From The Wall of Ayo Ojeniyi
LUGARD ON NIGERIAN TRIBES
*The handover notes Lord Lugard wrote to his colleague, Walter H. Lang, on the 25th of September 1918. The quote reads inter alia:*
HAUSA:
The Hausa-Fulani has no ideals, no ambitions save such as sensual in character. He is a fatalist, spendthrift and a gambler. He is so gravely immoral and seriously diseased that he is a menace to any community to which he seeks to attach himself.
YORUBA:
Lagos has for 20 years opposed every Governor and has formented strife and bloodshed in the hinterland…, I have spent the best part of my life in Africa; my aim has been the betterment of the natives for whom I have been ready to give my life. But after some 29 years, and after nearly 12 years as Governor here, I am free to say that the people of Lagos and indeed the westerners are the lowest, the most seditious and disloyal, the most purely prompted by self-seeking money motives of any people I have met.
IGBO:
These people of predominantly Eastern Nigeria are fiercely rebellious with no regard for authority. Though industrious and religious, in deference to the objectives of her majesty and the crown, they are highly dangerous to be trusted with power.
Credit: Na-Allah Zagga
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