Amalgamation of Northern and Southern Nigeria; Provincial System Extended

On the amalgamation of the Colony and Protectorate of Southern Nigeria with the Protectorate of Northern Nigeria in 1914, Lugard extended to the rest of the country the provincial system which already existed in the North. This involved carving up the three provinces of the South into smaller units. By about 1917, Southeastern Nigeria — the home of the peoples dealt with in Afigbo's study — was divided into four provinces: Onitsha, Owerri, Calabar, and Ogoja. These became known collectively as either 'the Eastern Provinces' or 'the four provinces east of the Niger'. In a general sense, the British could be said to have subdued the Ibo and their neighbours militarily by 1914.