This was an unpopular question; the few candidates who attempted it performed very poorly. They misinterpreted the question and this made them loss substantial marks. The question expected the candidates to state why it was easy for the Europeans to conquer Nigeria but most candidates stated the reasons for the British colonization of Nigeria. To score good marks, the candidates were expected to explain the following points:

(i)The Europeans possessed superior weapons (e.g. maxim guns) as against spears, bows and arrows and fire arms used by the indigenous people;

(ii) the Europeans had well trained standing army with their wing commanders who were war experts than the indigenous armies most of which were based on conscription;

(iii) most of the territories in Nigeria were open fields or forest which made it easier for the European armies to move freely and made use of their weapons against the people;

(iv) Nigeria lacked enough resources to sustain her prolonged wars;

(v) the absence of clearly defined rules of succession to the throne had hampered unity. Europeans therefore took advantage of succession disputes to dabble into the affairs of the states in the country to conquer and annex it.