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The Documentary Podcast

Nigeria and how it sees Britain

The Documentary Podcast

BBC

Society & Culture, Documentary, Personal Journals

4.32.6K Ratings

🗓️ 6 March 2019

⏱️ 28 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Neil MacGregor visits different countries to talk to leading political, business and cultural figures to find out how they, as individuals and as members of their broader communities, see Britain. Neil visits Nigeria to meet Nobel Laureate for Literature, Wole Soyinka; Yeni Kuti, dancer, singer and eldest child of Afrobeat pioneer Fela Kuti; and Muhammadu Sanusi II, the Emir of Kano.

Transcript

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0:00.0

And if we vote leave and take back control, I believe that this Thursday can be our country's Independence Day.

0:12.0

Well at 20 minutes to 5, we can now say the British people have spoken and the answer is,

0:19.0

we're out.

0:20.0

Actually, we will continue to be a bold, outward- looking country, forging our own way in the world.

0:25.2

Would some power the gifted gears to see ourselves as others see us.

0:31.6

As others see us.

0:33.7

as others see us. Five views of Britain from the rest of the world. I'm in Carno, Nigeria, the

0:41.7

great walled city that is effectively the capital of the north.

0:46.4

The gates of the city of Carno were made of sheets of bronze, each just over six inches wide, all nailed together to make a barrier that was

0:56.7

hoped to be impenetrable.

0:58.9

But these gates were battered down by the British in 1903 when Lugard conquered Carno and Northern Nigeria.

1:08.6

Lugard is still a controversial figure in Nigeria. His experiences in Sudan and Lagos had left him deeply suspicious of Africans educated with Western ideas.

1:20.0

His decision in 1914 to combine north and south into one British colony effectively created

1:27.4

modern Nigeria.

1:29.2

He described in some detail the qualities of the inhabitants of the new country that he had called into being.

1:36.1

In character and temperament the typical African of this race type is a happy,

1:40.1

thriftless, excitable person lacking in self-control, discipline and foresight.

1:46.0

Naturally courageous and naturally courteous and polite, fond of music and loving weapons as

1:51.9

an Oriental loves jewellery.

1:54.0

Nobody today would disagree that Nigerians are fond of music

1:59.0

and Afrobeat which was born in Lagos is now a global phenomenon.

2:04.0

Nigeria's needed only to thumb through Lugard's published journals

...

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