David Schickele, filmmaker and musician, writing about his 1966 documentary on life in Nigeria, Give Me a Riddle:

“I first went to Nigeria as a Peace Corps volunteer in 1961. I went back in 1966 to make a documentary about Nigeria. I went back again in 1972 to write an article about the Biafran war. Physically, emotionally, and intellectually, Nigeria was one of the great adventures of my life. Nigeria became an independent country in 1960. In 1967 it was torn apart by civil war. Between these two events Nigeria enjoyed a kind of golden age, full of cultural ferment and cross-tribal fertilization. Every kid out of the village was writing the great Nigerian novel. A spirit of great hope prevailed through the land. I made a movie called “Give me a Riddle” about this golden age, seen through the eyes of ex-Peace Corps volunteer Roger Landrum, returning to his host country a couple of years after his Peace Corps service as a teacher at the University of Nigeria. The film follows Roger as he looks up his old student friends, travels with them to their homes, talks with them about their lives and the life of their country. Shot in 1966, the film is a time capsule of a Nigeria and a Peace Corps both in the rambunctious bloom of youth.”

1. The New Nigerian Newspaper commences publication (January 1)

2. Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, hosted by Nigeria under the Chairmanship of Prime Minister Tafawa Balewa. The first to be hosted in Africa, and the first since the establishment of the Commonwealth Secretariat on 25 June 1965. (January 10-12)

   

3. Indira Gandhi is sworn in on January 24 as India’s fourth - and first female - Prime Minister, replacing Lal Bahadur Shastri, who died in India on January 11, while the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting was going on in Lagos.

4. Nigeria’s first and second military coups take place (January 15 and July 29); each one very bloody.

5. After the July 29 coup, Nigeria is without a Head of State on July 30 and 31, until Yakubu Gowon takes over on August 1.

6. John Major arrives and begins working at Standard Bank, Jos.

7. Abdulsalami Abubakar (Nigeria’s Head of State 1998-99), who started out in the Nigerian Air Force (1963), switches commission to the Nigerian Army.

8. Newton Jibunoh departs London on December 27, driving a Volkswagen Beetle, headed for Lagos, across Europe and the Sahara desert. The journey takes him two months.

9. Nigeria runs without Federal Ministers, from the January 15 coup, until April 1967. Permanent Secretaries run the show.

10. Isaac Adaka Boro leads a (failed) Niger Delta secession bid. Boro founded the Niger Delta Volunteer Force, and declared an independent Republic on February 23, kickstarting a rebellion that was crushed by the military government after 12 days.

11. The Olowo of Owo, Oba (Sir) Olateru Olagbegi II, is deposed (June)

12. Nnamdi Azikiwe writes a lengthy letter, dated April 27, to Head of State, Gen. Ironsi, bitterly lamenting harassment at the hands of Emeka Ojukwu, Military Governor of the Eastern Region.

13. TIME magazine publishes a story titled, “Nigeria: The Men of Sandhurst.” (January 28 edition)

14. Dutchman Joop Berkhout arrives in Nigeria in 1966, as the founding head of Evans Brothers Publishers.

15. The First World Festival of Negro Arts, a precursor to FESTAC ‘77, takes place in Dakar, Senegal. James Ngugi (later to be known as Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o) wins the Novel prize; Wole Soyinka wins the Drama Prize; Derek Walcott & Christopher Okigbo are runners-up for the Poetry Prize; and Nelson Mandela wins the Reportage Prize. (Okigbo reportedly declined his prize).

    

16. On 30 July, the day after Nigeria’s second coup, England defeats West Germany at Wembley Stadium to win the World Cup.

    

17. Just days after the second coup, Nigeria participated in the 1966 British Empire and Commonwealth Games, held 4-13 August, in Kingston, Jamaica; opened by HRH Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh (his first time opening a Commonwealth Games). Nigeria finished joint 9th with India on the medals table, with 3 gold, 4 silver, and 3 bronze medals.

    

18. The Government of Nigeria gifts a 6-feet-10 inches tall bronze sculpture titled “Anyanwu” (”Sun”), by sculptor, Ben Enwonwu, to the United Nations, on October 5. The work can still be seen at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, on the second floor corridor of the Conference Building, between the Security Council and Trusteeship Council.

    

19. Edson Arantes do Nascimento, aka Pelé, scored his 1,000th goal, at the Maracanã Stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (November 19)

I’ve spent a lot of the last couple of months thinking about the year 1966, and what it means for #Nigeria. A symbolic year in a number of ways:

1. The year our first democratic experiment as a nation ended (the First Republic), succeeded immediately by the first of several military regimes.

2. The Nigerian civil war didn’t officially start until 1967, but looking back, 1966 was arguably when the descent began. Had 1966 turned out differently, a Nigeria may have emerged that never saw a civil war.

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3. A youth angle: The year that gave us the youngest leaders ever to lead Nigeria. Probably the year in which Nigeria’s modern history was most influenced by young people. We even got a Head of State so young he was unmarried and child-free.

4. The year Dodan Barracks became Nigeria’s seat of power. It would remain so for the next quarter of a century, making it Nigeria’s second-longest-serving presidential residence, after Aso Rock. I have a personal fascination with Dodan Barracks, which has intensified since I saw it up close in January 2023:

6. A year of military decrees, and extensive bans (on political, tribal and cultural organisations), and intense debate about what kind of governance structure the country should adopt—the year of the first Constitutional Conference since Independence. A year of massive changes of political and governmental titles and nomenclature.

7. It was also a year of much high-level bloodshed -- two Heads of State assassinated in the same year, alongside several politicians and military officers. Not like Nigeria had not seen political violence and turmoil—1964 was a pretty turbulent year, marked by electoral violence—but the violence of 1966 was unprecedented. Of course it would then go on to be ecplised by the violence of the following three years. But no one knew this in 1966.

8. Interestingly, on the economic front, as democracy was vanishing, the macro-economy seemed to be picking up. Q1 1966 was an outlier Q1 for external trade since Independence in 1960, delivering a record trade surplus. In fact, the preceding two Q1s, 1965 and 1964, delivered trade deficits.

9. One of the major reasons for this surplus was that Nigeria’s first oil refinery, in Port Harcourt (wholly private at the time, owned and run by a Shell-BP consortium), had opened at the end of 1965, and so Q1 1966 saw a 75% decline in the import of petroleum products.

10. It was also a peak year for Nigerian oil production (soared above 500,000 barrels per day), before the war sent output tumbling. In 1966, the number of companies that had made commercial discoveries of oil in Nigeria jumped from 2 to 7. That’s how big a deal the year was, for oil. You can indeed say 1966 was the year Nigeria’s ‘oil-rich’ status truly began.

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Why all the story? I find 1966 fascinating enough to focus on as a history project, as we mark its 60th anniversary this year, 2026. So many threads, so many questions, so many lessons. So much to unpack about a year in which a veil of innocence was lifted, nay, ripped apart.

What should you expect? Stories, dates, interviews, a podcast, videos, essays, in-person events, maybe even a pop-up museum, and a commemorative book. Plenty ideas (because ideas are cheap), let’s see which ones come to fruition.

It will go live here on substack (http://the1966archive.ng will also direct here)

Logo done with the help of Gemini. What does it symbolise for you?