The Amalgamation of 1914 and the Challenge of Nigerian Nationhood

This study critically examines the 1914 amalgamation of the Northern and Southern Protectorates of Nigeria by the British colonial administration and assesses its implications for the challenge of building a coherent Nigerian national identity. The amalgamation was a primarily administrative and fiscal decision motivated by the desire to offset the financial deficits of the Northern Protectorate using the revenue surpluses of the South, with little regard for the diverse ethnic, religious, and political communities being merged. Drawing on a descriptive historical design, the study reviews colonial administrative records, Lord Lugard's political memoranda, and secondary scholarly literature published between 2020 and 2024. The Imagined Communities Theory by Benedict Anderson and the Colonial State Formation Framework provide the analytical lenses. Findings reveal that the amalgamation created a structurally imbalanced federation whose internal contradictions have not been resolved in over a century of shared nationhood. The study traces how these foundational tensions contributed to the 1966 coups, the Civil War, and the persistent agitations for restructuring that characterise contemporary Nigerian politics. Recommendations include a constitutional restructuring conversation that honestly addresses the political economy legacies of the 1914 amalgamation. Keywords: 1914 amalgamation, Nigerian nationhood, colonial state formation, North-South divide, national identity.