The history of Nigeria is arguably one of the most researched topics in the academic literature of the country. The strategy of this book in delving into the above topic is, however, unique. Up until now, most ‘general histories of Nigeria written since Nigeria gained independence from the United Kingdom in 1960 tend to focus almost exclusively on political and economic themes and almost exclusively on the twentieth century’ (p. 1). The aim of the book at hand is to ensure greater thematic balance in its review of Nigeria's past. Perhaps more important is the extension of the chronology to include pre-twentieth-century events that laid the foundations for the country's social, economic and political malaise of the twentieth century and the current twenty-first century which is still unfolding.

The above approach, at least theoretically, should lead to a better understanding of Nigeria's past. The problem, however, is that it is difficult to achieve the above ambitious but laudable project in 329 pages. The result is that, in some cases, an incomplete record or an oversimplification of Nigeria's past has been documented. For instance, the section entitled ‘Notable People in Nigerian History’ (pp. xix–xxxii) has some notable omissions. An example of oversimplification of history in this book is its discussion of the ‘cement armada’ (p. 187). This interesting approach by the authors clearly helps us to understand the foundation of the Nigerian problem. It systematically explains the origins of the issues relating to the ‘national question’ (p. 158) and how these metamorphosed into the enthronement of tribal divisions in most aspects of the Nigerian economic, political and social history. A notable example is how this impacted on the development of the Nigerian military (p. 166). Such ethnic divisions also fed the Western Region crisis of the 1960s which culminated in the toppling of the First Republic in January 1966 and the eventual Nigerian Civil War (1967–70). The book also explains how the discovery of crude oil enthroned a rentier state structure which has served as a disincentive towards the emergence of a people-oriented government (p. 11).

After laying such a solid foundation, the authors surprisingly, at least in a number of instances, try to rewrite history. For example, one of the reasons given for the Nigerian Government refusing to allow the secession of Biafra was that ‘many in the FMG, including Gowon, sincerely believed in the practicality of Nigerian Unity and were willing to fight to preserve it’ (emphasis of the reviewer) (p. 175). This is a misrepresentation of history. This is especially so given the fact that it is now well established that, after the July 1966 coup, the secession of the North was being contemplated by the coup plotters. The concept of one Nigeria triumphed only after the British high commissioner and American ambassador took joint action to make sure that Colonel Gowon was fully aware of the damaging effects of secession on the economy of the North.

Another misinformation in the book has to do with the chronology of events leading to the Civil War. Here the authors wrongly suggest that Gowon announced the creation of new states after Ojukwu declared independence (p. 176). In reality, however, the creation of new states by Gowon preceded the declaration of independence by Ojukwu, as J. D. Clarke has shown in his monograph Yakubu Gowon: Faith in a United Nigeria, published in 1987. Furthermore, the report by Falola and Heaton of the ‘Aburi Accord’ is at best misleading. According to the authors: ‘Gowon believed the federation had been preserved at Aburi while Ojukwu claimed the Aburi agreement gave him wide-ranging powers to control the Government of the Eastern Region and even to secede from the federation if he so chose’ (pp. 174–5). Such historical confusion is inappropriate because even Gowon, in his approved autobiography, explicitly admitted that he had to renege on the Aburi Accord because, when his

The result of such misrepresentations of history is that some of the authors' conclusions (p. 279) do not flow from the contents of the book. Despite the above flaws, the bold attempt of the authors to expand the length and breadth of Nigerian history in one text is welcome and appreciated. Future scholars will no doubt build on this foundation.