The modern system of communication – the postal system, telegraph and telephone – was introduced into Nigeria by the British administration. After the initial challenges of lack of funds, topography and rough terrain coupled with widespread illiteracy among the local, a general post office was established in Lagos. The extensive use of canoes in the coastal areas and the inland water ways, the development of government built roads, which began in 1883 and the construction of the railways which started in 1896 - all contributed to the gradual development of the postal system. As the railways extended slowly into the interior, post offices were established along the route, but only in important places. By 1900, the postal services in southern Nigeria were handled by sixteen post offices, namely, the general post office in Lagos and Old Calabar, eight district post offices, four sub-post offices (performing only postal work) and two postal agencies.
The spread of Western education, through the activities of the missionaries, helped considerably to introduce letter-writing and the habit of sending letters. The number of post offices increased steadily and by 1934, Nigeria had about one hundred and ten offices and forty-two agencies. These services provided by the early post offices varied:
some were established for selling stamps, with letter-collection boxes provided for posting letters; very could deal in postal and money orders. After 1934, however, very few post offices were established. Indeed, between 1934 and 1940 only one was established. By 1945, there were one hundred and thirteen post offices in Nigeria. The number of postal agencies, on the other hand, increased considerably: from forty-two in 1934 to 161 in 1940, and 298 in 1945.
The post second world war period witnessed dramatic advancement in postal services as a result of increasing government expenditure. In 1946, there were one hundred and twenty-five post offices and three hundred and thirty-one postal agencies in the country.
The number of post offices rose to one hundred and thirty-four in 1950; while the number
of postal agencies increased to four hundred and twenty in 1950 and to one thousand in 1960. Between 1953 and 1960, the postal services underwent reorganisation and repositioning. A number of modern post offices were built to replace the old buildings, introduction of new and quicker methods of handling mails, and the intensification of staff training schemes. New facilities were introduced, for example, stamped envelopes and books of stamps. The result of the reorganisation was noticeable in the internal mail services, where they resulted in an acceleration of mails by as much as forty-eight hours in some part of the country.
It must be added that the government also developed the telephone systems in the country. By 1929, the Lagos-Ibadan telephone trunk was completed and a new telephone exchange was installed at Abeokuta. Telephone exchanges were also installed at Aba, Port Harcourt and Bukuru. By 1934, there were twenty-one telephone exchanges in Nigeria. The figure rose to forty in 1940, and to fifty-nine in 1945. Trunk telephone services were available in a number of principal centres including, Lagos-Abeokuta-Ibadan, Port Harcourt and Aba, Jos and Bukuru, Victoria, Buea and Tiko in the Cameroons. Early in 1950, the first carrier telephone trunk circuit was put into service between Lagos and Oshogbo, and this was followed almost by extensions to Kaduna and Enugu thus making it possible for people in Lagos and the regional capitals to talk to each other by telephone. In November 1950, the first automatic exchange was opened at Port Harcourt and in October 1953 the second automatic exchange was opened in the Lagos area.
In 1951, the government decided to provide transmission paths for major trunks by a network of very high frequency radio stations connecting the important centres of the country. These were to replace the overhead lines, which usually followed the railway and were subject to a high rate of fault incidence. The first very high frequency (VHF) multichannel link was opened in 1953 between Lagos and Ibadan, with twelve telephone channels. So rapid was the development of trunk services in modern telecommunication
high frequency (microwave) equipment, which could provide up to two hundred and forty channels on one path. Three such paths were brought into service on I January 1960, providing facilities for telephone subscribers in Lagos and Ibadan to dial each other direct. The introduction of VHF (and later, UHF) circuits did not render superfluous the overhead lines, the capacity of which, on the contrary, increased by the installation of more carrier channels, which gave communication between intermediate centres and which also supplemented the VHF network. Additional overhead lines were constructed using, in many cases, poles made from local timber.
The modern telegraphic system was introduced along with fixed phone lines and developed rapidly soon after 1946. In that year, there were sixteen transmitting offices, the main ones being one being in Lagos, Kaduna and Enugu. They were interconnected, so that a breakdown on one line could interrupt traffic, and landlines were also supplemented by wireless channels. There were fifty-nine telephone exchanges.
However, more were introduced between 1946 and 1950, and telegraph services were also mended to cover more areas, It was generally more convenient to telephone than to telegraph, but an important development between 1950 and 1960 was the introduction of two types of special service, the ‘private wire’ and the ‘telex’, in different parts of the country. By means of the private wire, a business subscriber was directly and permanently connected by teleprinter with, for example, his branch office in another town. An international telex service was introduced and controlled by a UK private firm called Cable and Wireless Ltd whereby any telex subscriber could obtain connection to any other telex subscriber in most parts of the world through the Lagos telex switchboard.
In 1950, virtually all transmissions were by morse key, and telegrams were handwritten.
However, by 1960 nearly all the major circuits used teleprinters, which automatically printed the telegram at the distant point, and the passage of traffic was further accelerated by the introduction of torn tape relay equipment at Lagos and at regional capitals.
4.0 CONCLUSION
As discussed in this unit, the colonial government was interested in establishing contacts and communications with its outposts in the interiors of Nigeria. This was in order to further administrative ease and convenience. As a result, three methods of communication were development during the colonial. These were postal services, telegraph and telephone. These communication media were further developed and their use gained widespread acceptance as the colonial period progressed. At independence in 1960, these telecommunication modes had become entrenched in the everyday life of many people in the country.
5.0 SUMMARY
This unit examined the development and growth of telecommunications during the colonial period in Nigeria. It presented major advances and milestones in the development of postal services, telegraph and telephone communications in colonial Nigeria. The success of this endeavour helped to facilitate colonial administration and further the interests of the imperial British government in Nigeria. It is worthy of note that the establishment of telephone lines aided other forms of communication in Nigeria such as the radio, television and internet. However, since the modern communication methods were also made use of by the local people, it helped to foster unity, intergroup relations and cohesion among the different ethnic nationalities that made up the Nigerian state. In fact, the colonial innovations were greatly put to use by the nationalist and helped in no small way to liquidate colonial rule in Nigeria.
6.0 TUTOR-MARKED ASSIGNMENT
1. What were the systems of communication established by the colonial government?
2. In what ways were these communication systems more effective than the traditional methods?
3. Highlight the growth and widespread use of postal services in Nigeria.
7.0 REFERENCES/SUGGESTED READING
Arikpo, O. (1967). The Development of Modern Nigeria. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books.
Crowder, M. (1968). West Africa under Colonial Rule. London: Hutchinson.
Ekundare, R.O. (1973). An Economic History of Nigeria, 1860 – 1960. London: Methuen
& Co Ltd.
Tersoo, A. (2018). “History of Telecommunications in Nigeria.” Available online at URL https://www.legit.ng/1146671-history-telecommunication-nigeria.html