Amalgamation House neglected despite tourism potential

The Amalgamation House is where the then governor of the Northern Protectorate and the Colony and Protectorate of Southern Nigeria, Lord Frederick Lugard, on January 1, 1914, signed a document merging the two entities into one. The house, which was the administrative headquarters of Lord Lugard, is located in Ikot Abasi, Akwa Ibom State and […]

The Amalgamation House is where the then governor of the Northern Protectorate and the Colony and Protectorate of Southern Nigeria, Lord Frederick Lugard, on January 1, 1914, signed a document merging the two entities into one.

The house, which was the administrative headquarters of Lord Lugard, is located in Ikot Abasi, Akwa Ibom State and is a few minutes walk from the local government secretariat.

It is situated in the midst of what was then the colonial seat of government and overlooks the Atlantic Ocean.

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It also served as the business headquarters of the government and could be likened to the Aso Rock of today.

However, relics of the colonial government, such as the administrative office of Lord Lugard, his residential quarters, the bridge of no return, the slave house, the John Miller house and the colonial bank have been allowed to deteriorate in a manner that would make tourism lovers weep.

The ‘colonial complex’ is now occupied by the National Orientation Agency (NOA), Akwa Ibom State Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Lands and Town Planning, Nigerian Police (Marine) and the Traditional Rulers Council, amongst others.

Their presence has not added any value to the place.

Except one or two new structures that have been built in the spacious land, all other brick and zinc houses have remained as built by the colonial government.

In fact, members of staff of the ministries have turned some of the houses into residential quarters.

Our correspondent discovered that some motorcyclists were not even aware of the significance of the place as they were not conversant with the history of the colonial relics there.

An elderly motorcyclist who spoke with Daily Trust said many people were not familiar with the term, ‘Amalgamation House’, and can only identify the area by its name, Marina Road.

It was gathered that the ‘Marina Road’ leading to the Amalgamation House and other colonial relics was impassable until former Governor Godswill Akpabio constructed it.

Except for a signpost erected by Dr Akpan Micah Umoh, a first time visitor to the house would not be able to identify the significance of the dilapidating administrative office of Lord Lugard.

The Amalgamation House is made up of two rooms while its walls and floors are made up of woods.

The foundation is made of concrete blocks raised a little above the ground.

The wooden pavement of the house, which is accessed using steps, is broken and has to be deftly manipulated before one can enter the house.

Inside the house are old chairs, tables, old communication gadgets with a microphone, stamp, alarm cashbox (a safe for coins and pounds, which used to ring when touched), a file cabinet, a bold picture of Lord Lugard and his brief biography. Pictures of former President Goodluck Jonathan, former Governor Godswill Akpabio and a former council chairman are in the house.

Jonathan’s picture stands alongside that of Lugard because the Amalgamation House became 100 years old when he was the president of the country.

Mrs Cyrilla Effiong, who took our correspondent round the colonial complex, said the pictures of the government officials would remain there for the next 100 years, adding that it is an honour for them to witness the centenary celebration of the country.

Effiong, who has been taking care of the Amalgamation House for the past nine years, lamented that successive governments neglected the place; hence the ruins.

She said that except the former council chairman who made provision for a stipend of N10,000 to be paid to her every month, she had been taking care of the place voluntarily.

She said the N10,000 she got every month was not even sufficient to keep the place clean.

According to her, she uses the money to pay for the upkeep of the place so that it would not be taken over by weeds.

She explained that many people within and outside the state and all over the world visit the place regularly.

She said it was her duty to keep the place clean for visitors, adding that she had been serving as guide for tourists who are eager to know the history of the colonial complex.

“I am not paid to take care of this place; I am here voluntarily. Last year, the chairman that was here took me on contract basis and was paying me N10,000, which is too small to manage this place.

“I take care of the environment and pay people to clear the grass.

This used to be Lord Fredrick Lugard’s office. Nothing has been changed in the office.

These are communication gadgets used in those days, a stamp stand, an alarm cashbox – a safe for coins and pounds, which rang when touched, but it is currently not working,’’ she narrated.

What used to be the residence of Lord Lugard is now occupied by tenants.

The compound adjacent the Amalgamation House is made up of one storey building and two bungalows built with bricks.

One of the residents of the house, Mr Ndifreke Akpan, an indigene of Ikot Abasi, said he had lived in the house since 2004.

He said he was not born in the house but had often been inundated with visitors who said the house was once occupied by Lord Lugard.

“People have been coming here, and from what I heard, Lord Lugard lived here.

“But I am not sure of that story because I was not born then.

“We have lived here for 15 years. My mother works at the local government council, so the government gave the house to us to live. It is a very nice place.

The parlour, kitchen and two rooms are upstairs, but when we moved in, it was only one room.

In 2000, the council chairman partitioned the rooms and the toilet,’’ he said.

 

‘The bridge of no return’

‘The bridge of no return’ is a five-minute walking distance from the Lord Lugard house.

“The bridge, which was built by the colonial government, was used to transport slaves.

“It is held up by three concrete compartments with iron lids, which served as slave bunkers. ‘Stubborn slaves’ were reportedly kept in the bunkers.

The signpost at the foot of the bridge reads, “This jetty was first built in 1795 by Europeans for the purpose of conveying slaves into waiting ships.

“It is a floating jetty and has three major underground holding compartments, which were used in storing very stubborn slaves.

“The compartments have capacity for about 30 people, but about 150 slaves were stored there at any given time.

“It was nicknamed “the bridge of no return’’ because once a slave stepped on it, they were not allowed to look back, and they never returned.’’

 

The warehouse and slave wage house

The warehouse is a building where business transactions were carried out by the colonial government.

Inside the warehouse is the slave wage house, where slaves were weighed and sold.

According to Mrs Effiong, when the slaves were weighed, dry gin, wrapper and mirror were the currencies used in selling them.

She explained that when the slaves were brought to the wage house, they were put on a wedge, and when their prices were determined, they were sold.

Afterwards, they were taken to the mark room, where a spear-like iron was put in fire and the hot tip used to put a mark on them.

“This is a warehouse, but this particular room is the wage house, where they used to weigh the slaves.

“This is the scale used to weigh them. Some weighed dry gin, some weighed wrapper and some weighed mirror. They were sold according to what they weighed.

This is the room where the slaves were marked for easy identification. The iron used to mark them is still there. The beds you see here were used for them,’’ she explained.

 

The colonial bank

The John Miller house served as the bank of the colonial government. At a base corner of the house, 1834 was engraved, indicating when the house was built.

The house, which is a storey building with woods, is elevated above the ground and a staircase is used to gain access into it.

The old, worn out house is now occupied by some indigenes and tenants.

The money safe of the bank, which is close to the edge of the sea, is located a little distance from the house.

The safe is accessible by wading through overgrown weeds. Our correspondent observed that the John Miller house and the safe were the only relics remaining of the colonial bank.

The safe, which was built with concrete, has an iron door that has not been opened.

It was learnt that several efforts to break into the safe using dynamite and bomb have failed, so no one has been able to open the vault or know what is inside it.

Some of the inhabitants of the John Miller house told our correspondent that after the colonial government left, the Nigerian government returned the house and the land to the descendants of the original owners, but there is a legal case involving the property.

When our correspondent spoke with the commissioner for commerce and tourism in the state, Mr Orman Esin, on why the Amalgamation House and other relics of the colonial government were allowed to deteriorate, he said they actually belonged to the Federal Government.

He, however, said the Akwa Ibom State Government would preserve the place since it is located in its domain.

“The Amalgamation House is supposed to be Federal Government’s concern and historic heritage of interest, but they have not done anything to preserve the place.

“When I was appointed as commissioner, the first thing I did was to find out why this issue was so.

“Even if the Federal Government has not shown concern, we have to do what we call interjection or intervention.

“This is so because since the location is in our state, something needs to be done, and fast,’’ he said.

According to Esin, the Ministry of Commerce and Tourism under his leadership has already taken an inventory of the house and sent a team of tourism operators to the location.

He said that although the tourism team was disappointed that the heritage site was allowed to fall into ruins, they were willing to work with the state government to preserve the place as much as they can.

“The first thing we did was to get my team to take inventory of what we have left in the Amalgamation House, or what we can actually preserve in that location. After that, we did a full profiling of the location, which informed our discussion as a ministry with my team, on what we should do next.

Last Christmas, I invited a team of tour operators across Africa, led by Mr Ikechu Ukoh, who is the tourism ambassador of Africa. They spent three days in Akwa Ibom.

They saw the location and were very sad. Again, that was the process of a new beginning for what needs to be done.

After that visit, they decided that there was the need to begin the process of developing and preserving the site. As tour operators they would create a form of marketing structure or campaign to be able to bring people to see where Nigeria was amalgamated,’’ he noted.

The commissioner revealed that since the visit of the tourism team meant that the location had been endorsed as a tourist site, a new team would begin to design how to preserve the location.

He said that already, he had presented the issue before the State Executive Council and is sure that approval would be given for the preservation of the place to begin.

“Immediately we were done with that process, which means that they have endorsed it as a tourist location in Nigeria. I got another team of experts to do a design of how we can preserve the place. The design should be ready by next week.

After that, I am going to present the design to the State Executive Council for approval. We are also going to work with Federal Government agencies responsible for the heritage site. All these teams would have to put their hands on deck to ensure that we preserve that location.

This quarter, I am believing that God would help me as I push it for approval.

After preserving the location, we are creating a tour setting for that location. My idea is that we have infrastructure like Ibom Air, as well as good hotels in the state that can drive tourism. We also have other places of attraction,’’ he said.

It is hoped that the Akwa Ibom State Government would take up the challenge of preserving the heritage site of the colonial government and turn it into a tourist attraction to preserve the history of the country called Nigeria.