In 1947, as the British Empire was starting to unravel, Obafemi Awolowo, one of Nigeria’s foremost independence leaders, wrote:
‘The conquest of one nation by another in an unprovoked act of aggression cannot be justified by any standard of morality… Nevertheless, it would be harsh to condemn Britain today because of her actions in the 19th century. Every nation or tribe, at one time or other, has been guilty of wanton aggression… We must not allow present grievances to blind us to the virtues of the empire.’
Two decades later, with Nigeria independent, Chinua Achebe – whose novels laid bare the wreckage of colonial rule – told an interviewer: ‘I am not one of those who would say that Africa has gained nothing at all during the colonial period… This is ridiculous – we gained a lot.’
