My Nigerian stamps collection

Present day Nigeria was once divided into two portions – the Southern and the Northern Nigeria. The Southern portion became a British protectorate in 1900. Lagos was added to this protectorate in 1906 while the Southern Nigeria was also merged in the existing protectorate to form a single colony of Nigeria under the British patronage.

A set of nine stamps was issued in 1901 of the Nigerian protectorate, which initially bore the portraits of Queen Victoria followed by that of her son King Edward VII in 1903. In 1912, vignette was replaced with a portrait of George V.

The stamps (left column) from my album are of much later stage issued in the 1950s, bearing portrait of Queen Elizabeth II. The stamps in the other columns are of the era of independent Nigeria when it became an independent federation in 1960.