of 1 conception of the state implicit the other,using section rulers who were easier to manipulate. But not galore of the accounts explicate however this method was implemented.

Here, successful his ain words, was what Smith said astir the authorities of affairs successful what was then, broadly speaking, Northern and Southern Nigeria: “When the British invaded the Moslem North and realised that a unchangeable feudal and authoritarian strategy of authorities was already successful place, they decided to regularisation done the Emirs…the basal thought was that the Northern rulers could bash arsenic they pleased truthful agelong arsenic they did not offend the British.

“The restrictions placed connected the Emirs were not arsenic arduous, and truthful agelong arsenic taxes were collected and determination was nary disorderly behaviour, the Emirs not lone had a escaped manus but were assisted by the British administrators and, if necessary, by the unit of the British army.”

Tax and spend

The taxes did not payment the mean people; they were shared betwixt the Emirs and the assemblage authorities successful specified a brazen mode that, arsenic of 1947, determination was not a azygous secondary schoolhouse successful the North. Ignorance enabled feudal lordship. But arsenic agelong arsenic the Emirs and the British assemblage authorities were happy, the strategy was preserved astatine each costs, including delaying self-government for arsenic agelong arsenic possible.

When it became untenable, according to Smith, the British authorities went to bonzer lengths to rig elections. “The British authorities determined beforehand to whom it would beryllium handing the keys of the Nigerian kingdom. They were the rulers of the North, who had agelong been favoured by the British.”

Crooked civilian service

Another constituent is the civilian service. A communal fetish is that General Murtala Muhammed’s monolithic purge of the civilian work successful 1975 is to blasted for the decline. That purge had its adverse effects, nary doubt, but determination were others aft Muhammed’s, notably successful 1984 and 1999. However, it is mostly believed that Nigeria’s civilian work was coagulated and incorruptible until 1975.

Smith’s publication suggests that adjacent though we whitethorn take to look the different way, corruption successful the civilian work dates backmost to the assemblage era, often portrayed arsenic a clip of innocence. And here, Smith names names without mincing his words.

When it dawned connected the British that the squalid bequest of assemblage regularisation was nary longer sustainable, they began to place Nigerians to groom for enactment roles successful the civilian service, the backbone of the assemblage administration.

Naming names

One of specified Nigerians, according to Smith, was Francis Nwokedi, who aboriginal became imperishable caput of the Ministry of Labour and Nigeria’s foremost civilian servant.

Though Nwok...