NIGERIAN UNITY
SIR,—One sentence in Roger Falk's very in- teresting 'African Journey' may perhaps cause misunderstanding. He mentions the possibility of 'the coming end of Nigerian unity.' Let us realise that the only unity Nigeria has ever had has been that of British administrative con- venience. Up to 50 years ago the prevailing relationship between Northern Moslems and the pagans of the East and South was that of slave-raider and victim: while the Yorubas of the. West, who have a strong and centripetal sense of nationality, differ from the lbo and Ibibio of the East in language, religion and political institutions. The English, it has beeh said, have a passion for federation: but it might well prove the best solution for that loosely knit collection of races known as Nigeria if each of the three great sections assumed complete freedom of secession: then, when each had savoured the benefits, toils and troubles of political and economic autonomy, they could federate, if they so wished, from internal instead of external pressure. As Nigerian unity only began in 1914, and is at best superficial, nobody need dread its 'coming end:—Yours faithfully,
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