Territory (FCT) of Abuja, which has six area councils. Lagos was formerly the administrative and commercial capital of Nigeria until December 1991, when the seat of government moved to Abuja. 67. Nigeria has facilitated the enhancement of regional economic cooperation and development, and has contributed enormously to the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the African Union (AU). Nigeria’s interactions with African states have focused on regional and international assistance and development cooperation. 2.2 Historical background Pre-colonial Nigeria 68. Before Nigeria was constituted in its present form, there were a myriad of ethnic groups in West Africa. Through the manipulations of the British colonialists, they were brought together in an artificially induced semblance of nationhood in the throes of colonisation. Of these groups, the most dominant were the Igbo, the Hausa and the Yoruba. In the southwest lay the Yoruba Kingdom of Oyo; in the south-central part of present-day Nigeria, the Kingdom of Benin; and in the northern part, the Hausa-Fulani. 69. In 1861, Britain acquired Lagos and accorded it crown-colony status in 1862. In 1885, the Niger Delta region was acquired and named the Oil River Protectorate. It was subsequently expanded inland and renamed the Niger Coast Protectorate in 1893. In December 1899, the Royal Niger Company, a British trading conglomerate, was granted a Royal Charter to administer the territories in which it operated (these later became the Northern Nigeria Region). 70. On 1 January 1900, Britain assumed direct authority over Nigeria, which, on that date, was structured into three separate units, each under a high commissioner for administrative purposes. These units were the protectorate of Northern Nigeria, the protectorate of Southern Nigeria, and the colony and protectorate of Lagos. By 1906, Britain had consolidated its Nigerian acquisitions into two administrative units, namely the protectorate of Northern Nigeria, and the colony and protectorate of Southern Nigeria. In 1914, the two units known as the ‘Niger Area’ were amalgamated into the colony and protectorate of Nigeria under a governor general. This marked the transformation of Nigeria into a corporate political entity under British imperial domination. 71. By 1940, Nigeria had been divided into four separate units for administrative purposes: the colony of Lagos, and the Northern, Western and Eastern provinces, each with augmented powers and autonomy. This marked the beginning of regionalism, which was further enhanced by the McPherson Constitution of 1951, which increased the autonomy of the three regions almost to the level of confederations. By 1954, Nigeria had been reorganised into a federation of the Northern, Eastern and Western regions, each reflecting the cultural differences among the three dominant ethnic groups, namely the Hausa-Fulani, Igbo and Yoruba. The 43