<P> With the suppression of the slave trade, palm oil and palm kernels became the main exports . The chiefs of Akwa Akpa placed themselves under British protection in 1884 . From 1884 until 1906 Old Calabar was the headquarters of the Niger Coast Protectorate, after which Lagos became the main center . Now called Calabar, the city remained an important port shipping ivory, timber, beeswax, and palm produce until 1916, when the railway terminus was opened at Port Harcourt, 145 km to the west . </P> <P> Following the Napoleonic wars, the British expanded trade with the Nigerian interior . In 1885, British claims to a West African sphere of influence received international recognition; and in the following year, the Royal Niger Company was chartered under the leadership of Sir George Taubman Goldie . In 1900, the company's territory came under the control of the British Government, which moved to consolidate its hold over the area of modern Nigeria . On 1 January 1901, Nigeria became a British protectorate, part of the British Empire, the foremost world power at the time . </P> <P> In 1914, the area was formally united as the Colony and Protectorate of Nigeria . Administratively, Nigeria remained divided into the Northern and Southern Provinces and Lagos Colony . Western education and the development of a modern economy proceeded more rapidly in the south than in the north, with consequences felt in Nigeria's political life ever since . Following World War II, in response to the growth of Nigerian nationalism and demands for independence, successive constitutions legislated by the British Government moved Nigeria toward self - government on a representative and increasingly federal basis . On 1 October 1954, the colony became the autonomous Federation of Nigeria . By the middle of the 20th century, the great wave for independence was sweeping across Africa . On 27 October 1958 Britain agreed that Nigeria would become an independent state on 1 October 1960 . </P> <P> The Federation of Nigeria was granted full independence on 1 October 1960 under a constitution that provided for a parliamentary government and a substantial measure of self - government for the country's three regions . From 1959 to 1960, Jaja Wachuku was the First Nigerian Speaker of the Nigerian Parliament, also called the "House of Representatives ." Jaja Wachuku replaced Sir Frederick Metcalfe of Britain . Notably, as First Speaker of the House, Jaja Wachuku received Nigeria's Instrument of Independence, also known as Freedom Charter, on 1 October 1960, from Princess Alexandra of Kent, The Queen's representative at the Nigerian independence ceremonies . </P>

Prior to independence nigeria was ruled as a colony of