Following the events with Prof Uju, some Nigerians have been disgracing themselves and their ancestors with their utter contempt of history.

In light of this, It is time for us to hash this out, no hiding behind the corners.

Was colonialism good for Nigeria? And if so, what exactly were the benefits of British colonialism?

It's wicked and barbaric

Everything has an advantage and disadvantage

Colonialism lead to so many loss of lives, slavery (but mind you the black man participated in selling their fellow man to colonial masters)

This same colonialism ended the death of twins death in calabar, brought about education, development, a system that could make a country develop.

Now Look at India, they were colonized by Brits too but they didn't let go of their culture, they only accepted the technology, education and others but their culture still stands strong

But in Nigeria we forgo our culture and fully embrace the whites culture, to the extent that some prefer a white wedding to a traditional marriage.

So let's just move on, and see how we can make the country great again

Many don't read, don't know the history, so they can never understand your question!

People should read only the "transportation of slaves from West Africa on sea by ship"

Excerpts:

The Middle Passage
Conditions
The voyage from Africa to the New World of the Americas was called the Middle Passage. Slave ships usually took between six and eleven weeks to complete the voyage.

Slave ships made large profits by carrying as many enslaved people as possible across the Atlantic to sell at auction. There were two methods of loading the ship:

Tight pack - this method involved packing as many enslaved people into the hold as possible.

It was expected that some would die, but a large number would still survive the voyage. A ship’s hold was cramped - only five feet high, with a shelf running round the edge to carry yet more enslaved people. People were loaded in so close together that one captain described them as being 'like books on a shelf'.

Cramped
Enslaved people were unable to go to the toilet.
Sickness quickly spread.
Enslaved people were all chained together. If someone died, the body could remain in the hold for hours, still chained to other living people.
The hold was dark, stuffy and stinking. The heat and the foul air were so bad that a candle would not burn.
Food
Enslaved African people were often unable to digest the food carried by the European crew, making the sickness worse.
Sick people were often denied food and left to die.
Mistreatment and humiliation
The crew's treatment of enslaved people was often horrific – women could be subject to rape.
Some enslaved people were forced to dance on deck for an hour a day to keep them fit. Any resistance was dealt with harshly by floggings from the crew.
Some enslaved people chose to take their own lives rather than endure such brutal treatment.
Sickness
Sickness on board a slave ship would often spread to the crew as well, killing many. The death rate among the enslaved people however, was horrific. It is estimated that 15–16 per cent of enslaved people died on the Middle Passage.

Slave Trade Act, 1788 - Dolben's Act
In 1788, British MP William Dolben put forward a bill to regulate conditions on board slave ships. He described horrors of enslaved people chained hand and foot, stowed like herrings in a barrel and stricken with putrid and fatal disorders.

The Slave Trade Act, 1788 was passed and controlled the number of captive people a ship was permitted to carry, according to its weight.

Dolben’s Act also ordered all slave ships to carry a doctor who had to keep records about the enslaved Africans on board.

These doctors received bonuses according to the number of Africans who survived the journey. Conditions however remained appalling.


It was very brutal, totally inhumane

I had left this thread for a bit, but I believe it was already pointed out.


Colonialism completely decimated or stunted the cultures that it touched. The objective of the European invaders was simply to extract resources from the land to enrich themselves, and with advanced weaponry like the Gatling gun, they destroyed anyone and anything that stood in their way.

This seems obvious, but as many Nigerians were not taught history, this has to be reiterated again and again.

If not for the British Missionaries and Colonialism half of the People reading this would be Slave descendants somewhere in Brazil and the Caribbean

It was also Christians that brought Maize,Sweet Potato , Tomatoes,Cassava ,Bread,and Garri to Nigeria

Our Ancestors didn't eat them Traditionally in other Words it was under the British that the Population of Nigeria exploded and Quadrupled in 60 years and it has Quadrupled again since then due to Western Medicine and Technology

I've seen some people write that colonialism had it's benefits because Nigeria was given technology such as train lines, and so on.


No.


That was not because of colonialism, that was the natural effect of interacting with the group that had that technology.


Saying this completely disregards the trade around the world and the flow of information.

Did the British have to be colonised by the Chinese to import the use of firearms, which were originally Chinese?

Obviously not, it was brought to the shores of Europe through trade from Asia, through the middle east and Africa and eventually Europe.

Did white people have to be colonised by Indians to use hindu-based mathematics?

Clearly, no country has to be invaded and colonised by foreigners before adapting new ideas or technology. This was something that, if they felt had any merit, they would have quickly found a way to adopt to their societies.


A clear example is that, even though Guns are seen as a "European" invention. Prior to the colonisation of Nigeria, Nigerians were already buying, selling and manufacturing thousands of guns.

This was because European traders before had sold these products to Africans previously. Having seen the advantage of guns, pre-colonial Nigerians soon began reverse-engineering and manufacturing these guns from themselves and distributing them far and wide. To the point that local guns were competing with imported ones.

Prior to Japan's restoration era in the late 1800s, it was a weak, primarily agricultural country ran by numerous feudal lords. As such, It was forced by powerful western nations to agree to unfavourable trade terms.

Then one day, Japan came together and decided to adopt critical aspects of western technology to improve the country. In the late 1800s, while Japan was absorbing western technology and sciences and tailoring it to their culture, Europeans were attempting to colonise Africa and destroy entire cultures.

Following the restoration era, which coincides with the African colonisation era, Japan came out with a highly educated population, rapidly growing industrial sector based on the latest technology and a powerful army and navy.

And of course well-developed train and transport systems, something that some Nigerians often boast about as dividends of colonialism.

Within a few decades, this poor country was developed enough to be able to challenge western powers.

So if the major benefit of colonialism was development via western technology and sciences...

Why is it, that Africans which were colonised are struggling, while Japan which was never colonised is thriving?

That is because the 'development' that ignorant Nigerians are boasting of as a benefit of colonialism would have eventually been adopted by the forefathers if they were genuine trade partners to Europeans.

Look how quickly pre-colonial Nigerians were able to adapt and reverse-engineer European technology without having set foot in Britain.

You can only imagine what they would have been like if they were left alone like countries like Japan. All it would have taken was for enterprising and wealthy businessmen to organise themselves and pay British contract engineers to build railroads to send students abroad to learn about western sciences and bring them back home.

That's why as far back as the 1800s, directly coinciding with Japan's restoration era, James Horton proposed that Britain recognise entities like the Igbo and Yoruba nation as genuine trade partners for Europe.