₦airaland Forum

The irony here is that the jihad of Uthman Don Fodio against the Hausa kingdom was succesful in part because he condemned the enslavement of fellow muslims and from there was able to recruit more and more slaves into his jihadist quest to unsurp their Hausa oppresors.

Once the Sokoto Caliphate had been established by Don Fodio, slavery did not reduce but became more institutionalized in the north.

[size=18pt]Convict labour under colonial rule[/size]

After the British conquest in 1897-1903, the state established new prisons and maintained some old ones.33 The vast majority of the current prisons in Northern Nigeria, such as the Kano central prison and the Kazaure central prison, were built during the colonial era.34 The colonial government saw to it that agriculture emerged as the most important economic activity. This was due to several factors, of which the most prominent were: the growing demand for raw materials like cotton, rubber, groundnuts, palm oil and palm kernel by British industries; the need to make Britain independent of America for its raw cotton; and the need to generate revenue for the administration of the protectorate/colony.35 Given that colonial economic activities were mainly directed towards satisfying these needs, it is not surprising that the focus of agricultural production was on cash crop cultivation.36 The state and European firms provided seeds and employed other strategies to encourage owners of small farms to produce mainly groundnuts and cotton.37 Slave labour on plantations was instrumental to the expansion of groundnut production, as evidenced by the contribution of the royal estate in Fanisau to its development in Kano.38

In addition to encouraging the production of cash crops on small holdings and plantations, the state initiated agricultural experimental centres in prisons so as to help determine whether specific regions in Northern Nigeria were suitable for growing specific cash crops. These centres were often located on prison “farmlands,” which were also responsible for the production of food.39 The prison farmlands varied in size, but in general they occupied public land or land owned by the government, rather than land rented, purchased or borrowed.40 Because of that, the prison farmlands did not face significant obstacles in terms of land use. Consequently, colonial prison administrators could increase the acreage under cultivation at any point and locate farmlands either “on the ground in the immediate vicinity of gaol[s]” or elsewhere.41 In one report, it was proposed to move a farmland to an area relatively distant from the prison because “The ground in the immediate vicinity of the gaol is not suitable for farming purposes, the ground being very stony, and the crops were not successful”.42
The evidence discovered among the documents we digitised suggests that, unlike the use of convict labourers for food production, their use in cash crop production was not practised in all the prison farmlands that existed in early colonial Northern Nigeria. Specifically, it suggests that the use of these labourers in cash crop production was limited to several areas in Northern Nigeria including Zungeru, Lokoja, Niger Province, Kabba Province and Nassarawa Province. In these areas, convicts cultivated cash crops that were important both in Europe and also locally. Thus, in Nassarawa Province, convicts cultivated soya beans as well as the Nyasaland and Ilushi types of cotton; in Niger Province, convicts cultivated cotton; in Kabba, convicts cultivated cotton and soya beans; in Zungeru, convicts cultivated ceara rubber and sisal hemp; and in Lokoja, convicts cultivated cocoa and kola.43 Outside the actual cultivation of cash crops by convicts in these regions, there is evidence that the Director of Agriculture advocated the experiment of growing wattle in Zaria Province in 1913, although we do not know whether or not this experiment was conducted.44
Although data on the quantity of cash crops produced by convicts are lacking for almost all the regions mentioned above, we do have documents indicating that ten acres of cotton were cultivated in Nassarawa in 1911 and that 150 lbs of cotton were picked in Niger Province in 1911 (Fig. 10.6).45
Given this available data, and the fact that convicts represented a small percentage of the colonial workforce, one can assume that the cash crops produced by convicts were generally of little quantitative importance.46 On the other hand, the experimental cash crop cultivation on prison farmlands, whether successful or unsuccessful, helped to determine whether the soil and climate of specific regions were suitable for the cultivation of specific cash crops.47 Accordingly, this experimental cultivation must have been one of the factors that helped to foster the expansion of cash crop production in early colonial Northern Nigeria.
The work done by the prisoners employed in farming was considered “light” in comparison to the work prisoners did elsewhere.48 Although farm work was ideally meant only for convicts certified as medically unfit for hard labour, there is evidence that convicts employed for “hard” or non-agricultural work were sometimes also employed for farming.49 The working day could start from 6am-12pm and finish between 2pm-5.15pm, six days per week.50 Sometimes non-convicts assisted convicts in work on prison farmlands. In Niger Province in 1911, for instance, “Two acres of land were planted on July 4th with cotton and on December 13th the first picking was done by some of the Resident’s staff. All the labour other than the actual picking, was carried out by prisoners”.51

Prisons existed in the Sokoto Caliphate before the British conquest, but little attention has been devoted to examining pre-colonial imprisonment. Nevertheless, it is clear from extant sources that the inmates in Sokoto Caliphate prisons could be classified into three major groups: war prisoners, freeborn people imprisoned for political or other crimes, and slaves.Generally, most inmates could be ransomed, executed, enslaved or exchanged. Although many of those enslaved (from all three groups of prisoners) were used as domestic servants, others were sent to ribats (frontier fortresses) where they served as soldiers and/or in other roles such as plantation labourers, builders, concubines and weavers.

There is evidence that convicts based within Sokoto Caliphate prisons (including those war prisoners who were yet to be ransomed, executed, enslaved or exchanged) often worked under close supervision on state fields “the entire day before returning to their cells”. Inmates, like many Sokoto Caliphate slaves, frequently experienced physical cruelty and starvation.24 Even though slave owners mostly punished their own slaves outside the prison, there is evidence that the slaves within Sokoto Caliphate prisons were often sent there by private estate owners or administrators of state holdings.

In the Kano area, the major prison to which recalcitrant slaves were banished was Gidan Ma’ajin Watari. Situated less than a kilometre northeast of the Emir’s palace in Kano city, it was owned by the state and managed by the state official called Ma’ajin Watari. Masters sent defiant slaves, including those whom they did not want to sell or otherwise dispose of, to this prison for reform or, as Yusuf Yunusa puts it, “to be punished and preached to”. On a slave’s arrival at the prison, the master was expected to declare the specific offence the slave had committed and the type of punishment to be meted out. Thereafter, the erring slave was admitted to the facility through two doors, being severely beaten in the process.

The conditions at Gidan Ma’ajin Watari were terrible, as an early colonial record indicates:
A small doorway 2 ft. 6 in. by 18 in. gives access into it; the interior is divided by a thick mud wall (with a smaller hole in it) into two compartments, each 17 ft. by 7 ft. and 11 ft. high. This wall was pierced with holes at its base, through which the legs of those sentenced to death were thrust up to the thigh, and they were left to be trodden on by the mass of other prisoners till they died of thirst and starvation. The place is entirely air-tight and unventilated, except for one small doorway or rather hole in the wall through which you creep. The total space inside is 2,618 cu. ft., and at the time we took Kano [1903] 135 human beings were confined here each night, being let out during the day to cook their food, etc., in a small adjoining area. Recently as many as 200 have been interned at one time. As the superficial ground area was only 238 square feet, there was not, of course, even standing room. Victims were crushed to death every night — their corpses were hauled out each morning.

While in prison, a slave was usually subjected to torture by fellow inmates as well as by guards. Masters could occasionally pay a visit to the prison to determine whether or not their slaves should be released. During such visits, the masters often presented their slaves with cowries or food, while the slaves, in turn, would plead for forgiveness. Ultimately, it was the master who decided how many days the slave would spend in the facility.

Whether or not it was standard practice for masters in all parts of the Sokoto Caliphate to send slaves to various state prisons for reform, three facts are clear from the pre-colonial era. First, a prison system existed prior to British conquest in pre-colonial Muslim Nigeria. Second, convicts were sometimes made to work on state fields. Third, for all the physical punishment of convicts, the notion of rehabilitation appears to have been part of the ethos of both the caliphal state and the caliphal slaveholders.

http://www.openbookpublishers.com/htmlreader/978-1-78374-062-8/10.Salau.xhtml

masqot:
You're making a baseless assertion. It's either you're careless or a thief and gambler yourself. That's hasty generalization and it affects reasoning. Work on it quickly before it sinks you.

Google prison inmate population in Nigeria yoruba and see for yourself

waterhouse071:
I schooled in osun state for 5 years and I can boldly say that Osun is the most peaceful state I had ever lived.

Yorubas account for 64% of convicted felons serving terms in federal prisons across the nation.

Google it

Red and orange they say induces appetite
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/05/c7/9a/05c79a3fc4b42f2226e2dbf02c048513.jpg

Blue and white induce thirst and purity.


This is why most fast food restaurants and wate bottling companies employ these colors in branding.

Red and yellow are two colors that signify food in the human brain.

Fruits are best eaten when ripe and most fruits have red and yellow colors when fully developed.

This is coming from our vegetarian heritage but also on the carnivore aspect, red meat is also tantalizing .

Blue clear waters are an invitation for us to drink since we can safely assume the water is fresh.

TEHRAN (FNA)- Ghana President John Mahama is scheduled to visit Tehran on Saturday at the top of an politico-economic delegation, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Arab-African Affairs Hossein Amir Abdollahian said.
“President Mahama has been invited by President Hassan Rouhani and plans to meet with senior officials," Amir Abdollahian said.

President Mahama is the first African president visiting Iran after implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

Mahama will be accompanied by a number of ministers and private sector businessmen during his visit, Abdollahian said, adding that there will be more African officials visiting the Iranian capital in the coming weeks.

According to Abdollahian, the two sides' talks will discuss cooperation in energy, oil, economy, agriculture, and development of natural resources.

Ghana and relations with the Islamic Republic date back to the co–founding of the Non-Aligned Movement by the 1st President of Ghana Kwame Nkrumah in 1961 and President of Ghana John Dramani Mahama described Iran-Ghana relations as historic, and expressed the accomplishments on lifting of ties to a higher level.

Iran and the 6th President of Iran and 30th Secretary-General of the NAM Mahmoud Ahmadinejad visited Ghana prior to being succeeded in term of office by the 7th President of Iran and 31st Secretary-General of the NAM Hassan Rouhani.

In recent years, Iran has sought hard to boost ties and cooperation with Africa.

Iran is an observing member of the African Union (AU) and has shown an active presence in previous AU summit meetings.

In December, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif called for widening cooperation with Africa

"Africa is of paramount importance in Iran's foreign policy," Zarif said in a meeting with visiting Executive Secretary of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) Mahboub Maalim in Tehran.

Ghanian position of neutrality is paying off as the Ghanian President was invited to visit Iran by the Iranian govt to discus and finalize trade discussions between the two countries.

The talks will include everything from Agriculture, medical, military and economic bilateral agreements.


So while the old senile fool was quick to side blindly with Saudi Arabia and order out killings of Shiites thereby alienating Iran, the Ghanians are making economic in-roads with a regional power.


How daft is this Buhari ?

IGBOPRINCE:
shut up. They represent themselves..it has nothing to do with islam.

Lolz.

Yorubaprince take it easy nah.

You sound as if you are about to go full jihad here

CastedDude:
no be so naa. Boko Haram members are just bloody killers, they don't represent Islam....before u judge, just remember that Christians too have ritual killers and kidnappers

Boko haram are Muslims and very good Muslims at that.

You delude yourself only

seunmsg:
I can only laugh at you for spewing this thrash. A very small oil rich state is borrowing to pay salaries and you are here defending this nonsense. Dickson should just have informed the people of Bayelsa that he can no longer borrow to pay their salaries before the election.

That one no concern you.

Una wey no get anything in osun have a higher debt than bayelsa


At the end of the day, Bayelsa civil servants take home federal rates while Aregbe can't even pay half of the slave rate he is paying osun workers

And also at the end of the dat, Aregbe has only 55million naira left .


Dickson did not say the state was broke but that the harsh economic realities emanating from shortfall of oil price will seriously affect his state ability from paying by sourcing from bank loans.


[size=28pt]He is not borrowing anymore unlike your governor who said he can't pay because banks refused to loan him.[/size]

The newly appointed Special Assistant to the Presidency on New Media looks errily similar to one of the e-rats hosted and fed by Aisha late last year .

www.nairaland.com/attachments/3217515_aishabuharihostsendoftheyeargatheringofsocialmediachangeagentsattheasovilla4_jpegdda79f69db166586780902cdaa1a5dc6

The guy in the middle with his long neck looks very much like the new SA to new media

www.nairaland.com/attachments/3393595_bashir_jpeg27fe710d80dad2b0b61902e364360809

I just dey pity gbawe upon all the hard work he was doing on NL nah this ab0ki dem appoint.

Quota system is a biatch Lolz.

But not to worry, this dudes only function is to assist the president in making Facebook and twitter posts.

When they need una dey go recruit una again in 2019.
Lolz

I have been reviewing Buhari's some what stupidity and have found that in every nonsense he has done so far as president there is some sense in it.

By deliberately not appointing supervising ministers, Buhari unleashed his cronies and henchmen on the civil service were they bled it dry.

They intimidated Directors and Permsecs of MDAs with threats of sack or corruption in order to have them re-contract dubious contracts from were they fleeced Nigeria dry.

How can we explain that nearly 10mths into his adminstration political appointees in MDAs from the last adminstration have yet to be removed and replaced by those loyal to the APC?

The only thing he did after accepting resignations from GEJ appointed ministers was to dissolve boards of parastatals but left chief executives and directors who he ordered to compensate his hungry CPC comrades who have been out in the cold since the days of Abacha.


The 2015 inherited budget was never adhered to and we all saw how fashola washed his hands from the 4bn naira mobilization fee scam for road contracts with no single centimeter of road constructed so far. Fashola told a congressional hearing on budget defense that the monies were not approved by him but were done before he was appointed minister. Note; fashola did not adhere to the APC blame game by accusing Jonathan's adminstration but merely stated that he was not aware of such payments . It is also important to note that the committee was reviewing expenditures for 2015 in consideration of the 2016 budget and wanted explanation from fashola why no work was recorded after it was found out that 4bn naira was appropriated for 2015 and disbursed by his ministry in the same year to road contractors who never mobolised to site .

The Buhari govt will later still approach the national assembly to approve 2 trillion naira as supplementary budget financed from loans with nothing on ground to show for in 2015.

Their latest scam now is to discredit the IPPIS initiative by throwing allegations of ghost workers in order to appoint another private firm to oversee salary renumerations for the federal civil service from where more ghost workers will be created.

This govt is filled with Abacha era apologists and cronies who are bent on amassing as much wealth to themselves as they can under the dullard who they chose to support for the presidency because of his gross ignorance and foolishness.

Nigeria is doomed.

Bayelsa is a civil servant state with majority of employed people working in one sort of capacity under the state govt.


Most importantly , Bayelsa adopts federal wage scale unlike beggars in osun.

The drop in oil prices will hit hard on Bayelsa since there is hardly any industry outside oil to sustain the govt.


Bayelsa even at now is still better than osun which can't even pay half of the low sate wage which isn't up to minimum wage .

seunmsg:
Lalasticlala, if this is about Osun state, I am sure it would be on the front page by now.

nogames:
Speaking his own mind by calling mop action on Pastor kumuyi and co?

If I go to Kano central mosque on Friday and started distributing Christian tracts , will you mourn me after I get lynched to death by Muslim mob?


Words are relative until action is carried out on them.

Has anybody been killed because of Kanu?

Has any of his supporters carried out any of his threats?

seunmsg:
This thread is about Omojuwa and not Nnamdi Kanu. Open a thread to that effect and I will engage you.

Double standard hypocrisy at its most radiant form.


You asked why hatred must be directed on others with varrying political ideology or aspirations and I gave you a mirror to look into.


Omojuwa or whatever is a Nnamdi Kanu to some people .

Besides nobody threatened the twitter ranter but wished him a worse faith in future with death.

Isn't that the same thing your like have been wishing and praying for over Kanu ?

Hypocrites

CltrAltDel:
pls dont allow hatred blind you......

And I hope you will see Nnamdi Kanu's trial in different light after all he just spoke his own mind.

seunmsg:
Why wish horrible death on a fellow human simply because of political differences?

Why wish for Nnamdi Kanu's conviction and execution on treason because of his political views?

Answer that and we can talk.

Eeser:
Talking gibberish bro. The US you are talking about have about 1.3million personnel in active service with more than 700 thousand reservist. Nigeria do not have up to 300 thousand personnel in our armed forces (tri-service). Let's not forget that It's also a means of creating employment.

Do you have $700bn to maintain a disciplined and professional force at that number?


Besides you lie.

https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/02/24/article-2566638-1BCC3A5000000578-584_634x396.jpg

The US has just slightly below 500,000 regular and active men and women in the armed forces.

Reserves are not paid but are a voluntary force that are drafted for national disasters and as a last line of home defense.

Nobody threatened him but told him that he will reap his own words.

I have been reviewing Buhari's some what stupidity and have found that in every nonsense he has done so far as president there is some sense in it.

By deliberately not appointing supervising ministers, Buhari unleashed his cronies and henchmen on the civil service were they bled it dry.

They intimidated Directors and Permsecs of MDAs with threats of sack or corruption in order to have them re-contract dubious contracts from were they fleeced Nigeria dry.

How can we explain that nearly 10mths into his adminstration political appointees in MDAs from the last adminstration have yet to be removed and replaced by those loyal to the APC?

The only thing he did after accepting resignations from GEJ appointed ministers was to dissolve boards of parastatals but left chief executives and directors who he ordered to compensate his hungry CPC comrades who have been out in the cold since the days of Abacha.


The 2015 inherited budget was never adhered to and we all saw how fashola washed his hands from the 4bn naira mobilization fee scam for road contracts with no single centimeter of road constructed so far. Fashola told a congressional hearing on budget defense that the monies were not approved by him but were done before he was appointed minister. Note; fashola did not adhere to the APC blame game by accusing Jonathan's adminstration but merely stated that he was not aware of such payments . It is also important to note that the committee was reviewing expenditures for 2015 in consideration of the 2016 budget and wanted explanation from fashola why no work was recorded after it was found out that 4bn naira was appropriated for 2015 and disbursed by his ministry in the same year to road contractors who never mobolised to site .

The Buhari govt will later still approach the national assembly to approve 2 trillion naira as supplementary budget financed from loans with nothing on ground to show for in 2015.

Their latest scam now is to discredit the IPPIS initiative by throwing allegations of ghost workers in order to appoint another private firm to oversee salary renumerations for the federal civil service from where more ghost workers will be created.

This govt is filled with Abacha era apologists and cronies who are bent on amassing as much wealth to themselves as they can under the dullard who they chose to support for the presidency because of his gross ignorance and foolishness.

Nigeria is doomed.

Penisinpenisout:
They starved them
Rape them
Torture these girls until they have no reason to stay alive
Then they give them explosives to end their lives, promising them heaven.

What a cruel faith, life is weird.

This is not life God ordained for us but that crafted from the evil heart of one medieval vagabond who ravaged the desolate badlands of Arabia.

We must say the truth about the evil doctrine behind this lunacy .

hamzeiy:
imbe.cile. you never tire..u go live and die turn to maggot infested ass.hole and yet nigeria go still they kampe..foo.l

Lol.

Without Nigeria , it seems some people's identity and existence is doomed.

Keep hoping on nonsense.


If Rome, Egypt, Assayrian, Ottoman, British, Babylonian and Soviet empires can collapse what is this slave colony?

Penisinpenisout:
Even landsize, nigeria is still far bigger than texas.
Just stop trying to compare 3rd world country to 1st world, it just makes you look stupid and not smart.

We are not the same, and will never be for a long long time.

There you go again.

Jumping from one contradictory position to another.

Did you not use US population figures to justify their army size to which you used to defend this latest foolishness by Buhari ?

And now you revert back to claiming that the US is far more advanced and so doesn't need numerical strength?


You zombies will never stop to amaze me with your contradictions

Penisinpenisout:
Even landsize, nigeria is still far bigger than texas.
Just stop trying to compare 3rd world country to 1st world, it just makes you look stupid and not smart.

We are not the same, and will never be for a long long time.

The state of Texas is approximately 1 million sq kilometers which is the same with Nigeria


Go and get your geography education up to scratch

Yeye

gagewonda:
bro the guy made sense

You dey mind them.


This move just re-enforces my belief that the Nigerian army which is a legacy of the British colonialists was and still is a military occupation force and not one designed for existential threats.

A mere look at military formations across the nation proves that the army is deployed not for defense but to prevent dissent.

By allowing a larger personnel, they hope to achieve their objective of controlling the civilian populace.

With a well disciplined and professional division headed by intelligent commanders and the right logistic boko haram can easily be dislodged.


By hiring more bullet catchers , the army will be saddled with more overhead costs and little left for training and equipment.And the only way they can maintain a sort of semblance of discipline and unity within the army is to make surE it is drawn along ethnic lines thereby creating a sense of occupation among the minds of non northernerS.

In this 21st century, numerical strength is total rubbish .


This move just exposed Buhari's outdated military knowledge and his ambition of creating a politicized militia.

This will not in any way bennefit the nation.

Penisinpenisout:
You're an id.iot, nigeria has zero reserve
I mentioned their reserve because you were ranting about scaling down bullshit.

If they have that much in their reserve, what scaling down did they do? Their active army is 4times more than ours and you're talking shit about scaling?

I knew you wont have any argument than to point out one word "reserve" now that linked the proof to your face.

Keep crying buhari a river.

And the US military annual budget is $500bn .

Do you have up to 5% of that in total reserves?

Keep decieving yourself .


If wishes were possible every fool will have a horse carriage to ride on.

Abi una won borrow to finance your political militia wing?