Joseph Nfi Nigerians on Mission in the British Southern Cameroons

Annotation

Nigerians on Mission in the British Southern Cameroons is a succinct account of the efforts made by Nigerian officials in the British Southern Cameroons to annex and Nigerianise this territory which was historically, ethnically, geographically and economically related to Eastern Nigeria or Igbo Land. The author examines the important role played by Nigerian military and non-military personnel in the British conquest of German Kamerun during the First World War, the exploitation of the economy of the territory by Nigerians, the "civilising" mission of Nigerian teachers and civil servants and the struggle by the political elite to retain the Southern Cameroons within the Nigerian polity. This mission of annexation, colonisation and "civilisation" failed because of the atrocities and barbaric acts of the "imperialists" and largely because the Southern Cameroon nationalists resisted Nigerian domination and the attempts to make their home land "a colony of a colony". The merit of the book comes from the use of abundant primary sources to demonstrate that some Africans attempted to use European imperialism to acquire additional territories for their kingdoms and states.