The Impact of the Lagos Press in Nigeria, 1861 – 1922

Copious literatures had gone down on the Nigerian Press. But none deliberates on the role of the Lagos Press in the south-western part of our country. This is the aim of this study. The history of the Nigerian Press could be divided into three parts. First is the pre-professional media houses that spanned between 1859 and 1914. Second is the protoprofessional era that started from 1914 and ended in 1921. This second phase actually initiated the campaigns for constitutional development in Nigeria and has not been historically analysed before now. The Nigerian Press proper commenced on Thursday 10March, 1921, with the professionalism introduced by Ernest Sisei Ikoli, the first Nigerian newspaper editor. The first and second periods above between 1859 and 1921 formed the Lagos Press that held the south-western forth for sixty years with its influence extending to 1922. Since politics enjoyed great prominence in their writings, they played significant roles of checks and balances in the early colonial administration of our country from 1861, when Lagos became a Crown Colony, to 1922 when the Nigerian Constitution of 1922 was achieved. This acknowledgment actualizes this research on their role in the Colony of Lagos and the Protectorate of Southern Nigeria as well as the press campaigns for constitutional development