Independence was supposed to be a panacea. A new country is free of it’s old restraints and can now rise upwards. That was the hope and peoples hopes had been raised. When things then don’t turn out so well people adjacent to power will think they can do better. To coup or not to coup? So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.
Todays stamp is a well drawn picture of a parrot. Whats not to like. Well Nigeria was going into it’s phase of coups and even a civil war. Early independent Nigeria had kept the colonial tradition of showing things actually happening there and people for whom it would be interesting to learn more about. Instead here we have a topical stamp with animals that was only of interest to worldwide topical stamp collectors. In other words, selling out.
Todays stamp is issue A49, a nine penny stamp issued by the Republic of Nigeria in 1965. It was a 14 stamp issue in various denominations that showed animals of Nigeria. There are overprints of this issue with FGN during the civil war that were not issued by the government but sold to collectors. Since not issued they are considered fake but some worked when sent through the mail. The stamps were also reprinted by a later government around 1970. So this stamp, being apolitical and available had some staying power in a rough time. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 60 cents used. The 1970 version loses 10 cents of that.
Nigeria was ruled as a federation with some autonomy to its regions during British colonial times. When independence came in 1960, it was one country that even grew some by adding Muslim regions of Cameroon. Nigeria had a large population and oil resources that had been discovered by the British but nor fully developed since Britain had a deal with Persia to supply it’s oil needs on generous terms. Thus there was a lot of optimism for national success. There was also a sense of Pan Africaism where the former colonies of the European powers would gradually come together and develop into a hopefully peaceful, prosperous world power.
The instrument of independence was handed to Jaja Wachuku, an Irish trained Christian Chief of the Ngwa clan of the Igbo tribe. He didn’t seek power himself but performed various jobs for the early independent governments. Political parties were on tribal grounds but early on the more conservative and liberal parties were able to work together. Wachuka was able by lobbying Britain and the USA to use their influence to save Nelson Mandela from a death sentence regarding armed uprising in South Africa. He also helped get Liberia into the UN and Togo excluded from the Organization of African Unity because it was the first African country to suffer a military coup. Later as aviation minister, Wachuku resigned when he was unable to remove an important party figure who was stealing from Nigerian Airways. Hope begins to crack.
Within the armed forces of many African nations there were those whose hope began to wane. The early leaders of independence were often crooked, not achieving African union, and still with their hand out to the old colonials. It was hoped that a series of military coups a Free Africa Movement could get things back on track by using military discipline to purge the corrupt and then Africa could come together. In Nigeria, young Muslim officers from Northern Nigeria lead a coup, but instead of a coming together, the Christian Biafrans rebelled and civil war ensued.
The massive oil wealth of Nigeria has mainly been squandered. Wachuka himself was jailed by Biafra for criticizing their use of child soldiers. He was later freed and took up a Senate seat where now he was only representing his tribe. Pan Africanism is over. Today one of the military rulers from Nigeria’s many coups has just been elected to a second term on an anti-corruption platform. As in many other African countries, ex military leaders are elected as people remember fondly their earlier attempts to get things back on track in earlier times. Perhaps the best from a field of bad choices.
Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast former Nigerian colonial Governor Fredrick Lugard. We have talked about his work in British East Africa here, https://the-philatelist.com/2018/09/07/imperial-british-east-africa-company-1890-another-company-fails-to-administer-a-colony/ and his work in Hong Kong here https://the-philatelist.com/2018/10/26/hong-kong1891-the-british-build-the-premier-university-in-asia-for-the-chinese-but-climb-the-hill-to-avoid-their-filth/ . He believed it was better to let the British fade into the background and let the tribes handle themselves administrative matters. It seemed to work best of what has been tried there. Come again for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2019.