ABSTRACT
Little time was left to colonial conquistadors of West Africa to consider the advantages and disadvantages of the systems of administration they decided to impose on the peoples whose lands they had occupied. There was growing concern among the European colonial powers over the whole question of colonial responsibility. During the early years of colonial rule there was considerable debate as to what type of colonial rule was desirable for Tropical Africa. The first major trend in colonial policy as practised in West Africa was that of assimilation or that body of colonial theory which advocated identity between the colony and the mother country, though the nature of this identity varied from one exposition to another. The main conflict between the various theories of personal assimilation that were put forward by writers on colonial administration occurred between those who believed in the actual equality of all men and now, and those who believed in the potential equality of all men.
