The+Consolidation+of+British+Rule+in+Igboland


 * The British found it hard to rule the Igbo people because of the hundreds of Igbo towns and villages that recognized no centralized governments
 * Igbo political structures were fragmented and small, and British officials found it hard to comprehend the Igbo political organization and felt more comfortable with the hierarchies of kingdoms and empires
 * British officials set up a system of African courts to replace indigenous institutions
 * 'Warrant chiefs' were appointed, and made by laws and regulated local affairs with British resident commissioners
 * This system resulted in dramatic changes to Igbo society. The laws brushed aside traditional judicial institutions and many decisions made by the warrant chiefs and native courts (instead of by the village elders) contradicted Igbo ideas of justice
 * The British also extended the principle of direct taxation, which sparked anti-tax riots in 1927-28 and the Aba women's riots of 1929
 * Widespread protests forced the administration to reorganize and improve the native authority government
 * The new administrative system was tied more closely to indigenous political institutions up till 1952, when it gave way to a regional government system and finally a constitutional reform that prepared Nigerians for independence
 * October 1960: Nigeria gained independence from British rule