Not all the facts fit the anti-colonialist narrative
I am also a Nigerian (from a different ethnicity from the author, which does influence my perspective). I&#x27;ve seen this discussion about &quot;the good sides of colonialism&quot; over and over again, and I&#x27;ve come to the conclusion that people keep tiptoeing around a simple truth: colonisation was wholly <i>unnecessary</i>, and that is what makes it unethical no matter how much good one tries to link to it.<p>As a less morally fraught example, consider the reaction you would have if it was exposed that your browser was secretly sending your passwords in plaintext to some third-party service to check if they were secure enough. It doesn&#x27;t matter that helping users avoid weak passwords is a noble goal and genuine objective; sharing users&#x27; passwords like that is completely unnecessary and thus indefensible.<p>The question then becomes: was there a better way to achieve the &quot;good&quot; of the colonial era - technological progress, etc - without colonisation itself? And the answer is yes, absolutely 100% yes. Colonisation was a <i>betrayal</i>, not the start of Europe&#x27;s history with Africa and Asia. To give an example close to home, the Portuguese and later the English had a fairly balanced mercantile relationship with the Benin Kingdom (part of modern-day Nigeria) for <i>centuries</i> before the British colonial expeditions of the very late 19th century. You can even tell from the words of earlier visitors&#x2F;tourists like Olfert Dapper that there was a respect for the people, their way of life and accomplishments (the Edo people were quite good at architecture, for instance).<p>The Benin Kingdom could very well have continued its natural technological, economic and social progression with the support of non-violent foreign partnerships and trade while retaining its sovereignty, but for the greed of the British. In fact, colonisation has most likely <i>hampered</i> its development, not accelerated it. Japan for example avoided colonisation entirely and has quite clearly caught up to and surpassed its near and distant neighbours that got that dubious &quot;help&quot;. Or consider how quickly Hawaii modernised even before it lost its sovereignty to the United States.