Go to AfricaBib home

Go to AfricaBib home AfricaBib Go to database home

bibliographic database
Line
Previous page New search

The free AfricaBib App for Android is available here

Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:The development of road transport in the Cross River Basin of Nigeria: 1940-1960
Author:Udoka, Ini A.
Year:1998
Periodical:The Nigerian Journal of Economic History
Issue:1
Pages:21-40
Language:English
Geographic terms:Nigeria
Great Britain
Subjects:colonialism
road construction
Abstract:Until the 1940s the major highway of communication in the Cross River Basin of Nigeria was the Cross River. The need to construct roads in the area arose from the dwindling importance of water transport. The Cross River was navigable only in the rainy season, and inland ports and the seaport of Ikot Abasi had been blocked by sand bars. Efforts made by the British to develop road transport in the region after 1940 were motivated largely by imperial economic interests rather than concern for development. Roads were constructed to aid the exploitation of the region's natural resources and to develop economic enterprises to enhance the expansion of the metropolitan economy. They were a conscious attempt by the colonial government to open up new market and business outlets in the interior of Calabar and Ogoja Provinces. Today the Trunk B roads and feeder roads constructed during the colonial period in the Cross River Basin are still extant though in a deplorable condition. The development of the region is being hampered by lack of a good road network. Note, ref. [ASC Leiden abstract]
Views