I'll tell you a story. In 1914, the British made a tidy profit from the protectorate secured by the Royal Niger Company but the colony north of the River Niger was being run at a loss. To save money, they merely amalgamated the two colonies and called the result "Nigeria" and there have been problems ever since.
The second thing most Americans don't know is to a large extent the British are responsible for the rise of Islamic fundamentalism in West Africa. When the British came to this part of the World they chose to rule through the local Emirs, thus strengthening them and the position of Sharia. But most disturbingly, they discouraged the activities of Christian missionaries in that part of Nigeria. Since the colonial authorities were not that interested in educating the natives and education was left to missionaries, Northern Nigeria was educationally disadvantaged. At independence in 1960, there were only 2 university graduates from Northern Nigeria.
Everyone knows that the post-colonial period has been terrible but the colonial period was not a bed of roses either. The picture below shows a Congolese man staring at the hands of his daughter cut off by the Belgians because she didn't meet the quota for tapping rubber.
This record has been long surpassed by Africans, but there are no good guys in the long bloody story called African history.
Our hope and prayer is that our children's future will be a vast improvement on our present.