BRITISH COLONIAL ECONOMIC POLICIES AND INFRASTRUCTURE IN NIGERIA: THE RAIL TRANSPORT EXAMPLE, 1898-1960

Abstract

Transportation proved a major instrument in the hands of the colonial government in Nigeria which enabled them attain their objective of making the colony an export-based economy. Enormous tons of goods left the country through the transport network that connected the produce centres with the coasts. One of the means of transportation that played a very important role in the trend was the railway. A lot of literatures exist on the effects of the colonial infrastructure on the Nigerian colonial economy. However, some serve as eulogy while others are more critical. This informs the need for an objective examination of a particular area of infrastructural development. Adopting the thematic method of analysis, this work attempts a holistic approach towards discussing the colonial rail transport infrastructure development in colonial Nigeria.