Based essentially on a critique of earlier scholarship and insights from
a fresh reading of the expanding corpus of primary data on Nigeria's
variegated history, this book validates the existence of long-lasting
and dynamic relations among Nigerians before the advent of Europeans.
The historical evidence marshalled here, sufficiently proves that it was
this beautiful mosaic of inter-ethnic and inter-regional intermingling,
cross-fertilization, interdependence and consensus that guided the
delimitation of Nigeria as a British colonial territory and also laid
the foundation for the amalgamation of Northern and Southern
Protectorates in 1914 into a country that was expected to become
Africa's powerhouse or "Giant", as some people prefer to describe it.
Fresh in perspective, didactic in nature, incisive and profound in
analysis, this book offers compelling answers to the disquieting crises
of relations, development and nation building confronting contemporary
Nigeria. It is clear from the analyses in this volume that the National
Question would remain intractable and insurmountable only if Nigerians
continue to fail in managing and converting their diversities into
assets like many other nations with similar pluralisms have done around
the world.
