West Africa magazine2025-11-122025-11-121972-03-10https://nigeriareposit.nln.gov.ng/handle/20.500.14186/2325The Issue 2856 of West Africa Magazine (week ending 10th March 1972) wrestles with post-independence tensions and old problems. Published in London/distributed in Apapa, it probes judicial independence in ex-British colonies, Ghana’s bizarro cocoa reforms, and military/civilian power dynamics. Plus: yams get anthropologized, oil deals inked, and Ghana purges advisors. Highlights include “The wig and the sword”, questioning if judiciaries can truly be “independent” post-colonialism; “Ghana’s Cocoa buying problem” likens reforms to Mark Twain’s proverbial weather lots of talk; “The civilians and the soldiers” notes Upper Volta as Africa’s lone civilian holdout post-Ghana coup. Books praises Coursey & Coursey’s The Yam Zone for cultural depth. Elsewhere: Nigeria signs an “historic oil agreement” with Henry Stephens & Sons (Commercial news); Ghana sacks its civilian advisors (Dateline Africa). A heady mix of institutions, cocoa snafus, and oily wins.■ The wig and the sword:Independence of the judiciary, it is always claimed is the most important of the legacies which Britain has left to her colonies ■ Ghana's Cocoa buying problem: Attempts to reorganise Cocoa buying in Ghana beat similarities to Mark Twain's ■ The civilians and the soldiers: After the Ghana coup, upper volta is the only country left in Africa ■ Books and publications: In the yam zone: The yam zone yam festivals of West Africa by D. G. Coursey and Cecilia K. Coursey ■ Commercial news:Historic oil agreement: Signing an agreement granting an offshore oil concession to Henry Stephens and sons ■ Dateline Africa: Ghana: civilian advisors suspended- The military government has suspended it's nine- member National Advisory committeeenArticle