Lord Lugard wrote a letter to his colleague about the characters the three major tribes in Nigeria possessed. This is the letter of 1918 September 25.
Lugard was born in Madras (now Chennai) in India, but was brought up in Worcester, England.
He was the son of the Reverend Frederick Grueber Lugard, a British Army chaplain at Madras, and his third wife Mary Howard (1819– 1865), the youngest daughter of Reverend John Garton Howard (1786– 1862), a younger son of landed gentry from Thorne and Melbourne near York.
His paternal uncle was Sir Edward Lugard, Adjutant- General in India from 1857 to 1858 and Permanent Under- Secretary of State for War at the War Office from 1861 to 1871.
Lugard was educated at Rossall School and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst. The name ‘ Dealtry’ was in honour of Thomas Dealtry, a friend of his father.
Lord Lugard wrote this a letter to his colleague about the characters the three major tribes in Nigeria possessed. This is the letter of 1918 September 25.
Hausa: This people have no ideals, no ambitions save such a sensual government. He is a gamble, spendthrift and fatalist. He is immoral and also a menace to any society he attaches him self to.
Yoruba: Lagos for 20 years made an opposition to every Governor that came, they have caused bloodshed and strife in the hinter land. I spent the in Africa the best part of my own life and my goal is to see to the betterment of the native people who I am even ready to give my life for. Just nearly 12 years as governor here, I would say that the people of Lagos, the Westerners are low, the are disloyal and at the same time seditious, they also have a self seeking money motive.
The Igbos: This people who are from the south eastern Nigeria have no regard for authority and are fiercely rebellious. Although they are religious and industrious but in respect to the crown and her majesty, they are too dangerous to be trusted with power.
What do you think about what the first ever governor of Nigeria said about the three languages, is he right in what he said about the Igbos, Hausa and Yorubas, let us know by commenting.
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How comes this man made many grammatical errors. His comment about Hausa are not true. He found us as hard working, simple, shy, trust worthy and comparatively the most civilized tribe. We could read, write, cloth and shelter yourself. We have one of the two major religion and outstanding record in trans Saharan trade and other international businesses of that time. We had centralized government and our power extended to many countries in west Africa. They didn’t give us name, cloth or shelter. That was why they wrote in British documentary that ” do not educate northerners. I f ubdo so they would be as progressive and intellectual Muslims as the type of Indians and Egyptians” They wanted us to denounce our religion and culture to be educated and we said no. What is is god is eternal while theirs is epimeral. Thank God we are Muslims and are competing with others positively.