IBTimes UK On Biafra History:1827 Map Showing Biafra; Amalgamation Contract

A map of Africa in 1827 shows the territories of Biafra before the creation of Nigeria during the British colonisationWikimedia Commons

Amalgamation contract and birth of Nigeria

Pro-Biafrans cite the expiration of a so-called "amalgamation contract" as one of the reasons to justify their will to separate from the rest of Nigeria.

The contract was issued by Britain during the colonisation era and aimed at integrating people from the north and the south within 100 years since it was issued despite cultural, religious and economic differences among the various ethnic groups.

The contract, now at the National Archive of London, was created in 1914 by Frederick John Dealtry Lugard, the governor general of modern-day Nigeria. The document, opposed by the political class and the media in Lagos, expired in 2014.

The term "Nigeria" was created by Lugard's wife, British journalist Flora Shaw, in 1897 when she suggested to replace the "British protectorate of the Niger River" with a shorter term.

http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/nnamdi-kanu-ipob-leader-whereabouts-unknown-despite-nigeria-security-forces-claiming-he-bail-1525032