Zungeru: Hope rises for Nigeria’s abandoned first capital

Operation Save Zungeru is work in progress. Although the concerned inhabitants do not articulate this in words, the desperation by all to assist every visitor interested in its famed past as the headquarters of former Northern Protectorate from 1902 to 1916, betrays the emotion of a people on a salvage mission. From the young Jibrin […]

Operation Save Zungeru is work in progress. Although the concerned inhabitants do not articulate this in words, the desperation by all to assist every visitor interested in its famed past as the headquarters of former Northern Protectorate from 1902 to 1916, betrays the emotion of a people on a salvage mission.

From the young Jibrin Mohammed, an undergraduate of the College of Education, Minna, to its village head, Malam Tanko Madaki and a generation of youths spurred on by the community association, the reclaiming of Zungeru is no doubt at hand. And this is apparently happening through the recollection of its rich past. “Our fathers watched our treasure being pilfered and rot away but we are wiser now,” Salmanu Yusuf, the chairman of Zungeru Community Association told Daily Trust.
But even a professional conservator would know that salvaging the remains of the town’s colonial past is a herculean task because the cache of history in the ambit of Zungeru town in Niger State is enormous. The Government House, where Lord Fredrick Lugard once ran his government, his office and residence, the United Mission Church built in 1905, the railway terminus, the steam generators that provided 24-hour electricity and water to colonialists’ homes; Officers Mess, the head offices of pioneer multinationals John Holt, the Royal Niger Company and UAC and of course the Executioner’s Gallows, where ‘troublesome’ traditional rulers were tried and executed, among others are the many relics that need conserving for posterity. Not less important are also the homes of two outstanding Nigeria leaders, Sir Nnamdi Azikwe and Chukwuemka Odumegwu Ojukwu, who add to the glory of this ancient town of their birth.
The relics are diverse and scattered across the old city but the bigger challenge is that they are in ruins. Our young guide, Jibrin could only point at the locations, where some of the edifices used to be when Daily Trust visited the town last Thursday. But his knowledge of each relic and their history is quite intriguing. Each of them is a historical point of reference, which he explains away with the enthusiasm of someone that witnessed it all. Jirbrin was however, not even conceived in 1902 when most of the structures were put in place by Lord Lugard and his conquering team. However, like folklore, information on all that transpired over 100 years ago is passed to other generations by those who even watched the proceedings from afar.
Jibrin’s father, Mohammed, a teacher and researcher not only inherited the knowledge of Lugard’s Zungeru at its zenith but played around most of the edifices while growing up around them and even witnessed their eventual ruination.
As a teacher in the community primary school, Mohammed has been the natural guide to most visitors who pause to have a glance at Nigeria’s colonial past. Even while around, his son Jibrin, is now well armed to run that errand in his stead.
The tour started from what remains of the western bridge which purpose was to separate the natives from foreigners, then the ride over Gada Mai Tulu across River Inna Maye which connects the railway station and the second section of Zungeru city where offices and residences were constructed for colonial staff. Mai Tulu, which was completed in 1902, got its name from the pot-like shaping anemone of the bridge. Mai Tulu has weathered all unfriendly storms for over 100 years, standing tall and remaining unbowed even as other relics succumbed to the harsh times. It was and remains the only link to other sites like the imposing residence of the then Governor-General on a hill south of the Inna Maye river. Jibrin said from that vintage point, the activities within the entire Zungeru could be monitored. But the intimidating structure, which dwarfs all others across the town, has since bowed to age and neglect.
So also was the famous amalgamation office and hall where the marriage between the Northern and Southern Protectorates was consummated over 100 years ago. “It was in this place that the name Nigeria, which was suggested by the wife of Lord Lugard, Flora Shaw was adopted,” Jibrin offered.
The Governor-General’s mess, where he retired to rest after a hard day’s work, has similarly long stooped. But the stone table south of the main building where he hosted guests to afternoon tea and the swimming pool are visible reminders of the glorious past. The stone table still stands erect; so also is the flower vessel and the swimming pool, which interior now has weeds in place of water.
The marble stairs, which the Governor-General used to step in and out of the pool, has since disappeared. Other facilities like the officers’ mess for the Europeans and Africans; the OC Calvary’s residence; the visitors’ lodge are now skeletons even as the Kila Kwata (Clerks Quarters) have been reduced to rubbles, leaving only the foundations as reference for those who care to look over their shoulders.
It was among these rubbles that Nigeria’s first indigenous Governor- General, Dr. Nnamdi Azikwe and Chief Odumegu Ojukwu, the military governor of former East Central State were born.
The Execution Gallows, where ‘troublesome’ traditional rulers were put to death, also suffered the same fate. But the stoops, the concrete footpath, through which the offenders walked to their gruesome end and the slab where the executioners washed themselves of the splashes of blood after execution are still standing.
However, unlike the others, the railway segment of the development of Zungeru survived having been inherited by the Nigerian Railway Corporation. Some of the quarters are still housing the corporation’s staff and only slight modifications have been made at the station.
Also visible are the gigantic columns that once held the famous folding bridge on River Inna, which connected the railway station with Lugard’s residence. “The bridge was for exclusive use of the Governor-General. It derived its name from a foldable extension that is laid out anytime Lugard wanted to cross to and from his lodgings,” Jibrin explained.
“It is in two parts, the southern embankment of the river and the second section which can be folded is from that point to the embankment,” he added, stretching his index finger towards the point. But the bridge was relocated to Kaduna along with Lugard, when the capital moved in 1916 and with it also all the trappings of civilisation that attracted people of all divides to the ancient town.
The dam across Inna Maye River, which served as a source of electricity and water to the residence of the Governor-General and offices and homes of European staff as well as railway quarters have since been buried by sand. The only things left of this precious existence are the embankment and the tank where water was pumped into before distribution.
So did the fortunes of Zungeru decline and stagnate through the decades in importance and civilisation with its name mentioned as footnotes in history books. But hope rose for Zungeru in 1991 with the launching of the Zik Centre as a tribute to the late Owelle of Onitsha. That the effort which has names of respected personalities on its committee should be stillbirth beats one’s imagination.
Daily Trust learnt that the money announced at the appeal fund, which also had the former military president, General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida as the special guest of honour, doubled the amount required for the project. But in the end, 80 percent of the monies pledged were never redeemed. The structure that comes out of the cash at hand is today part of the many relics of Zungeru.
Tanko Madaki said the abandoned project shows how ungrateful a nation can be to the town of its birth and even leaders. But unlike the late Owelle, there is no effort to immortalise the name of the late Biafran warlord in Zungeru by the federal government. The Zungeru Community Development Association struggles to preserve the land which hosted the house where he was born and its surroundings with the hope that concerned authorities will have a rethink in the future.
“From that edge to where you are standing belongs to Chief Ojukwu’s family and we will never allow anyone to encroach on it. It is our hope that the federal government will one day decide to immortalise him,” Madaki said. But within him he knows that is a tall dream. “This nation hardly looks back,” 70-years-old Dalhatu Musa observed when he joined us at the point, where the late Ojukwu’s family house used to be.
However, the nation did look back just last year at the 100 years anniversary of its existence as an indivisible entity but forgot where the success journey really began. In preparation for the centenary celebration it forgot Zungeru. “We were hoping that this town which gave birth to what is today Nigeria will have the honour of being the centenary city with the Zik Centre as the secretariat,” Samanu Yusuf said.
But that was not to be, the centenary committee preferred the nation’s new capital, Abuja to the stale odour of Zungeru. Salmanu however, believes all hope is not lost, especially with a new government in place and the nation’s quest for alternative revenue sources. “The centenary secretariat can still be moved to Zungeru, especially with the new focus on developing tourism,” he observed.
Already, the European cemetery, rehabilitated by the administration of Dr. Muazu Babangida Aliyu, is attracting British citizens desirous of visiting the graves of their forebears. It is already spinning revenue for Niger State government. Mohammed Adamu, a revenue officer insisted politely that this reporter pay a fee before he would be allowed into the new-look cemetery. “You know we need to keep this place running so that our history can be preserved,” he said, smiling.
Beyond tourism, fresh air is also now blowing over Zungeru. Its enormous mineral deposits are attracting a large number of Chinese workers to the dam site where work on a 700 megawatts electricity project is going on. A new city is emerging within the enclave with more infrastructures that the colonial Zungeru ever dreamt of but its people hope there would be no folding the bridge this time around to scuttle its emerging fortune away.