The Rise, Fall and Liquidation of Africa's Pioneer Carriers. Nigerian National Shipping Line and Black Star Line

Book excerpt: Doctoral Thesis / Dissertation from the year 2015 in the subject History - Africa, grade: 5, University of Lagos (Department of History and Strategic Studies), course: Economic History, language: English, abstract: This study is a comparison of the circumstances which led to the founding, operation, fall and liquidation of Nigeria’s and Ghana’s first national carriers. They emerged as part of the anti-colonial struggles by nationalist leaders in both countries to establish a supportive economic base for the impending flag independence of the heady 1960s in Africa. The carriers exemplify strong waves of economic nationalism. The thesis interrogates the success or otherwise of such policies and aids a pedagogical understanding of typical liquidation processes of failed state-owned shipping lines in the continent and elsewhere. Maritime traders with a focus on West Africa or Africa as well as students of social change and development would find that the study supplies insightful information to understand a thorny subject enmeshed in the politics of newly-independent, poverty-stricken, multi-ethnic societies grappling with the problems of mass illiteracy, lack of social amenities, violent partisan politics and poor human development indices. The study presents primary and secondary data, inclusive of archival information from London and Liverpool maritime repositories, the interviews of actors who participated in the real-life administration and operation of the carriers until their liquidation bring home the palpable empathy for seafarers, master mariners, engineers or radio officers who sailed to Abidjan, Lagos, Port Harcourt, Takoradi, Tema, Freetown, Warri or Bioco for over forty years aboard the ships of the two carriers and took care of sailor-families in different locales along the Dakar-Luanda range.