Between 1914 and National Conference in Nigeria.

He soon conceived the idea of combining the competitive British trading firms on the Niger River to form a single chartered company, which then would govern the area for the crown. In 1879 he succeeded in amalgamating all British commercial interests on the Niger into the United African Company, but his application for a royal charter was refused in 1881 on the ground that British influence was not paramount in the Niger region. After the company had bought out its French competitors, however, Great Britain successfully claimed at the Berlin West Africa Conference (1884-85) that its commercial predominance on the lower Niger justified British rather than international political control. In 1886 Goldie’s firm was chartered as the Royal Niger Company. He was knighted in 1887. He became governor of the company in 1895.

By force and persuasion Goldie established control over the peoples of the hinterland of the Niger and Benue rivers, and, in negotiations with the French and German governments, he settled the boundaries of the British sphere of influence. When it appeared, however, that a private company was necessarily at a disadvantage in dealing with international questions, the Royal Niger Company’s charter was revoked, the British government taking direct control of the company’s possessions on Jan. 1, 1900. This territory and the adjacent Niger Coast Protectorate were reorganized as the two protectorates of Northern and Southern Nigeria.

On January 1, 1900, the Royal Niger Company sold the Nigerian territories and transferred them to the British Government for the sum of £865,000. It was like an auction at bazaar! That was the sum Nigeria and its people were valued and worth!

But there was an essential thing we must know about Sir Goldie. Even though his religious inclinations are now known but having travelled far and wide in Egypt and Sudan who were Islamic nations as at that period of time, it can be argued that Sir Goldie had soft spot for Islam and Moslems than for Christianity and Christians as evident in his “love” for the North that can be extrapolated from his activities throughout the two Protectorates. The same attitude was equally evident with Lord Frederick Lugard. This was the origin of the political imbalance between the North and the South, an imbalance established as a result of the sub-conscious or conscious Islamic mindset and preferential treatments given to the North over the South. A review of the history of the Royal Niger Company will reveal that RNC inflicted more vicious violence and cruelties in the South with its constabulary military forces than in the North. This was because the South was more rebellious and consequently challenged the authority and hegemony of the colonial masters in comparison with the North where the colonial masters met a more docile territory and people. The South was also generally more educated than the North even at this time.

Frederick John Dealtry Lugard, 1st Baron Lugard GCMG, CB, DSO, PC (22 January 1858  11 April 1945), known as Sir Frederick Lugard between 1901 and 1928, was a British soldier, mercenary, explorer of Africa and colonial administrator, who was Governor of Hong Kong (19071912) and Governor-General of Nigeria (1914-1919.)

Lugard was born in Madras (now Chennai) in India, but was raised in Worcester, England. He was the son of the Reverend F. G. Lugard, a British Army Chaplain at Madras, and Mary Howard (18191865), the youngest daughter of Reverend John Garton Howard (17861862), a younger son of Yorkshire landed gentry. Lugard was educated at Rossall School and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst.

Lugard was commissioned into the 9th Foot (East Norfolk Regiment) in 1878, joining the second battalion in India, and serving in the following campaigns: Afghan War (1879-1880) Sudan campaign (18841885) Third Burmese War (1886-1887). In May 1888, Lugard took command of an expedition organized by the British settlers in Nyasaland against Arab slave traders on Lake Nyasa and was severely wounded.

After he left Nyasaland in April 1889, Lugard joined the Imperial British East Africa Company. In their service, he explored the Sabaki River and the neighbouring region, in addition to elaborating a scheme for the emancipation of the slaves held by Arabs in the Zanzibar mainland. In 1890, Lugard was sent by the company to Uganda, where he secured British predominance of the area and put an end to the civil disturbances. The efforts came with severe fighting, chiefly notable for an unprovoked attack by the French on the British faction. After the successful efforts to end disturbances, Lugard became Military Administrator of Uganda from 26 December 1890 to May 1892. While administering Uganda, he journeyed round Ruwenzori to Albert Edward Nyanza, mapping a large area of the country. He also visited Albert Nyanza, and brought away some thousands of Sudanese who had been left there by Emin Pasha and H. M. Stanley during the Emin Pasha Relief Expedition.

When Lugard returned to England in 1892, he successfully dissuaded Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone and his cabinet from abandoning Uganda. In 1894, Lugard was dispatched by the Royal Niger Company to Borgu, where he secured treaties with the kings and chiefs acknowledging the sovereignty of the British company, while distancing the other colonial powers that were there. From 1896 to 1897, Lugard took charge of an expedition to Lake Ngami on behalf of the British West Charterland Company. From Ngami he was recalled by the British government and sent to West Africa, where he was commissioned to raise a native force to protect British interests in the hinterland of the Lagos Colony and Nigeria against French aggression. In August 1897, Lugard organized the West African Frontier Force, and commanded it until the end of December 1899, when the disputes with France were composed.

Sir George Goldie was a soldier-turned-businessman and adventurer. So also was Lord Fredereick Lugard: soldierturned-administrator. Apart from the fact of being an artillery soldier, Frederick Lugard was also involved in military intelligence. If he were to be alive today, he would most probably be working with the British MI6!

Are we also celebrating these men? Were these men worth celebrating?