Over the years, falsehoods have been bandied across the country that there was a time when only the money de­rived from cocoa in the west and groundnuts in the north were em­ployed to run the country. It must hereby be stated in clear terms that there has never be any time in the annals of this country where only the money received from cocoa and groundnuts was used to run the entire country. This is so be­cause the three regions: North, West and East created in 1954 and lately Midwest in 1963, all contrib­uted their resources to the run­ning of the country.

The North produced ground­nuts and cotton, the West pro­duced cocoa, the Midwest pro­duced palm oil and rubber while the East produced palm oil and coal. From the aforementioned, all the defunct regions contribut­ed their quotas to the running of the country. That was before the discovering of crude oil in Oloi­biri village in 1956. Thereafter, the production of crude oil in com­mercial quantities in 1958 led to the abandonment of cocoa, palm oil, rubber and groundnuts.

Since the commencement of the sale of crude oil in commer­cial quantities, other states outside the oil producing region have re­mained unproductive and rely solely on the revenues emanating from the Niger Delta region.

Retrospectively, the Colony of Lagos and the Protectorate of Southern Nigeria were amalga­mated in 1906 while the Northern and Southern Protectorates of Ni­geria were amalgamated in 1914 by Lord Luggard, the then Gov­ernor-General of Nigeria. Thus, before the unification of the Col­ony of Lagos and the Protector­ate of Southern Nigeria in 1906, Lagos was under the direct lead­ership of Britain while the South­ern and Northern Protectorates were under the protection of Brit­ain. From 1914 to 1954, the coun­try was in an amorphous state as there was no centralised govern­ment.

It was after the division of the country into three regions: North, West and East that the semblance of government began to un­fold. Alhaji Ahmadu Bello, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Dr. Nnam­di Azikiwe, were appointed pre­miers for North, West and East re­spectively. Hitherto, from 1906 to 1954, the major concern of Lord Luggard and his home govern­ment was to siphon the wealth of the country through their de­ceitful and imbalanced trades. Obviously, the regions engaged predominantly in farming and sold their produces to the coloni­al leaders at low-priced and also pay taxes to same. It was the tax­es paid by the regions the coloni­al administrators deployed to run their quasi-government.

Meanwhile, it was just two years after the creation of the regions that crude oil was discovered in Oloibiri in 1956. In 1958 the pro­duction of crude oil in commer­cial quantity commenced. The sale of crude oil in commercial quantity also marked the begin­ning in the fall in agriculture and agricultural produces. But reve­nue allocation was on the basis of derivation which was 50 percent.

Amazingly, with the emergence of Col. Yakubu Gowon as the new head of state owing to the coun­tercoup of July 29, 1966 and the subsequent civil war that erupt­ed, abolished revenue allocation based on the principle of deriva­tion and controlled all revenues generated under the guise of pros­ecuting the civil war. This practice was never reversed even after the civil war. That was the genesis of unitary system of government in the country.

As a result, from 1966 till 1999, resources were shared based on the numbers of local government areas each state has and not on the basis of derivation hence the pro­liferation of local government ar­eas in some privileged part of the country. Presently, the 36 states except those in the Niger Del­ta region receive revenue from the federal government without contributing anything to the na­tional treasury. This unitary sys­tem has rendered the states in­viable as they go to Abuja every month to collect the crumbs that fall from the table of the federal government.

From the aforesaid, at what point in the history of this coun­try was the money derived from only cocoa and groundnuts was used to run the entire country? It is imperative to correct this mis­information that has almost be­come truth in this country. For, a piece of lie told repeatedly, will in no time be taken for a truth.


http://authorityngr.com/2016/07/The-truth-about-cocoa-and-groundnuts-earnings/

Keep rubbishing Yoruba propaganda.
Nigeria ran a regional system of government then. Cocoa money was used to develop the waste and nowhere else etc.

What did Niger delta and the east use their 50% revenue for?

.

rildwanullahi:
What did Niger delta and the east use their 50% revenue for?

den dere was nothing like nigerdelta.
for d east u have
UNN
Eastern radio n TV .now nta eungu and frcn eungu. eungu-ph road ph- calabar road.
eungu -aba -ph railway.

OP, the truth has been trashed here severally with only the most shameless yoruba and awusa bigot still holding on to their lies.
https://www.nairaland.com/2496058/debunking-latest-lie-nigeria-did#36518984

Why you will never see groundnut pyramids in the north ever again

Slavery was officially declared illegal in Islamic northern Nigeria as late as 1933.

This is despite the fact that the British Crown had abolished slavery over 150 yrs prior.

The British met a well entrenched slave based economy in the north and seemed hapless to stop constant slave raids by the Hausa Fulani in and around the middle belt.

Towns like Suleja where setup as slave raiding centers by the Muslim north in conjunction with Arab slavers.

The twin towns Abuja and Suleja where named after two Arab slave raiders , Abu and Suleiman.

In that same Suleja, the hills and their natural caves served as refuge by the indegonoius Gwari people who fled to them to avoid capture.

The slaves where transported to Kano and other slave markets in the Moslem north where a vast majority where sold in the trans Saharan slave trade while some ended up as domestic servants, field hands or sex concubines.

The groundnut pyramids you used to hear of where based on slave labour.

The British tolerated it because the Northern Muslim oligarchs where making them rich.

The House of Dantata are prime example of this dark past of slavery in the north.

They traded slave labored produce to the British and distributed finished goods in return.

This is why you will never see or hear of groundnut pyramids ever again.

This also applies to the much touted cocoa glory days in the SW. The Agbekoya Parapo uprising ended an exploitative plantation model.

This is why Tajus are not farming cocoa anymore.


Till this day a form of indentured slavery still exists in the north.

Widespread ignorance and lack of basic education has made the majority of northerners unemployable unless as field hands.

This is the reason the northern elite will never truly invest in education in the north. A vast majority of the northern illiterate population are actually descendants of slaves.

This is why a hereditary and class rotational monarchy still exist in the Islamic north even though Islam forbids it.

This is why the Maitassine class revolution was viciously put down and similarly why the Shiites have been widely condemned by the Emirates.

El Zackzacky was always preaching against this class divide and had several runnings with the Emir of Zazau.

Ironically, the same descendants of slaves living in bondage to the descendants of their ancestors' slave masters are now fighting in the NE to bring about this class society based on an inhumane doctrine of subservience and submission in the guise of religion of peace.

God dey.

https://www.nairaland.com/2859314/why-never-see-groundnut-pyramids#41894128

giles14:
den dere was nothing like nigerdelta.
for d east u have
UNN
Eastern radio n TV .now nta eungu and frcn eungu. eungu-ph road ph- calabar road.
eungu -aba -ph railway.

compared to the west

rildwanullahi:
compared to the west

compared to d west in times of what

Kk

onnenka:
Keep rubbishing Yoruba propaganda.
Nigeria ran a regional system of government then. Cocoa money was used to develop the waste and nowhere else etc.

The SW lent money to Nigeria including your region..two times without blinking..envy and bad belle made Aguniyi Ironsi introduce the unitary system that is causing the palaver everybody is facing now...yuk

I don't recall that anyone ever said the Eastern region wasn't also engaged and developing its own resources to generate revenue before the unitary system of Aguiyi Ironsi.

However, I do not have the statistics to conclude who generated more or least, and I do not pull out statistics from my arse like some are wont to do.