Amalgamation of Northern & Southern Nigeria

On January 1, 1914, the British colonial government merged the Northern Nigeria Protectorate and the Southern Nigeria Protectorate into a single Colony and Protectorate of Nigeria. The amalgamation was carried out by Lord Frederick Lugard, who became the first Governor-General of the unified territory.

The merger was primarily driven by economic reasons — the Northern Protectorate was running a deficit while the Southern Protectorate was financially self-sustaining. The name “Nigeria” had been coined by Flora Shaw (later Lady Lugard) in an 1897 article in The Times of London.