Tag: Political power imbalance

The bane and chain down of Nigeria’s progress and development

•Excerpts from a 261-page book by Sir Olaniwun Ajayi

…Continued from lastweek.

As stated earlier, Yoruba as a race are social, polite and remarkably hospitable. The Yorubas are very conscious and particular about the good name of the family and its integrity. Therefore, cases abound where a family member would be condemned to slavery by a unanimous decision of all family members or relatives if and when such a member has brought disgrace on the family. Thus, for example, such offending member could be castrated forcibly in case of serious offences like incest. Indeed, he might be banished out of town or the neighbourhood to where he might not be known. The Yoruba abhor their family being disgraced or embarrassed. In some cases, rare cases though, the family of a Yoruba man would tell him ‘sokunrin’ meaning “be a man.” This is asking the erring man to commit suicide when a heinous, abominable, ignominious act has been committed; an offence that can bring shame, disgrace or a really bad name on the family. 46

It may be of some worth or significance to deal with more Yoruba traditions, manners, culture and values. In that regard, we may refer briefly to the Yoruba form of marriage. In the normal course of events, there are three stages regarding marriage in Yorubaland. First, there is intimation stage, secondly, a formal betrothal follows and lastly the marriage.

With respect to intimation, when a boy is interested in a girl, and vice versa, the boy or girl will inform his or her parents. If the parent of the boy or of the girl are interested in the boy or girl as the case may be, such parents will look for someone whom they like and whom they will appoint as their go-between, that is, middle man who will make necessary enquiries about the background or antecedent of the families (mother and father) of the would-be husband or would-be wife as the case may be.

The purpose of the secret or subtle enquiries is to satisfy themselves that the family of the other side is free from any taint or stigma of any sort: stain like hereditary disease such as insanity, epilepsy, leprosy or criminal tendencies. If after such subtle enquiries nothing unsatisfactory is reported, then mutual understanding will be established. Then, the consent of the girl’s parents will be sought, which consent will be readily and gladly given. Then an informal meeting of the two families will be arranged. This will be accompanied with some gifts from the boy’s parents to the girl’s parents. This is the second stage of the marriage called betrothal.

The marriage proper will come up after dowry (Imana) has been settled. With the dowry will come from the bridegroom-to be, presents to the intended bride- cloths of good quality and various types, kola-nuts, alligator pepper and bitter kola and of course, some money. 47

The proper marriage will follow at a time agreed and appointed by the two families.

The foregoing is only a part of the procedures and ceremonies; for a full and proper Yoruba form of marriage is much more involved than narrated hereon. The truth and the fact are that modern development, arising from intercourse with other nations, a sort of aberration or vice has crept into Yoruba system of marriage. All the do’s and dont’s of yesteryears are no longer there.48 It will be labouring the obvious to state that Yoruba manners, customs, values, traditions, customary beliefs, social forms, and their material traits are a myriad. In that regard, to deal with them fully and copiously could be a book by itself.

It may be relevant and appropriate at this juncture to refer to chieftaincy in Yorubaland.

Apart from general tittles and war tittles, there are traditional tittles throughout Yorubaland, peculiar to each community within the Yoruba race. Thus, there is the tittle of Olisa. In some communities there is no Olisa, but where there is Olisa, he will be next to the Oba. Where the Olisa tittle does not exist, there may be Balogun. In that event, he will be next to the Oba.

In almost all Yorubaland, there is the tittle of Oliwo. Chief Oliwo is the king of the Osugbo. Next to the Oliwo in the Osugbo is the Apena. In both Olisa and Oliwo chieftaincies, they are ruling houses, wherein the chieftaincies are rotated among the ruling houses.

Apena chieftaincy is not a ruling house chieftaincy. As regards Apena, the Oliwo nominates a candidate of his choice for the consideration and approval of Osugbo leaders. The overall consent and approval lie with the Oba whose consent and approval cannot be unreasonably withheld. Similarly, Oba’s consent is necessary with respect to Olisa’s and Oliwo’s chieftaincies.

There are some chieftaincies of lower security or of less importance in each community about which we need not bother ourselves. But additionally, in each community there are many chieftaincies which are not peculiar to that community and in quite a few cases, to each family. Of course, there are some chieftaincies which the Oba can create and confer on worthy sons and daughters of the community or on a man or woman outside the community. that community and in quite a few cases, to each family.

The Yorubas usually have other chieftaincies which are mere tittles. With the passage of time however, these tittles have become common place and now for civil purposes.

The following are some of the chieftaincy titles of lower seniority.

Balogun: Commander-in-Chief. His principal lieutenants are Otun Balogun and Osi Balogun, that is the generals commanding the right and the left wings respectively.

After Osi Balogun comes Asipa: This tittle is followed by Ekerin, Ekarun and Ekefa, i.e., the fourth, the fifth, and the sixth.

There is Seriki chieftaincy: which is of junior grade but has is principal lieutenants who are the Otun and Osi, then the Ekerin, Ekarun and Ekafa. Within this group, is the Asaju tittle. Under the old Yoruba system, the Asaju was the leader of the Van. In modern time, however, the Asaju will place himself above the Balogun, and the Seriki.

Then there is Sarumi: The chief of cavalry. The Bada is another tittle which in the olden days would answer to a knight, an accomplished horseman and a skilful swordsman.

Today however, these titles are conferred by the Oba or Baale as the case may be, either at the instance of the Oba or Baale or at the ardent request of the person desirous of becoming a chief. The Oba or Baale will lay down the conditions which the aspirant will be ready and willing to meet.

We can now safely pay due attention to the Yoruba ways of showing regard, affection, recognition and perhaps felicity, surely as a way of life. That is Salutation or Greetings among the Yoruba.

Every aspect of the Yoruba life carries with it salutation. Working, sleeping, standing, well, unwell, bereaved of a loved one, bereaved of father or mother or senior one in the family, or farmer working on his farm, a blacksmith in his smithy, an expectant mother, an old man or old woman, someone on a journey or someone on a return journey, and so on and so forth. Neither time nor space is available to deal fully with this aspect of Yoruba life.

For the purpose of this chapter, we shall make a brief mention of the Yoruba salutation or greeting. Let us start with a Yoruba home. Early in the morning, the wife will rise and greet her husband ‘k’aro’ (good morning) kneeling down. The son will get up prostrating to greet his father and his mother, “e karo”. meaning good morning, in like manner, the daughter will go to her father or mother, kneeling down to greet him or her, ‘e kaaro’, meaning good morning. If there are other older men or women in the house, the mode of greeting will be the same. At night before going to bed, ‘o d’aro’ meaning good night will be said in the same way and to the same grade of people.

Outside the home, indeed, in the public, the mode and manner of the salutation to the older ones, will decidedly be the same – prostrating or kneeling as the case may be. Yoruba men and women will greet each other or one another with due respect, both being courteous to each other.50 It is certainly the older man that will stretch his right hand to shake hands with the younger. Not the other way round unlike the case of some other ethnic groups.

We have gone this far to underline trebly the culture, tradition, values and sense of fairness and justice of the Yorubas and their traits and attributes because these are the listion or bulwark on which the integrity, credibility, reliability and what the Yoruba call ‘Omoluabi’ (“gentleman” for want of appropriate word) of the race rely. Yorubas and their traits and attributes because these are

At this juncture, it is apposite and indeed relevant, to refer to what a few people in history have observed and said about the Yoruba race in antiquity and how they have evolved over the centuries. It will surely be appropriate to start with a distinguished Nigerian politician whose ancestral root is traceable to the Yoruba race.

He is the late Honourable Chief Anthony Enahoro one of the founding fathers of democracy in Nigeria. His remarks to which we like to refer are recorded in page 40 of the 1997 summer edition of lsokan Yoruba Magazine. Chief Enahoro said:

“…May I now proceed from the general to the particular; in other words, yourselves, ladies and gentlemen, and the African nation you represent, namely the Yorubas. You and your forebearers have made a distinctive contribution to African existence-your history and culture; your music and what has been described as your ‘Yeferity’,your peaceful and non-imperialist relations with your neighbouring nations; your artefacts, like the Ife heads; your whole-hearted acceptance of democracy (it is still on record that only in the old Western Region of Nigeria, which was mainly Yoruba, did a party in power lose an election, accept it democratically and philosophically, and win again on the rebound; your forward-looking adoption of modern concepts of government-popular free education, regulation of the chieftaincy system by statue, popular project like the television and radio, Ife University, farm settlements, housing schemes, free interaction between religious communities; your dress modes (stylised aso – oke, for example);

Your specific religious tolerance between Christians and Muslims, etc., these are attributes and traits which define, delineate and explain the character of nations and people. In their distinctiveness, they interpret and characterise the Yoruba, who and what they are, their position in black African context and other Nigerian and African nations.” 51

Of all writers and historians who extolled the culture, traditions and virtues of the Yorubas, it is indisputable that none supersedes William Henry Clarke. Clarke committed himself to devoted and invaluable service in Nigeria with particular regard to African studies.

Mr. William Clarke was a pioneer missionary of the Baptist Mission. For the period of four years, he served in Yorubaland, he devotedly studied Yorubaland and the society in remarkable and enduring detail. The product of his conscientious and assiduous labour is the book-‘Travels and Explorations in Yorubaland 1854-1858,’ which unfortunately remained in manuscript form for over one hundred years until, with thanks to them, the lbadan University Publication Committee directed that the manuscript should be published after due editing of it had been done by Dr.(as he then was) J.A. Atanda in 1971.

We made copious reference to Clark’s remark on the Yoruba earlier in this book. Without repetition of our comments on this subjective view of the Yoruba race by W.H. Clarke, a quick recourse to several pages in his book would be worthwhile. What with pages 186, 189, 237, 245 and 291 of Travels and Explorations in Yorubaland.52

Another eminent historian writing about the Yorubas is Robert Smith, the author of ‘Kingdoms of the Yoruba.’ Robert Smith, a senior lecturer in History at the University of Lagos, presented Yoruba history as the history of a number of separate sovereign states and people, pursuing their individual yet converging paths and conscious of their relationship to one another through common traditions of origin language and culture. Smith wrote thus:

“The Yorubas of West Africa are a numerous people with many kings, among whom some twenty or more are rulers over what were formerly distinct and independent states, while the rest, amounting in one list to over 1000, are subordinate rulers whose territories consist of single towns and groups of villages. They form the third largest ethnic group in Africa’s most populous country, some nine million of them living in the rich forest and farmland of South-Western Nigeria;….They are a Negro race, whose language belongs to the Kwa group…which predominates in West Africa; though it remained unwritten until the 1840s, Yoruba is rich in oral literature, and there are many dialects. Primarily they are farming people, cultivating their family lands in individual holdings, at the same time they have many ancient towns, so they appear to be the most urbanized of the people of tropical Africa;…. but Yoruba in its history and the bulk of its population, each has well over half a million inhabitants. Their art and culture are being increasingly studied; the incomparable” bronzes” of Ife, for example, are no longer seen as isolated and enigmatic phenomena, but are now confidently interpreted as testimony to the greatness of the Yoruba past and to its continuity.”

• To be continued.

The bane and chain down of Nigeria’s progress and development

•Excerpts from a 261- paged book by Sir Olaniwun Ajayi

…Continued from yesterday.

Bearing in mind Rita Hinden’s remarks, two books had been written by two leading politicians namely—Chief Obafemi Awolowo, who later became Premier of Western Region of Nigeria in the First Republic, wrote ‘Path to Nigerian Freedom’ in 1947, and Dr. Nnamdi Azikwe, Premier of Eastern Region of Nigeria during the First Republic, wrote ‘Renascent Africa.’

The second statement which gave a lot of inspiration was by William Pitt in 1792, made in the House of Commons on the slave trade and recorded in Sir Alan Burns’ book. He said:

“If we listen to the voice of reason and duty… some of us may live to see the reverse of that picture from which we now turn our eyes with shame and regret. We may live to behold the natives of Africa engaged in the calm occupation of industry, in the pursuit of a just and legitimate commerce.”

Flowing from the epochal, eternal and timeless words of William Pitt, we shall deal, in the next chapter, how, by providence, the various tropical regions in Black Africa, especially Nigeria, have evolved in literary philosophies, socially, politically, economically and educationally.

For the purpose of our next chapter, attention will be on Nigeria. In the first place, the British tropics during the material period consisted of two groups—The Western and the Eastern, of the Western group which consisted of Nigeria, Cameroon, Gold Coast, Togo, Serria Leone and the Gambia: Nigeria led in population of 21,822,793 by 17,587,000 whilst the Eastern group comprising the Sudan, Somaliland, Kenya, Uganda, Zanzibar, Tangayinka, Nyasaland and Northern Rhodesia had a population of 16,149,626, of which the Sudan had 4,000,000. Similarly, in trade, with respect to the two groups, Nigeria with 25,442,370 million pounds, led each of the fourteen countries in the two groups.

Secondly, in regard to British policy in the tropics which was to colonise, to trade and to govern— the balance of overall benefit was on the side of Nigeria.

It is considered apposite therefore to present Nigeria as a leading tropical country with special accounts of the three main ethnic nationalities making up the country, while less attention, if any, is paid to the minor ethnic groups in the country.

Chapter 2

The Yoruba race: Their origin

My purpose in this Chapter is to show how racist ideas about Africans were wrong. Using the Yoruba, my own people, as an example, I will point out the history and culture of a successful people before, during and after the slave trade that dehumanised Africans.

Their Origin

Yorubaland lies between the area of Badagry to Warn I area to near Niger around latitude 90N, and the area close to Nupe. From latitude 50N, it spreads westwards cutting across Dahomey reaching towards the East of Togo. In number, the Yoruba people will be well over thirty million, occupying Ekiti, parts of Kwara, and Kogi, Lagos, Ogun, Ondo, Osun and Oyo states. Quite a number of these people are in the Republics of Benin and Togo.

In reckoning the Yoruba numerical strength, it will be appropriate to include the Igala and Itsekiri whose languages are closely related or similar to Yoruba. Yoruba diaspora are found as well in Brazil, Cuba, Trinidad and Tobago.

The Yoruba race is apparently one of the largest homogenous ethnic nationalities among Africans. A cave at Iwo Eleru near Akure in Ondo State yielded a skeleton with a radio carbon date of about 9000 BC. In his introduction to War and Peace in Yorubaland 1793- 1893, Professor J.F. Ade Ajayi stated that linguistic evidence suggested that the Yoruba language had been spoken continuously within Yorubaland for upwards of 4000 years… 27

The publication in the Nigerian Tribune of Wednesday 20 August, 2014 threw more light on the account of the finding in Isarun Ile-Owuro. In 1965, an English archaeologist, Professor Thurstan Shaw, with his team went to Isarun, five kilometres from Igbara Oke near Akure in Ondo State and excavated bones of a stone age man in a cave. The findings reveal that skulls and bones of human beings found there were subjected to radiocarbon dating instruments pointed out that Stone Age activities took place in the forest 13000 years ago. Another team lead by Professor Katerina Harvati of the University of Tubingen, Gemany, and Professor Christ Stringer, human origins expert followed up the work of Shaw.

James S. Coleman, in his ‘Nigeria: Background to Nationalism,’ stated that:

“…the Yoruba people might rightly claim to be the largest cultural aggregation in West Africa with a history of political unity and a common historical tradition…” 28

From time immemorial, the Yoruba as a nation has several distinguishing features and characteristics peculiar to it. One striking feature of the race is a large scale of political organisation which has been with the Yoruba ethnic nationality centuries before the advent of the British. Indeed, one important aspect of Yoruba system is characterised by checks and balances and it is noteworthy that the overall structure is principally constitutional (Obaship) monarchy.

With all these special and arresting features, where have they come from?From where did they get there? For several years, opinions regarding the origin of Yoruba race have been diverse. Decidedly, the solution to the problem with respect to the origin of the Yoruba would appear to belong to a future age.

It is apposite, however, to observe, in line with the opinion of William Henry Clarke, the question when such a people as the Yoruba, who, in mental, moral and physical conditions so superior to the coast tribe, originated. Involved in the greatest obscurity as the origin, rise and progress of most African tribes are, it would be little less than vanity and presumption to attempt to give anything more than vague conjecture as to the country whence emigrated the Yoruba, or the epoch when that emigration took place. the Yoruba, who, in mental, moral and physical conditions 29

In any event, it will be appropriate to examine the various views of historians and archaeologists regarding where the Yoruba historical consciousness started. One view, which has its origin in the history of the Yoruba as recorded by Reverend Samuel Johnson is to the effect that the Yoruba originally came from the north-east of Africa with slim reference to Egypt or Yemen who were the inhabitants, originating from the remnant of the children of Canaan who were of the tribe of Nimrod. 30

They eventually settled in Ile-Ife after a long journey taking decades or centuries. Along their journey, they left colonies of themselves along the way. Of these colonies was Gogobiri, of present north of Nigeria, to which reference is often made by the Yoruba and the Gogobiri themselves.

The tradition has it that one group of these emigrants reached Ile-Ife under the leadership of Oduduwa who, according to the accounts, established a big growing Kingdom at Ife. Subsequently, he organised his sons and grandsons to found several Yoruba Kingdoms. These kingdoms founded by Oduduwa’s offsprings were several, numbering about sixteen or seventeen. However, in succeeding years, when an account of those who claimed to be direct descendants of Oduduwa was taken, the number was much higher.

In this connection, I.A. Akinjogbin, in his Dahomey and Its Neighbours, 1708- 1818, Page 9, tells us that at the end of 18th century, fourteen kingdoms, all founded by the sons of Oduduwa, appeared to be large and prosperous.

Indeed, from the Government Gazette Lagos of 18 February, 1903, we learnt that Oba Adelekan Olubuse 1, the Ooni of Ife, named twenty one kingdoms, excluding Ife, which derived their crowns from Ife. In like manner, Oba Sir Adesoji Aderemi, the Ooni of Ile, mentioned twenty-six such kingdoms deriving their crowns from Ife.

The other version which scholars and historians have generally noted is that Ile-Ife was the centre from which the world was created. This version tells us of a period when the whole world was covered with water and God sent messengers to go and create farmland out of the liquid mass. According to this tradition, the group comprise Obatala, (at times called Orisa Nla or Orisa Alaso) as the leader with sixteen Oye (immortals). Members of the party were given five pieces of iron, a lump of earth tied in a white piece of cloth and a cockrel. The tradition has it that somewhere along the way, Obatala got drunk with palm wine and Oduduwa seized the paraphernalia of power and authority from him and eventually led the delegation to the world. The place where the delegates landed is traditionally identified as the Oke Oranfe in Ife. Here, the five pieces of iron were set down, the lump of earth placed on them, and the chicken made to spread the earth with its toes. Following this, farmland appeared, and it gradually spread to cover the whole earth. From that event, the town probably took its name-Ile Ife (the house of spreading).

It would appear that the foregoing two views are contradictory, although on careful consideration, they might be reconcilable. For one thing, the two views have, common to both, the acknowledgement of Oduduwa as leader. But it is observed that in the case of the second version, the origin of Ife is much older than Oduduwa period, which, accordingly succeeded Obatala period. Additionally, lfe tradition would appear to remember some Ife kings such as Kutukutu Oba Igbo and Osangangan Oba Makin who were much ahead in time than Oduduwa.31

However, it is impossible to say, when exactly the period of Oduduwa, the acknowledged progenitor of the Yoruba race began. Therefore, there is not yet an ‘authorised version’ of when Oduduwa Kingdom was established nor what the actual origin of the Yoruba is. It will therefore be sufficient to rest here our discourse of the origin of Yoruba race and the precise period when the era of the great ancestor, Oduduwa, started.

Therefore, an intriguing diversion to the generous remark of William Henry Clark about the Yoruba race may, perhaps, be of interest as indeed, they may be noteworthy.

Reflecting on the unclear and uncertain origin of the Yoruba, and nontheless, extolling the virtues of the race, William Henry Clark said:

“They (the Yoruba) have a nature kind, affectionate, confiding, hospitable, most forgiving character, moulded after the tradition, laws, customs and usages of their fathers and consequently affected by the religion, debasing in its tendency, which they have inherited; genius, far more than supposed, and latent, because every avenue for its exercise and development has been closed, yet it is continually manifested in the transaction of their own affairs, the government of themselves, and the retaining of so many of their rude arts that tradition has left them. They are a people, without a doubt, of mind and thought and show it on nearly all occasions whenever they enjoy the opportunity.

Their children are apt to learn, quick, intelligent and sprightly, while there are many instances now living in their capability of acquiring knowledge to any extent, even after the years of maturity.” 32

The exact and precise origin of the people so well spoken of as did W.H. Clark, still lies to a great extent, in obscurity or, perhaps, in stimulating conjecture.

Highly impressed with the culture, tradition and general agreeable traits of the Yoruba, Clark said:

“For the sake of perspicuity, I shall often speak of the Yoruba as the genus of which the surrounding tribes are mere species.”33

Finally, William Clark asserted:

“The solution of the question as the origin of the African race very likely belong to a future age, when by the development of exploration and increased and extensive acquaintances, a greater and more intense light shall have been thrown on their history.”34

It is interesting to observe however, that in addition to language, culture and tradition, there is a common thread that binds Yoruba people together as ethnic nationality in their old patriarchal life which renders them a people fond of society and so increases their attainment which tend continually to develop and strengthen the social feelings of many a Yoruba man.

Families live together for years under the same roof and the same parental authority, however they may grow in size, without ever thinking of the west or east or any other point that may bear for a moment on the idea of their removal from the family circle.

• To be continued…

The bane and chain down of Nigeria’s progress and development

•Excerpts from a 261- paged book by Sir Olaniwun Ajayi

…Continued from yesterday.

It is interesting to observe that this man who now became a Doctor of Philosophy was a slave-gift.

He was a gift to the Duke of the Wolfen – buttel, a German, in 1707. He served his master as a page for many years.

This was the period when Africans, taken as slaves, were under various kinds of oppression and degradation, when the Africans were being dehumanised. It was just great that William Amo came, and to a great extent, to remove the blemish on the Africans.

But, thank goodness, he was not alone. There came another African, this time, a Nigerian. He was called Olaudah Equiano. He made a wonderful contribution to the abolitionist movement. Towards this end, he worked hard among both Blacks and Whites who were working very hard towards the abolition of the slave trade.

But while the unlawful and inhuman traffic in slaves was on and, indeed, many years after the official abolition, the Black Africans had been in mental darkness, human degradation, under – development and seriously depressed.

In a situation like this, the Africans accepted their being inferior towards the Whites. And of course, the Whites had taken them as being inferior and so treated them as such.

However, the death of the slave trade made it necessary, perhaps imperative, for the Whites to look for other commodities for export to Europe. Good as the tropics might be, the blemish and the hideous scar which the illicit trade in slaves created made the indelible impression in the mind of the white race that the status of the Black Africans was nothing, not more than that of their master’s cattle. This view of the Whites partly informed the belief that the Africans were basically different from the rest of the world. Therefore, it was argued that their destiny might be better guided by the Whites. It would appear that the thinking, and perhaps, the belief of the Whites and asiatics were that tropical Africa was most unfit for any principle that might underlie the Whites’ future relations with the tropical regions of the world. And so Benjamin Kidd argued and said: “Over a considerable proportion of these regions at present we have existing a state anarchy, or of primitive savagery, pure and simple, in which no attempt is made or can be made to develop the natural resources lying to hand.”

It appears a socratic irony to observe the high and interesting value which Benjamin Kidd placed on the tropics regarding the lucrative trade between the British and the tropical region. The same Kidd writes: “ … it is well known that in recent years, several of the important and expanding industries have been dependent on the regular supply of these materials, Indian — rubber, the demand for which is likely to continue to increase.

The imports in 1882 were valued at £2,700,000; in 1896, they were valued at some £5,000,000. The next article is Cocoa, the British imports in 1896 were 38000,000 lb. valued at £1,053,962, Coffee, some 80,000,000 lb. were imported, valued at £3,558,746…”If we consider now the trade of the United Kingdom at the end of nineteenth century in relation to the historical movements mentioned at the outset, we may regard it as falling into three great divisions as follows:

Trade of the U.K in 1896 with the tropics                      £1380000

With the English-speaking world (not including  £2330000

Total with the Tropics and English-speaking               £3710000

With the rest of the world                                                                £3670000

Gross total                                                                                           £7380000

Adding together, therefore, the exports and imports of the USA, we have remarkable analysis of the entire trade of the country as follows:

Trade of the USA in 1895 with the Tropics       $ 346,000,000

With the English-speaking world (not including  $ 657,000,000

Total with the Tropics and English-speaking world      $ 1,003,000,000

With the rest of the world                                                        $ 535,000,000

Gross Total                                                                          US$ 1,538,000,000

With the 1895 and 1896 rosy trade relations between the tropical regions and United Kingdom and the United States of America as stated above, it is certainly mystifying, that Dr. Benjamin Kidd could write as he did: “No serious attempt, at least no attempt of the kind which the importance of the subject appears to deserve, has so far been made to set forth the principles which should underlie our future relations with the tropical regions of the world.

It is hardly surprising therefore to observe the confirmed view of Kidd, stressing firmly that: “…there never has been, and there never will be, within any time with which we are practically concerned, such a thing as good government, in the European sense, of the tropics by the natives of these regions… The tropics will not be developed by the natives themselves.”

A country is a country: either small or big. America is a big country just as Portugal, comparatively, is a small country.

Nonetheless, we cannot deny Portugal of its rights because it is small against the rights of big America. The fact that a country is small, weak and underdeveloped does not mean that its people should enjoy less or fewer rights as citizens or suffer contempt, humiliations and scorn of an inferior status.

It is therefore true to observe that an intellectual, like Alfred Cobban, could generalise so wide and scornfully stating, as he did in his book ‘National Self-Determination’ that:

“National self-determination may in its normal political connotation be out of question in Africa…”

Unfortunately, Benjamin Kidd was not alone, regarding this parade of scorn and contempt for Black Africans.

Theodore Lothrop Stoddard in his book – ‘The Rising Tide of Colour Against White World Supremacy,’ published in 1920, said as follows:

“Unless, then, every lesson of history is to be disregarded, we must conclude that Black Africa is unable to stand alone. The Black man’s number may increase prodigiously and acquire alien veneers, but the black man’s nature will not change. Black unrest may grow and cause much trouble…”

In the matter in issue, it would be inappropriate to fail to make due reference to the part played by Lord Frederick Lugard who, himself is on record as the most tenacious and, to a very great extent, the most successful of all the proconsuls who put a powerful moral stamp on the character of European rule in Africa. If Lugard had any liking for Africans at all, it could only be for the Fulanis. Lugard’s book: ‘Dual Mandate in Tropical Africa,’ published in 1922 is replete with many unwholesome references which are demeaning and contemptuous of Africans. Lugard said:

“The verdict of students of history and sociology of different nationalities… is unanimous that the era of complete independence is not as yet visible on the horizon of time.”

Lugard referred to the statement credited to Dr. Stoddard and Meredith Townsend who said:

“None of the Black races, for instance, whether Negro or Australasian, has shown within the historic time the capacity to develop civilisation. They have never passed the boundaries of their own habitat as conquerors, and never exercised the smallest influences over peoples not Black. They have never founded a stone city, never built a ship, have never produced a literature, have never suggested a creed…”

At this juncture, it may be apposite to add the views expressed by Norman Leys, a medical officer in the British administration in East Africa who remarked thus:

“The root ideas of the new policy were that the peoples of the tropics were, essentially and permanently, inferior to Europeans, in every human sense, and in particular both that they were incapable of free institutions and that they conducted their own institutions so badly as to justify alien government irrespective of their wishes, so that, in Burke’s phrase, they were “doomed to live upon trust.” It followed that the wealth of the countries inhabited by these ‘lesser breed without the law’ — and it was soon found to be enormous—should not be left for hands so incompetent to neglect and abuse.

These conceptions were fixed in the public mind by Mr. Joseph Chamberlain when he called our dependencies “Imperial Estates.” Up to that time, they had been thought of as belonging to their inhabitants, not to the people of this country. Lord Cromer, that arch-enemy of the concessionaire, was the last prominent exponent of the earlier Imperial Policy. The new policy was directed by Mr. Chamberlain and exemplified by Mr. Cecil Rhodes and the Chartered Companies of South Africa and Borneo.”

As an aftermath of the nefarious trade in slaves, the impression, maybe hard impression, but which subsequent events and development have negatived, was that the Black Africans were weak, docile, lacking in self-confidence and holding themselves inferior to the White race.

Indeed, the impression was deep that the people of tropical Africa were quite different from the rest of mankind and that their destiny could only be guided or directed by the White race. And so, as in the previous instances cited, a Professor of history in Temple University, USA, Arthur Norton Cook, wrote thus:

“The day is far distant when the peoples of Africa will be capable of organising independent states, but past experience has shown that there will come a time when even the most liberal rulers can neither help nor hold a dependent people.”

In the twenties and early thirties, countervailing events and episodes began. Agitation for self-determination started in the Gold Coast (now Ghana) and in Nigeria. Political movements and agitation for self-rule continued to develop. Therefore, the whole world came to realise that Africans were determined to promote their own political development.

In this connection, two very relevant matters call for mention. The first one was a thoughtfully prophetic statement made by David Livingstone. The other one was an inspiring and soul – lifting statement by William Pitt. The first is by David Livingstone who averred thus: “Africans would be the saving of their own country.”

Closely similar to the foregoing was a comment by Rita Hinden, stating as follows in her Author’s Note:

“At least as much now depends on the actions of the people in the Colonies as on anything Britain can do, and a separate book might well be written on Colonial attitudes to imperialism, as a counterpart to this study of imperial attitudes to the Colonies. But such a book, if it is to ring true, can only come from someone who has himself experienced what it is to be a member of a subject race.”

It is disappointing to note, that Mergery Perham, with her many years of contact with Colonial Africa, particularly

Nigeria, could, like the others who knew Nigeria less, comparing tropical Africa with Asia, affirm the very provocative and rebuttable proposition in her lecture of 29 July, 1951 at Foreign Affairs Institute,” The British Problem in Africa”:

“In Asia, there are great areas of cultural and religious unity and of common pride, based on the inheritance of ancient civilisations. These people have brought their historic culture through centuries of subjection  to Western influence with their deepest element still inviolate …. The meeting of the West with Asia, for all the present disparity of material power, will have to be between equals in status….The dealings between tropical Africa and the West must be different. Here, in place of the larger unities of Asia was the multi-cellular tissue of tribalism; instead of an ancient civilisation the largest area of primitive poverty enduring into the modern age.

Until the very recent penetration by Europe, the greater part of the continent was without the wheel, the plough and the transport animal; almost without stone houses or cloths except for skins; without writing and so without history.”

A sharp critique of Miss Perham’s lecture came with a classic rebuttal by a Historian, Professor K. Onwuka Dike by way of a lecture— “African History and Self-Government.”

He said:

“Such statements, if true, justify doubts about Africa’s future. But an analysis of this and similar evidence reveals certain assumptions which can be questioned. In the first place, some European students seem to assume that no other culture or standard of progress is valid except their own. But there is no criterion by which to compare one culture in terms of progress with another. Each is the product of its environment and must primarily be judged in relation to the community which it serves. The term ‘culture’ is used by Anthropologists to cover a wide field; laws, customs, traditions, music, art, morals, belief, dress; in fact, everything which goes to the making of the full life of a given community.”

• To be continued…