[8] The Portuguese had explored the coasts to avoid Saharan intermediaries in the trade of West African gold to Europe and that was a way to India.
[11] Only a monopoly company could afford to build and maintain the forts considered essential to hold stocks of slaves and trade goods.
In the 19th century, Britain was interested primarily in opening markets for its manufactured goods in West Africa and expanding commerce in palm oil.
Securing the oil and ivory trade required that Britain usurp the power of coastal chiefs in what became Nigeria.
Hausa merchant diasporas ran an extensive export-trade network and the state had regular increase of the labor supply through the importation of “pagan” captives as slaves.
[citation needed] From 1900 to 1946, the regional British government in Northern Nigeria made exportation a high priority and set up a system of regulation to control diseases and maintain quality.
It imposed new rules regarding minimum standards, and compulsory inspection, which had the effect of raising quality and obtaining higher prices.
[20] Starting in 1949, when Nigeria's elites were first consulted by the British as part of a constitutional review on emergent labor and commercial industry and in the ongoing debate over the pressure of decolonization, independence, and modernization.
[21] Between 1951 and 1960, the major political parties played leading roles in unifying and locally mobilizing the economic elite.
Elites from majority parties in the regional assemblies who cooperated with the ruling federal coalition dispensed a wide range of rewards and sanctions, thus retaining their own positions and power and kept the masses subordinated.
[21] At all levels—local and regional after 1951 and federal after 1954—political leaders could use a range of controls, extending over local councils, district administration, police, and courts, to subdue any dissident minority, especially in the far north, where clientage was the social adhesive of the emirate system.
Political superiors offered protection, patronage, and economic security in exchange for loyalty and the obedience of inferiors.
[21] The elites attracted clients and socially inferior groups not only in the far north, where Islam legitimized the traditional hierarchy, but even in Igboland, an area of southeastern Nigeria where power had been widely dispersed before the 20th century.
In 1989 the World Bank also declared Nigeria poor enough to be eligible (along with countries such as Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Chad, and Mali) for concessional aid from an affiliate, the International Development Association (IDA).
[27] With economic insecurity, high unemployment rates, and poverty, the Boko Haram group was able to emerge within Nigeria as political protests.
Starting out around 2008, Boko Haram has carried out attacks in order to spread their Islamic influence and defeat the westernization that began during colonialism.
[25] Boko Haram targets individuals or organizations who encourage lifestyles believed to follow western culture, like the US or Europe.
Local businesses began to migrate to Southern region of Nigeria as a result of being attacked or due to fear of the Boko Haram.
Roughly 80 percent of the businesses in Kano had to close down due to power failure and security challenges caused by attacks.
[33] Nigerian refugees who were displaced or just seeking refuge from the Boko Haram migrated to neighboring countries such as Cameroon, Ghana, Niger, and Chad.