The Willink Commission was set up by the Colonial Office to investigate the fears of ethnic minorities ahead of independence. Its central recommendation — that a Bill of Rights would serve minority groups better than creating new regions — became the basis of Chapter IV (Fundamental Rights) of every subsequent Nigerian constitution.
Pre-independence1957· Fate: Adopted in 1960 Constitution· Chapter II · Law
Willink Minorities Commission Report
Chair: Sir Henry Willink. Mandate: minority fears in pre-independence Nigeria. Recommended a Bill of Rights instead of new States — basis of Chapter IV CFRN.
Sources
- · Willink Commission Report (1958), Cmnd. 505
What it cost — political & economic reality
The political and economic reality
Nigeria in 1957: who was in charge, the cabinet of the day, the GDP, and the crises that defined the period.
British colonial administration
Sir Frederick Lugard → Sir James Robertson
1900–1960
National reality
Amalgamation of the Northern and Southern Protectorates (1914) under indirect rule. Marketing boards extracted cocoa, palm oil and groundnut surpluses; political agitation built through the press and the trade union movement.
Crises of the period
- Aba Women's War (1929)
- Iva Valley shooting of striking miners (1949)
- Kano riots (1953)
GDP (World Bank)
Pre-independence; no national accounts series
Cabinet (selected portfolios)
Full ministerial roster being compiled.
Government administered by Governors-General and Residents. The first indigenous federal ministers were appointed under the 1954 Lyttelton Constitution.
Source: Toyin Falola, A History of Nigeria (CUP, 2008)
Methodology
Tier 1 · primary
Courts. Gazettes. National archives.
Tier 2 · corroborating
OCCRP. HRW. BudgIT. TheCable.
Redline
Wikipedia is never a source.