Colonial Heritage – SS2 Citizenship & Heritage Studies Lesson Note (First Term)

Subject: Citizenship and Heritage Studies
Class: SS2
Focus: Positive impacts, negative impacts and lessons learned

Colonial heritage refers to the things the British left behind after they ruled Nigeria from the late 1800s until 1960. Some, such as education, English and medicine, helped Nigeria join the modern world. Others, such as exploitation and divide and rule, created problems we still try to fix today.

Behavioural objectives

By the end of the lesson, students should be able to:

• explain what colonial heritage means;
• state the positive impacts of British rule on Nigeria;
• state the negative impacts of British rule on Nigeria;
• describe the mixed effect of colonialism on religion and traditional art;
• list the lessons Nigerians should learn from colonial heritage.

What is colonial heritage?

Imagine someone comes into your house, takes over the master bedroom, and starts telling your family what to eat, what language to speak, and how to spend your money. Even after that person leaves, your house will never be exactly the same again.

Colonial heritage refers to the things the British left behind after they ruled Nigeria from the late 1800s until 1960. Some of these things helped us join the modern world, while others created problems we are still trying to fix today.

What were the positive impacts of colonial rule?

The British were here mainly for their own benefit, but their presence brought some developments that we still use today:

• Modern education: They introduced the “Western” style of schools. Before them, we had our traditional learning, but they brought the system of primary, secondary and university education that allows a Nigerian student to study anywhere in the world.
• English language: Nigeria has over 500 languages. Without English (our “lingua franca”), it would be very hard for a person from Akure to talk to someone from Maiduguri. It helps keep us united.
• Modern infrastructure: They built the first railways, tarred roads and electricity plants. Places like the Enugu Coal Mine or the Lagos Seaport were developed to help move goods.
• Unified legal system: They introduced “the rule of law” and modern courts. This gave us a structured way to handle crimes and business disputes beyond local traditions.
• Medicine: They brought vaccines and hospitals that helped fight diseases like malaria and smallpox, which used to kill many people in our villages.

What were the negative impacts of colonial rule?

Colonialism was often forced on us, and it came with a heavy price:

• Economic exploitation: The British were not here for “charity”. They took our raw materials (cocoa, palm oil, groundnuts, rubber) at very cheap prices, sent them to London to make products, and sold them back to us at high prices.
• Divide and rule: To control us easily, the British often played one tribe against another. This “seed of tribalism” is still causing problems in Nigerian politics today.
• Loss of culture: Many Nigerians started feeling that their own clothes, names and religions were “backward” or “local”. We began to prefer everything “foreign” over our own heritage.
• Artificial borders: The British drew a map and called it “Nigeria” without asking the people. They joined together groups that were very different, which is why we sometimes struggle with unity.
• Political dependence: We were taught how to follow British rules, but we were not trained to lead in our own way. When they left, we struggled to find a system that fit our African reality.

Religion: a mixed heritage

Colonialism brought Christianity to many parts of the South and Middle Belt. This brought hospitals and schools, but it also led to the destruction of many traditional shrines and artworks, which were labelled as “evil”. The Benin Bronzes were looted by British forces in 1897 and taken out of Nigeria.

What lessons must we learn?

As SS2 students, you study this to learn how to build a better future. Here are three main lessons:

1. Self-reliance is key: No country will develop Nigeria for us. We must learn to produce our own goods instead of just exporting raw materials and importing finished products.
2. Unity is a choice: The British joined us together, but it is our job to stay together. We must choose to be “Nigerians” first before our tribes.
3. Appreciate your own: We can speak English and use computers, but we should never forget our local languages, our traditional food and our rich history.

Revision table

Evaluation

1. What is colonial heritage?
2. State three positive impacts of British rule on Nigeria.
3. Explain “divide and rule”.
4. Why is the English language important to Nigerian unity?
5. If the British had never come to Nigeria, do you think we would be more developed or less developed today? Give two reasons for your answer.

Assignment

Explain any two negative impacts of colonial rule on Nigeria. For each one, state a lesson Nigerians can learn from it.