The Role of the Press in the Nigerian Independence Movement, 1920 to 1960

This study investigates the role of the Nigerian press in promoting anti-colonial nationalism and advancing the independence movement from the 1920s to the achievement of self-governance in 1960. Newspapers such as the West African Pilot, Nigerian Tribune, and Daily Comet served as critical platforms for nationalist discourse, political mobilisation, and the articulation of demands for self-determination during the colonial period. Using a descriptive historical design, the study analyses newspaper archives, editorial content, colonial censorship records, and the memoirs of nationalist journalists, supplemented by secondary literature published between 2019 and 2024. The Press and Political Change Theory and the Nationalist Mobilisation Framework provide the analytical lenses. Findings reveal that the Nigerian press played a uniquely important role in constructing a pan-Nigerian national consciousness, particularly through the writings of Nnamdi Azikiwe in the West African Pilot. The colonial government's attempts to suppress nationalist journalism through sedition laws and censorship orders are documented as evidence of the press's political threat. The study also examines the role of the press in generating intellectual debates about post-independence governance models. Keywords: Nigerian press, independence movement, nationalism, West African Pilot, Nnamdi Azikiwe.