Where Local Kings Rule: Long-Term Impacts of Precolonial Institutions and Geography on Access to Public Infrastructure Services in Nigeria

Although previous works have discussed the benefits of precolonial centralization for development in Africa, the findings and the mechanisms provided do not explain the heterogeneity in development outcomes of formerly centralized states. Using new survey data from Nigeria, I find a significant negative effect of precolonial centralization on access to certain public services for centralized regions whose leaders failed to comply with the autocratic federal regime, and whose jurisdictions were subsequently punished by underinvestment in these public services, with lasting impacts till today. The long-term effects of this punishment can be seen in the relatively lower reported trust in institutions of federal authority over traditional institutions today from respondents from these historically punished areas.The results are robust to extensive controls and instrumenting for precolonial centralization with an ecological diversity index. JEL classification: O10, O43, N37, P48