ENUGU THE MINING SETTLEMENT

"In 1909 a team of itinerant geologists who were supposed to be looking for silver in this hilly area discovered the sub-bituminous coal which, subsequent investigations estableshed was available in commercial quantities.
The discovery came at a very opportune time, just before the outbreak of the first world war, 1914- 1918. The Goverenment of Nigeria decided to undertake the operation and the developement of the mines. Following the decision, a 151- mile railway route was built to connect the mining centre with the port of Port Harcourt . The first coal train steamed out of the coal mines in 1916. The settlement which grew out of the mines was called Enugu, an Igbo expression for top of the hill".


The colonial government needed Chief Onyeama of Eke. His drive and influence provided labourers from all over the surrounding villages who were set on the task of building the new railway line . nd



                                        A miner walking along the shaft of the Udi Mines

The coal that travels by aerial ropeway from the Hays Mines is loaded here at Ogbete Railway Marshalling Yard.


                                                 The main thoroughfare through  Enugu


                                                    The well shaded shopping centre


                                           The Roman Catholic Cathedral at Enugu c1961

Cricket: Nigeria v Ghana 1964

The Cricket score card from The Nigeria v Ghana Cricket match in Lagos on the 20th, 21st and 23rd March 1964.

GREETINGS FROM THE N.C.A PRESIDENT

I extend to our brothers from Ghana a right hearty welcome to Nigeria. I wish the the thrills of a tough game of cricket, which we hope to give them. I wish them plenty of fun and friendship.

Cricket is our common heritage - the strongest link that has bound our peoples together since the colonial days. That is why, whether in politics, or in business the Nigerian as well as the Ghanian can always trust to play the game according to the rules.

I hope that international cricket will continue to foster friendship between Nigeria and Ghana. Welcome friends and so to the pitch.
Chief A.S.E Agbabiaka

Patron:
HIS EXCELLENCY DR NNAMDI AZIKIWE
President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria

Vice Patron:
CHIEF THE HON.J.M.JOHNSON
Minister of Labour and Social Welfare

THE HON. SIR LOUIS MBANEFO
Chief Justice of Eastern Nigeria

PRESIDENT :
CHIEF A.S.E AGBABIAKA, M.B.E

VICE - PRESIDENT:
DR J. O MABAYOJE

Hon. Treasurer:
MR A . K SAGOE
(Lewis Street. Lagos)

Hon Secretary:
MR E. O OYESIKU
(Prison Street, Lagos)

Hon Assistant Secretary:
MR E. E. OJUMU

William Balfour Baikie (1825-1864)

Explorers like Ledyard,Lucas, Houghton, Hornman, and Mungo Parks all attempted to decipher  Western Africa but found it was no easy task. Death had other plans.

Africa was a riddle to outsiders and the biggest riddle was the River Niger! Dixon Denham and Hugh Clapperton had tried to cross it but failed. In 1830 the Landers Brothers (Richard and John) had managed to chart the course of the Niger from Bussa to the Delta but this was not enough because too many lives had been lost

In 1854 a noteable journey took place, when Dr William Balfour Baikie commanded an expedition up the Benue for more than three hundred miles without losing a single life; A new drug called Quinine was used for the first time. After this pioneering feat more ships started arriving, trade within the interior was increasing and the first missionaries landed.

In 1859 he set up base in Lokoja, it being the site of the model farm established by the Niger expedition in 1841 and abandoned on the death of most of the white settlers. After Baikie concluded a treaty with the Fula Emir of Nupe, he proceeded to clear ground and pave the way for a future city, which had almost 2000 representatives of the different tribes of West Central Africa trading in the first 3 years. After his death in 1864, Lokoja remained an influential trading post. The British then secured the district through the Niger Company and later became the Capital of the Northern Nigeria Protectorate when the British Government took over.


Interesting to note that in the Igbo language the word for “white man” is “Bekee” a corruption of his name and the name “Ala Bekee” means Britain, “Baikies Country”

Report on the countries in the neighborhood of the Niger 1863

Dejobbed, Bewifed And Much Childrenised

This is a 1929, letter by a man who apparently lost his job. I think the letter is a master piece!!. I wonder if this "dejobbed" "bewifed" and "much childrenised" man was ever "rejobulated." :D

(Source: The National Archives' Africa Through a Lens project.)

Transcript

Calabar
February 2nd 1929.

Kind Sir,

On opening this epistle you will behold the work of a dejobbed person, and a very bewifed and much childrenised gentleman.

Who was violently dejobbed in a twinkling by your goodself. For Heavens sake Sir consider this catastrophe as falling on your own head, and remind yourself as walking home at the moon's end of five savage wives and sixteen voracious children with your pocket filled with non-existent £ S D; not a solitudery sixpence; pity my horrible state when being dejobbed and proceeding with a heart and intestines filled with misery to this den of doom; myself did greedily contemplate culpable homicide, but Him who did protect Daniel (poet) safely through the lion's dens will protect his servant in his home of evil.

As to reason given by yourself — goodself — esquire for my dejobbment the incrimination was laziness.

No Sir. It were impossible that myself who has pitched sixteen infant children into this valley of tears, can have a lazy atom in his mortal frame, and the sudden departure of eleven pounds monthly has left me on the verge of the abyss of destitution and despair. I hope this vision of horror will enrich your dreams this night, and good Angel will meet and pulverise your heart of nether milestone so that you will awaken, and with as much alacrity as may be compatable with your personal safety, you will hasten to rejobulate your servant.

So mote it be - Amen

Yours despairfully

Sgd. Asuquo Okon Inyang.

Source: www.lettersofnote.com

Bishop Ajayi Crowther

Bishop Adjayi Crowther with converts persecuted at Bonny, and idols surrendered to him by King Ockiya.

Bishop Samuel Adjayi Crowther (c. 1809 – 31 December 1891) Was the first African Anglican bishop in Nigeria. Born in Osogun (in today's Iseyin Local Government, Oyo State, Nigeria).

His grandson Herbert Macaulay became one of the first Nigerian nationalists and played an important role in ending British colonial rule in Nigeria.


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Lagos Light House 1947

"The Lagos light house, built in 1891, is about half a mile to the west of the harbour entrance and rises 100ft above the flat, sandy seashore.

The light is not electric but is produced by burning kerosene.
Every possible care is taken to avoid failure of the light and a mantle is replaced by a new one after three nights of use."

The Lamp of Lagos lighthouse surrounded by lenses and prisms to collect and direct the light given out by the incandescent mantle

Dandeson Coates Crowther

Picture Rev. Dandeson Crowther and his household n.d

Dandeson Coates Crowther
1844 to 1938
Anglican (CMS)

Son of Bishop Ajayi Crowther and Uncle to Herbert Macaulay
Dandeson Coates Crowther was a West African church leader. Born in Freetown, Sierra Leone, Crowther was the youngest son of Anglican Bishop Samuel Ajayi Crowther. Ordained by his father in 1870, Crowther joined the Niger Mission of the Church Missionary Society (CMS) the following year and became archdeacon of the Niger Delta in 1876. He was indefatigable organizer and inspirational leader; it was mainly due to his enthusiasm and evangelistic zeal that a mass movement toward Christianity grew in the Niger Delta during the 1870s and 1880s. However, the Niger crisis of the early 1890s (which produced racial conflict, high-handed reform by the CMS missionaries, and rebellion of the national leadership) marked a turning point in his career. Among other things, European agency was introduced into the hitherto all-African Delta Mission, ultimately causing the Niger Delta to secede from the CMS. This revolt was spearheaded by Crowther. Then, in April 1892 he launched the Niger Delta Pastorate. This experience of independence lasted for only six years, but it represented one of the first significant, wholly African attempts to establish a self-supporting, self-governing church in western Africa. As its prime mover, Crowther deserves special recognition in the study of Christian missions.
- From The Biographical Dictionary of Christian Missions.