Retro series: How Nigeria was sold for £865,000 to Britain (photos)
In this retro series, Naij.com looks back at the significant period in history when the area that would later become Nigeria was sold to Britain for £865,000.
The second industrial revolution which put Britain at the forefront of technological development necessitated a huge demand for palm oil which was necessary to power industrial machines. The Niger Delta region was the world’s leading producer of this much south-after oil.
The demand for palm oil and its supply was at first uncoordinated with local farmer selling to the highest bidders. Tribal leaders especially those who were former slaves who had dealings with the Europeans were influential and became wealthy due to the oil trade.
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The Europeans were however at loggerhead as to which country would have preferential access to the palm oil. The formation of the United African Company by George Goldie in 1879 allowed Britain to effectively take over the Lower Niger River. By 1884, the company had 30 trading posts along the Lower Niger. This made it possible for Britain to “own” the region at the Berlin Conference in the same year ahead of the French and German.
By 1886, a lot had changed and the Britain had started to make inroads into the inlands which were against previous verbal agreements that had restricted trade to the coastal region. The Brits also started making deals with tribal chiefs and dealt with them directly. Its name was first changed to The National Africa Company and was granted a royal charter before it was later renamed to the Royal Niger Company and was soon viewed with disdain by the chiefs who felt the company had failed to honour its contract.
King Jaja of Opobo became one of the rulers to start bypassing the Royal Niger Company and deal with independent marketers in Liverpool as he has been doing before. Due to his continued taxation of British traders, he was invited by a British vice consul, Henry Hamilton Johnston for negotiation in 1887. He was arrested and exiled to Saint Vincent in the West Indies. He fought his abduction and forced exile and was finally granted permission to return home. However, on his way back, he died on the ship. While some accounts claimed his death was due to his failing health, others claimed he was poisoned with a cup of tea.
king Jaja of zopobo
The treatment of Jaja in the hands of the British affected the way other communities perceived the Royal Niger Company and they began to reconsider their agreements. One of those rulers to openly revolt was Koko Mingi VIII who was the ruler of Nembe kingdom. He was a school teacher who rose to the throne in 1889. He was uncomfortable with the monopoly enjoyed by the Royal Niger Company and tried to seek favourable agreements with Germans. This was however blocked by the British company which also stopped the locals from dealing directly with former markets.
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Koko renounced his Christian faith in 1894 and formed an alliance with Bonny and Okpoma against the Royal Nigeria Company to take back the trade. On 29 January 1895, King Koko led more than a thousand men in an attack against the Royal Niger Company’s headquarters, which was in Akassa in present day Bayelsa state. 60 white men were captured as hostages while 40 men from Kokos’ side died.
king koko
Koko tried to negotiate with the British that in exchange for the hostages, he would be allowed to negotiate his trade without their interference. This condition was refused and 40 of the hostages were killed. It was further claimed that they were eaten by Nembe men. On February 20, 1895, Britain’s Royal Navy, under Admiral Beford attacked Brass, and burned it to the ground. Many Nembe people died while an outbreak of smallpox killed more.
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Following the failed negotiation and the counter-attack, Koko fled and Brass was fined £500 by the British. The rest of the hostages were returned and after a British parliamentary commission met, Koko was offered terms of settlement by the British, which he rejected and disappeared. He was declared wanted and a reward was offered for whoever found him. He committed suicide in 1898 in exile.
Following the Brass oil war, there was public outrage against the Royal Oil Company on the way the company treated the people and their approval rating dropped. The charter which enabled the Royal Niger Company to administer the Niger Delta region was revoked in 1899. The Royal Niger Company was forced to sell its holdings to the British government for a paltry £865,000 which is N17 billion when adjusted for inflation. This would become the amount Britain paid to acquire the area that would later be known as Nigeria and provided the inroad for amalgamation and eventually colonialism.
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