For many Nigerians, especially Christian communities in the Middle Belt and the South, the pattern has become painfully familiar: mass killings, village burnings, kidnappings of schoolchildren, and a federal government that responds too slowly or not at all. Yet one global power remains consistently unbothered: Britain, the same nation that forcefully merged hundreds of ethnic nations into a single fragile state for its own benefit over a century ago.

Today, as extremist violence, banditry, and ethno-religious killings continue, Britain maintains a distant, diplomatic neutrality, one that many Nigerians interpret as indifference, if not quiet approval, so long as British interests remain protected.

A Colonial Structure Built on Division

Nigeria did not naturally evolve into a unified country. Britain amalgamated the Northern and Southern Protectorates in 1914 primarily for administrative convenience and economic extraction. From the beginning, the colonial administration favored the Northern political elite for indirect rule. That early favoritism set the foundation for a system where political power gravitates northward, even when the region’s governance failures spill over violently into the rest of the country.

To this day, many analysts argue that Britain continues to benefit from this imbalance. As long as Nigeria remains weak, divided, dependent, and politically predictable, British access to oil, minerals, and economic influence is secured.

A Brutal Status Quo: Christians Killed, Britain Quiet

From Boko Haram attacks to the persistent killings carried out by extremist herders and bandit groups, thousands of Christians have been murdered, especially in Plateau, Benue, Kaduna, Taraba, and Borno.

Despite this, Britain’s responses remain restrained, often limited to mild diplomatic statements. When U.S. voices, including former President Donald Trump, raised alarms about the need to protect Christian communities, Britain dismissed such concerns by insisting that “Nigeria is a sovereign state.” To many, that sounded less like neutrality and more like strategic silence.

Because to Britain, critics argue, Nigeria’s internal suffering is less important than maintaining a government, any government, that keeps British commercial and geopolitical interests intact.

The Igbo Question: A Century of Neglect and Violence

The killing of Igbo people began long before the civil war and continues today through systemic marginalization, targeted violence, and federal neglect. Britain’s role in supporting the federal side during the Biafra War is well documented, motivated by oil interests and Cold War calculations. Even now, Britain offers little condemnation when Igbo communities face brutality, political suppression, or economic exclusion.

To many, it feels like a continuation of the same playbook: protect the structure Britain created, even if it destroys the people living within it.

Why Britain’s Loyalty Tilted North, and Stayed There

Historically, the British establishment found the Northern political class more aligned with its interests. That alignment persists, critics argue, in several ways:

• Northern elites remain deeply invested in the centralization of power.
• Britain continues to prefer slow-moving, predictable leadership over reform-driven southern presidents.
• A powerful, united, educated, and economically independent South threatens the geopolitical arrangement Britain has benefitted from for decades.
• The North exports instability, banditry, extremist groups, and religious insurgents, that destabilize the South while strengthening Northern political leverage.

Whether Britain actively chooses this or merely benefits from it, the outcome is the same: Nigeria’s dysfunction persists, and Britain remains unbothered.

Why Nigerians Believe Britain Doesn’t Want a Strong Nigeria

From political interference to quiet diplomacy that prioritizes stability over justice, Britain has consistently acted in ways that suggest it is comfortable with a Nigeria that cannot fully stand on its own.

A strong Nigeria, with competent leadership, ethnic equality, and regional stability, would renegotiate foreign contracts, question neo-colonial influence, and demand accountability from Western nations. A divided Nigeria, however, remains malleable.

So Britain stays silent when Christians are slaughtered.
Silent when bandits kidnap children.
Silent when extremist violence grows.
Silent when entire communities disappear from the map.

Because a broken Nigeria still serves someone, and that someone is not the Nigerian people.

The Painful Truth

Nigeria today is a failed state, not because its people lack brilliance or strength, but because the foundation was never designed for equality, progress, or unity. Britain created the structure. Nigeria’s ruling class maintains it. And ordinary Nigerians, especially Christians, ethnic minorities, and marginalized southern groups, pay the price in blood.

For many, the conclusion is unavoidable:
Britain remains unbothered because a suffering Nigeria is easier to control than a thriving one.