PROSPECTS FOR U. S. CAPITAL Nigeria is still a pioneer land with an economy based on the primary production of raw materials, chiefly agricultural commodities. A severe shortage of managerial and technical skills is evident throughout all sectors of the economy. Distances are great and transportation is inadequate; electric power supply is insufficiently developed; land clearance is costly and equipment must contend with the rigors of a tropical climate.

As against these adverse factors must be weighed the advantages of a vast, willing, and intelligent population as yet untrained and unskilled-that provides potentialities for a steadily increasing effective demand for goods and services of all kinds. Even on the basis of present low levels of income, a mass market exists to support substantial consumption levels of a great many goods.

No readymade or dramatic large-scale investment opportunities are presently at hand, however, or few for which substantial immediate returns can be expected. Nigeria possesses notable mineral resources in coal, tin, columbite, and possibly petroleum, but on the basis of present knowledge it cannot claim to be a highly diversified mineralized area. Future investment prospects in mining, therefore, will depend on additional survey work and on more of basic research into mineral occurrences. Opportunities exist in manufacturing, but these, for the most part, are suited to diversified small-scale operations.

Agriculture offers and is likely to remain the most promising general investment field, but

here, too, the opportunities are in the nature of long-term ventures, which will necessarily involve high initial capital expenditures. Rubber is admirably suited to the Nigerian soil, although it is only a minor crop at present. Plantation cultivation of various export crops, such as rubber, cocoa, citrus, soya, castor, and tung, offers distinct opportunities. In the Cameroons Trust Territory, located on the eastern boundary of the country, especially attractive long-range prospects exist for plantation cultivation of tea, coffee, and timber.

Nigeria, for all its progress to date, ranks below many other underdeveloped areas. Unlike one-crop underdeveloped economies, however, Nigeria has a diversified resource structure. It stands on the threshold of independence and looks eagerly to the United States for assistance in its economic development. In this situation, investment in Nigeria presents the United States investor with a challenge and, at the same time, an opportunity of "getting in on the ground floor."

American businessmen will need to pay close attention to developments in Nigeria and to build up direct contact with persons and institutions there through actual visits. Such visits will enable businessmen to gather firsthand impressions and to assess specific opportunities for investment enterprises. The present study will aid the businessman in an on-the-spot survey of Nigeria. Several appendixes to this study, notably appendixes B and E, were prepared specially for the commercial traveler; they provide practical information on living conditions and facilities in leading urban centers in Nigeria.

Land and People

Nigeria is aptly described as "an arbitrary block of Africa"; its present boundaries being framed out of the 19th century commercial and political rivalries in West Africa between France and England. Fanning out from the coast as trade along the Niger River developed, British influence was gradually extended inland during the second half of the century while French interests in the upper Niger River area were making a determined bid to extend French influence southward. By the turn of the 20th century, the main outlines of Nigeria were already drawn, but not until 1914 were the separate parts of the country administratively amalgamated under the British Crown.

Contact between the peoples of Nigeria and Europe, however, goes back much further. Portuguese vessels called along the coast to trade in ivory and spices as long ago as 1472, and the first British trading ship to reach Nigeria came in 1553. The cruel chapter in world history-of a lucrative slave trade1 spurred by an insatiable demand for labor in the New World-led ships of many other nations to visit the Guinea Coast, and an era of intense commercial rivalry among the leading maritime nations followed. Human cargo was the primary stimulus to this shipping traffic; but this traffic led to growing familiarity with the land both along the coast and inland. Paradoxically enough, the concerted effort to suppress the slave trade in later years also provided an important stimulus to exploration and European inland penetration.2

The history of Nigeria prior to the coming of the European is reported in only a few records. It is known that trade between the peoples of Nigeria and North Africa was carried on for centuries, and the many caravan routes across the Sahara led to the rise of great trading centers, such as Kano in Nigeria and Timbuktu in French West Africa, which still exist today. Morocco leather, for example, originated in northern Nigeria from the skins of the red Sokoto goat.

The peoples of Nigeria, contrary to popular conception, represent an admixture of various

cultural and ethnic strains-the result of the infusion from the northwest and northeast in centuries past of successive migrations of ArabBerber stock and the indigenous negro peoples of the more humid areas in the south. Writers describing the peoples of Nigeria therefore correctly deprecate the notion of ethnic or cultural uniformity and prefer to distinguish the various tribal groups on the basis of linguistic and cultural traits.3

Another popular misconception is that uniformly primitive social and political organizations characterized the pre-European history of Nigeria's people. Actually, as far back as the 13th century, Islamic law and doctrine were introduced into northern Nigeria in the wake of successive invasions by the Fulani peoples. The Moslem Fulanis in their sweep across the northern Provinces in later centuries conquered the Hausa peoples and ultimately established a powerful Islamic confederacy headed by a Sultan established at Sokoto and subordinate Emirs in other key villages, each controlling vast areas. The independent power of this regime was overthrown by the British occupation of Sokoto in 1903, but the internal administrative machinery of the Fulani confederacy was deemed so effective that it was retained in large part by the British under a general policy of "indirect rule" (see chapter III), which carries over even today through the system of "native authorities."

In the Western Region, too, there existed

1A British Parliamentary Commission in 1848 estimated that between 1800 and 1847 some 4% million Africans were taken as slaves. As late as 1847, the export of slaves from Africa to all destinations totaled 84,356. These estimates covered the total African slave trade, but undoubtedly a sub. stantial proportion came from Nigeria. See Burns, Sir Alan, History of Nigeria, London, 1948, George Allan & Unwin, Ltd. While Britain was a leading maritime nation in the slave traffic in the late 18th century, the Act of Abolition in 1807 in England was followed by a concerted effort by the British Government to eradicate the slave trade. Indeed, it should be acknowledged that an important motivation for British extension of influence in the interior was the suppression of the internal slave traffic then being conducted through tribal wars and tribal intermediaries.

K. M. Buchanan and J. C. Pugh, Land and Peoples in Nigeria, University of London Press, London, 1955.

Mohammedism was enforced throughout except in those unconquered pagan "islands" in which because of mountainous terrain, as in the Bauchi Plateau, warrior horsemen could not gain easy access.

prior to European contact powerful pagan kingdoms of the Yoruba clans-which were linked by ties of kinship and by a common spiritual allegiance, the living symbol being a king, the Oni of Ife. As a result of 19th century civil wars, various local clan chiefs, or Obas, were established and this structure of centralized authority likewise carries over today in the social organization of Yoruba society.

The history of the southeastern part of Nigeria is not marked by the development of centralized authority or highly organized political structures-the picture here being one of numerous small clans each having, however, recognized village heads either in the form of village councils or "elder statesmen."

PHYSICAL FEATURES

Nigeria takes its name from the Niger River," which traverses the country from the northwestern boundary to the coast and which, with its great tributary the Benue River, is the country's most striking physical feature.

The Niger River, some 2,600 miles in length and the third largest river in Africa, rises in French West Africa, and flows in an easterly direction through French territory for about two-thirds of its length. It veers sharply southward at Lokoja, in northwestern Nigeria, its confluence with the Benue River, and flows due south into the Gulf of Guinea, fanning out in a delta area extending along the coast for over 100 miles and for about 140 miles inland.

Nigeria is situated entirely in the tropics. It has the appearance of a large enclave in French territory, being bounded on the west and north by French West Africa and on the east by the Cameroons under French Trusteeship. That part of the former German colony of the Cameroons now under British trusteeship is, for purposes of internal administration, integrated within Nigeria proper. The total area of Nigeria, including the British Cameroons, is 373,250 square miles, 4 times the size of the United Kingdom and roughly equal to the combined area of Texas and Colorado.

Along the entire coastline lies a 10- to 60mile belt of mangrove swamp forest in which branches of the Niger and courses of other rivers are interconnected by innumerable creeks. Beyond this belt is a zone, from 50 to 100 miles wide, of tropical rain forest and oil palm bush. The country rises northward to a general elevation of 2,000 feet, and, as the elevation rises, the vegetation changes from open woodland to savanna. In the extreme north, desert conditions prevail.

Though parts of the central Bauchi plateau region in Nigeria, where the mining area of Jos is located, rise to over 6,000 feet above sea level,

there are few mountains except along the eastern boundary in the Cameroons Trust Territory. The latter is mainly mountainous throughout its length and the range culminates at the coast and offshore islands. The Cameroons Mountain, lying near to the sea around Victoria, is a volcano towering to 13,350 feet, which, however, is very rarely and only mildly active.

CLIMATE

Although Nigeria lies entirely within the tropics, climatic conditions within the country vary significantly. In the north, the climate is more of a subtropical type, for a long dry season occurs from October to April when harmattan, dust-laden winds from the Sahara are characteristic. Decreasing rainfall and increasing seasonal and daily temperature variations become more pronounced toward the north where annual rainfall in some places is less than 30 inches.

Southward in the tropical forest-palm oil belt, the annual rainfall varies from 40 inches in the west to 80 inches in the east. The mean annual temperature is between 75° and 80°F., with moderate seasonal variations.

7

Rainfall in the coastal mangrove swamp belt varies greatly, ranging from less than 45 inches in its western section to more than 100 inches in the neighborhood of Victoria. The annual mean temperature is 80°F., with comparatively small seasonal variations but with very high humidity.

Dry and wet seasons are usually well marked. The dry season, which lasts from about October to April in the north, extends from about November to April in the south. Frequent and short rains, or squalls, occur during the wet

season.

Relevance to Non-Africans

Nigeria's climate, in common with that of other West African areas, has earned for itself a rather unenviable reputation as being "unhealthy" for the white man. Indeed, early coastal traders believed the atmosphere itself carried disease and many traded directly on their ships to avoid inhaling the "poisonous miasma" of the land. The visitor protected by modern medicine need not fear malaria and yellow fever; if the usual tropical precautions

A popular though mistaken belief is that Nigeria is connected with the Latin word niger from which the word negro is derived. It has been established, however, that the word Niger traces its origin to local African and pre-Roman expressions for "great river," so that literally Nigeria means "Land of the Great River." See Nigeria Handbook, Lagos, 1953, and Our Heritage, a pamphlet by Jean Mellanby, Federal Information Service, Lagos.

The irregular course of the Niger River from its source confused early explorers, and it was not until 1830 that Richard and John Lander firmly established its true direction.

'Debundscha, on the western side of Mt. Cameroon, had an annual rainfall of 494 inches in 1946; it ranks as one of the wettest places in the world.

are taken, non-African residents can lead normal and healthy lives.

Usually, Europeans take periodic vacations in a more temperate climate, for extended residence, particularly in the humid coastal regions, produces a feeling of enervation in some persons. The cost of such leave travel, which is usually borne by the employer, coupled with the other monetary and material inducements to residence in Nigeria make employment of foreign personnel relatively expensive. Moreover, continuity of work programs sometimes suffers during the transitional leave periods and the training period for replacements. Investors must be prepared to accept these factors as part of the normal investment cost pattern, in view of the absence of local trained personnel.

Experience has shown that African labor can be trained to perform skilled tasks and, indeed, as a matter of policy, the Government looks most favorably on those investments that undertake training of local labor. Foreign investors can be expected to pursue such management policies in their own self-interest. Nevertheless, a disturbing feature is that once trained to replace a foreign employee, the African comes to expect as part of his regular emoluments the same material and monetary rewards that were necessary to induce non-African foreign technicians to take up employment in Nigeria.

Influence On Africans

As regards the tropical climate as an environmental factor in the health and work pattern of the Nigerian, much can be written that is outside the scope of this report. Some aspects are covered in chapter X in the discussion of health and education and in chapter XI on labor. The climate influences the Nigerian laborer less directly than indirectly. That is to say, dietary deficiencies in meat and other sources of proteins and the high incidence and variety of diseases characteristic of underdeveloped tropical countries contribute more to low productivity than do temperature and humidity. Indeed, experiments in Nigeria as elsewhere have demonstrated that irregular work patterns, which are so often erroneously attributed to "indolence,' are caused by dietary imbalance and malnutrition, and that when these causes are removed, productivity increases 8.

As one medical authority states, "Disease, malnutrition, and low agricultural productivity form, in fact, a vicious circle in Nigeria as in the remainder of tropical Africa; the peasant, because of the multiplicity of diseases to which he is exposed and which sap his energy, is often an inefficient agriculturist; because he is undernourished he is more susceptible to the wide range of diseases to which he is exposed. The

breaking of this vicious circle is one of the main problems facing the territory. . . ."

THE PEOPLE

Composition

According to the latest census, one conducted in 1952-53, the total population of Nigeria at mid-1953 stood at 31.5 million (see table 1) making it the most populous country in Africa and roughly representing some 17 percent of the continent's total population.10 Improved health and welfare facilities in recent years undoubtedly have contributed to a rapid growth rate, one now estimated at nearly 2 percent annually. On this basis, the population in 1957 is placed at almost 34 million and by 1960 it should total close to 36 million.

The average density of population in 1952-53 was estimated at 84 persons per square mile; but in some parts of the southeast, rural densities exceeded 500 persons per square mile. A striking feature of the population distribution is that density of population is not always consistent with a favorable physical environment. For instance, in the southwestern part of the Northern Region, the density of population sometimes falls below 25 persons per square mile, and large sectors of the so-called Middle Belt are virtually depopulated. The tsetse fly is found over four-fifths of Nigeria and is very prevalent in the so-called Middle Belt, but historical evidence suggests that in centuries past much of this region was under cultivation. However, as a result of slave-raiding, population migration occurred, leaving the land to revert to bush and allowing the tsetse fly to flourish. Similarily, slave-raiding incursions led some tribes to seek refuge in relatively inhospitable stretches of land.

The uneven distribution of population in Nigeria can be attributed only in part to soil and other physical resources. For example, some parts of the Eastern Region in which overpopulation has occurred are in dense rain forests with poor, heavily leached soils. This patchwork quilt pattern in population density has obvious implications for food production. On the whole, Nigeria is self-sufficient in food. production, yet some Regions suffer severely from underproduction in relation to consumption requirements while other Regions produce in excess of their requirements. This in turn

Pedler, F. J., Economic Geography of West Africa, Longmans, Green & Co., Bristol, 1955.

Brown, A., writing in Land and People in Nigeria by Buchanan and Pugh.

10 United Nations estimates as of 1949 placed the population of Africa at about 198 million inclusive of Egypt and 178 million exclusive of Egypt (Economic and Social Council, Review of Economic Conditions in Africa, 1951).