'Sufficient Reinforcements Overseas': British PostWar Troops' Recruiting Policy in Nigeria, 1945–53. (October 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Mordi, Emmanuel Nwafor
• Is Part Of: Journal of contemporary history. Volume 55:Number 4(2020)
• Page Start: 823
• Page End: 844
• Publication Date: 2020-10
• Subjects: British colonialism -- decolonization process -- Nigeria Regiment -- Nigerian military history -- postwar recruitment -- Second World War; History, Modern -- 20th century -- Periodicals; History, Modern -- 21st century -- Periodicals; 909.82
• DOI: 10.1177/0022009419855417
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0022-0094

Abstract

This article critically examines Britain's postwar recruitment policy in Nigeria, 1945–53. It is a subject that has not been studied by scholars. As the Second World War drew to a close, the Nigerian colonial military had declared that it had sufficient illiterate, 'pagan' infantrymen of northern Nigerian 'tribal, ' including Tiv, origin to meet any but unforeseen demands of troops for service in the South East Asia Command (SEAC). Yet, recruitment of the same category of infantrymen, as well as ex-servicemen, was resumed after the war. The critical/analytic historical method is deployed to interrogate Nigerian and British archival sources on the subject. The study shows that, unlike the case of the High Commission Territories Corps (HCTC), Nigeria's postwar recruitment was not meant for overseas deployment. It was primarily driven by Britain's objectives of restoring the army to its pre-war role of enforcing colonial law and order in furtherance of its resolve to maintain its colonial state in Nigeria despite postwar militant nationalism.