21church Diplomacy and Nation Building The Methodist Church Perspective 1905 2005

Port Harcourt Journal Of History & Diplomatic Studies | www.phjhds.com Vol.7 N0.
3 September, 2020
Church Diplomacy and Nation Building: The Methodist Church Perspective 1905-2005
By
Uwem Jonah Akpan, PhD

Department of History & International Studies
University of Uyo
Abstract
The Christian missionaries were the protagonist of Western education in Nigeria.
Western education was initially introduced provide basic manpower for the
missions and the colonial authorities. The missionaries used it as diplomatic
means and strategy to facilitate their interactions with the indigenous people and
eventually expand the frontiers of the missionary enterprise. In the present-day
Akwa Ibom and Abia states, the Methodist Mission pioneered post-primary
education following the establishment of the Methodist Boys’ High School, Oron
in 1905, Mary Hanney Girls’ Secondary School, Oron, 1909 and Methodist College,
Uzuakoli, 1923. These institutions eventually came to serve as the breeding
ground of students from diverse background who assimilated the tenets of nation
building and grew up as some of the finest nation builders. Unfortunately, the
outbreak of the Nigerian Civil War in 1966 led to the taking over of mission schools
by the secular authorities. This era witnessed the “adulteration’ of the moral tone
deliberately injected into the missions schools system. This development has
obviously hampered nation building efforts. The discourse is limited to the three
mentioned schools and examines the period between 1905, when the first school
was established to 2005, when the pioneer school marked its centenary. The paper
acknowledges the “church diplomacy” adopted by these founding fathers and
recommends that deep moral values should be re-integrated into school system to
enhance nation building. It adopts a historical narrative methodology.
Introduction
The idea of church diplomacy as adopted in this paper hinges on the conceptualisation of
diplomacy as the “how” of inter-group relations. Socially and at any level whatsoever,
diplomacy is the ordered conduct of relations between one group of human beings and
another group whose goals are mutually incompatible (Akpan, 2012). It is concerned with
how the relations is conducted by the officials concerned through the adoption of
appropriate requisite means, methods and strategies that will enhance peace and
discourage conflicts. Diplomacy is used to reach agreement, compromise or settlement
where actors’ objectives are in conflict or competition (Akpan, 2019).
The use of the term “church diplomacy” in this context, aims at bringing to fore, the
deliberate use of the medium and contents of Western education by the Methodist Mission
in Eastern Nigeria generally as a method, processes and instrument for the enhancement
of the missionary enterprise but specifically for the purpose of nation building resulting
Church Diplomacy and Nation Building: The Methodist Church Perspective (1905-2005) 263
Port Harcourt Journal Of History & Diplomatic Studies | www.phjhds.com Vol.7 N0.3 September, 2020
from the integration and fusion of the beneficiaries of the Western education from the
different ethnic groups in Eastern Nigeria.
However, emphasis is placed on the two flagship male post- primary institutions
established by the Methodist Mission, namely: the Methodist Boys’ High School Oron and
Methodist College, Uzuakoli and the pioneer female post-primary institution Mary
Hanney Girls’ Secondary School, Oron. Undoubtedly, the legacy has been enduring in
Eastern region and beyond and deserves an assessment.
The Advent of Methodism in Nigeria

In 1842, the Wesleyan Methodist led by Thomas Birch Freeman made its advent to Nigeria
through Badagry in the Western part of Nigeria (Familusi, 1992). In August 1869, an
English ship, “The Elgiva” anchored in the Harbour of Santa Isabel, the chief port of
Fernando Po. During this brief stay, the ship’s Captain, William Robinson and the Ship’s
Carpenter, James Hands (a local preacher), both Methodist, preached to “a small group of
Christians who had been converted by Baptist missionaries. Some of these people were
settlers from the Mainland; some were freed slaves (Okpo, 1985).
When the ship was returning to England, Captain Robinson took with him, a letter from
that pioneer converts requesting that a missionary be sent to them. Sequel to this call, the
General Missionary Committee of the Primitive Methodist sent out Rev. R.W. Burnett and
Henry Roe to Fernando Po. In February 1870, the first Methodist Society class on the Island
was formed with eleven members. So, the Methodist Church in Fernando Po, became the
“mother” of Eastern Nigerian Methodism. The work was faithfully nurtured by
succeeding missionaries from England. In 1893, Rev. Fairley, Minister-in-charge of the
work at Santa Isabel, capital of Fernando Po, visited the land around the Rio Del Rey River,
near Oron in the present-day Akwa Ibom State. Rev. Fairley passed on to Archibong Town
where they were warmly received by the local chief, Prince Archibong. The year 1893
therefore marked the advent of Methodism in Eastern Nigeria. . In March 1896, Rev. Stone
bore the torch of evangelism to James Town a fishing community in Mbo Local
Government Area of Akwa Ibom State (Soremukun, Moma and Igwe, 1962; Okpo, 1985).
From there the gospel spread courtesy of a fiery missionary Rev. Christie to other
communities in Akwa Ibom State such as Etoi in Uyo Local Government Area and Ikot
Ekpene from where it extended to Bende in the present-day Abia State in 1911. Later
churches were opened in Umuahia, Ovim, Uzuakoli and Ihube areas (Anyika and Ekebuisi
Chinonyerem, 2010).
By 1929, the authorities of the three straps of Methodism, namely: Wesleyan Methodism,
Primitive Methodism and United Methodism had come to the realisation that it was only
by coming together to form a single Methodist body, that they could live and work in the
spirit of John Wesley on whose deep spiritual insight Methodism was founded. The Act
authorising the Union was passed in May 1929, while all the shades of Methodism
consummated the act by merging in 1932. Consequent upon this union, the missionary
societies of the former three Methodist bodies fused together to form just one missionary
society called “Methodist Missionary Society” (MMS). The unification of the Eastern and
Western strands of Methodism in Nigeria took place in 1962 (Anyika, and Chinonyerem,
2009).
The Educational Impact of the Methodist Church on Eastern Nigeria

The assertion that the spread of Western education in Nigeria is associated with the
Christian missionaries is not subject to debate. Though there were distinguished
indigenous elites around the coastal regions of Nigeria, the contact with the Europeans,
especially the British, exacerbated the need for the indigenous people to come to grips with
the fact that somehow they had to master the use of the English language. But the
population of those who spoke the language remained relatively low throughout the 19th
century. In the Old Calabar coastland, the trade the developed between the European
traders and the Africans generated a solution to this problem. According to Aye (1967),
European with very few exceptions, often found it difficult to manage an African language,
especially at a time when any such training was difficult to acquire. Thus, through
intercourse with the English traders sort of debased language developed among the Efik
people in their attempt to make themselves understood by the English traders. This in
effect, was the origin of the Pidgin English.
It was in such circumstances that missionaries made their impact in the spread of Western
education. According to Anim (2005) one James Holman, who visited Old Calabar in 1828,
made an entry in his diary for March 12 of that year thus:
If the Christian missionaries were to establish schools in the towns on the

banks of these rivers, they would be very likely to prove eminently
beneficial to the people, who are very desirous of receiving every kind of
instruction, more particularly knowledge of writing. (Anim, 2005: 11).
The Methodist Mission blazed the trail in post-primary education in Akwa Ibom State
On the18th of September 1905, with the establishment of the Methodist Boys’ High School,
Oron (formerly Oron Institute). The founder of the school, Rev. Nathaniel Boocock had
proposed that the school was to produce young men capable of learning, working with
their hands and preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ at the same time, their moral tone was
to be at the heart of everything the school would offer not only the size of the building, the
materials needed, the schools fees, and so on, but they also focused on the type of
leadership the school needed (Amin, 2005).
It a training institute that was an arm of evangelism, secure in the knowledge that properly
developed the new evangelists would, in the process of time, provide spiritual and civil
leadership to communities that were in a state of flux.
The school commenced with 16 pupils. By the end of the first term, the number enrolled
rose to 18. Shortly after its establishment, the unifying character of the school was indicated
in the origins of the pupils enrolled. The 24 boarders and 4 day pupils were drawn from
Fernando Po, Urua Eye, James Town, Esuk Oron, Akani Obio and Calabar. By 1910,
therefore, it was possible to conclude that the school was “full” and helped to produce
fusion of tribes that was full of promise (Uya, 1984).
The school set a pattern in drawing pupils from a wide spectrum of the Nigerian
community and the standard was maintained for a very long time. In 1917, for example,
the 60 students in the school came from Oron, Oyubia, Adadia, Ikot Ekpene, Bende and
Ovim. Available record indicates that Rev. Chima Nwana, the first Igbo Methodist Minister
and first Nigerian Chairman of Umuahia of the Methodist District, (1962-1966), was
educated in the school, other Igbo students at the early stage included: Albert Nwosu and
John N. Okereke (Okpo, 1985).
A census of the school in 1965 showed the following figures: Annang 38, Igbo 58, Efik 6,
Oron 193 (including non-teaching staff and their families), Ijaw 4, Ogoni 6, British 6,
Indians 1, German 1, American 1. There were 359 male and 23 female residents in the
school community (including family members of the masters). Between 1940s and early
1960s, the variety was even more astounding. There were Cameroonians, Equatorial
Guineans and Nigerians from the North, even Muslims. Ogoni and Igbo were especially
large in number. The school was a pleasant place to live in (Anim, 2005).
Anin (2005) posits that the MBHS was, first, a community of Nigerians. According to him
the school’s founder, recognised it as “helping to produce a fusion of tribes”. But it was
also a community of Methodists who came from far and wide, and had grown into an
international community before the Nigerian Civil War.
Students’ enrolment in the school progressively shows that a blending of many groups in
the country thus: Annang 38, Igbo 56, Efik 6 (exclusively from Calabar), Oron 193, Ijaw 4,
Ogoni 6. Foreigners - British 6, Indian 1, German 1, American 1. The school reflected a great
divergence with the main groups being; Methodist – 295; Presbyterians – 20; Roman
Catholics – 9, Qua Iboe – 12; Lutheran – 4; Apostolic – 4 (The Anchor, 1965).
One of the first Igbo students in the school, Rev. Chima Nwana has offered a recollection
of his days in the school between 1913 and 1921. To buttress the pedigree of the institution
as a perfect centre of “blending” of youths from diverse background thus:
I was one of the first four Igbo boys that came to the school in March 1913,
when the school was only eight years old. I was the youngest and the
smallest of the four…I took six complete days to walk from our home in
Okigwe District to Uruan from where we were taken across the river to
Oron by canoe. The journey was long and tedious with loads on our heads.
We were led from Benda to Ikot Ekpene by a Methodist Mission labourer
who knew the way and could speak and understand a little Efik language.
At Ikot Ekpene, the Rv. F.W. Dodds handed us over to Rev. C.P. Groves,
who was there for a Mission Council Meeting of the few missionaries at
the time. From Ikot Ekpene, we walked in company of missionaries’
carriers to Adiadia. (The Anchor, 1965: 34).
He further recalled that:
On arrival at the school, we were joyfully received by Etubom Hanney,
his wife and the Rev. C.P. Groves, the Principal of the school…we were
made to spend the night with the missionaries. Although we were so
kindly treated, we could not help being afraid of staying with the white-
men. The following morning, we were taken to the school compound by
the Rev. C.P. Groves. He introduced us to the Efik boys who were in the
school before us. He told them that we came from igbo land and were sent
by the Rev. F.W. Dodds to be trained for the work of the church in Igbo
land. He appealed to them to be kind and friendly to us (The Anchor, 1965:
34)
According to him, for some months, our experience was bitter because of the unfriendly
attitude of the Efik boys due to the traditional prejudice between the Igbo and Efik people.
We were often teased, made object of laughter, called “Unehe” and cannibals in the
language they knew we could not understand. However, friendship between us and the
Efik boys gradually grew in knowledge of the gospel message of love of our neighbours
as well as in understanding of the Efik language. (The Anchor, 1965).
Another significant step in the educational development of Eastern Nigeria was taken by
the Primitive Methodist when they established the Girls’ Institute at Jamestown in 1909
under Rev. Hanney’s wife, Mary. It was initially set up to improve the character and
domestic abilities of house wives and other girls. The school’s curriculum included
Hygiene, Needlework, Bible Lessons, Reading, Writing, Arithmetic, general Knowledge
Talks, English and Efik Lessons, Grammar and Physical Education. When Mary Hanney
died, the school was moved to Eyo Abasi in Oron in 1927, and renamed “Mary Hanney
Memorial School”. Emphasis continued to be on training in domestic arts. By 1945, there
were 119 pupils on roll, 90 of whom were boarders. These, as in the case of the Boys’ High
School, were drawn from all areas of Oron and the entire Eastern Nigeria. By 1943, it was
possible to observe that “the point about this school is that it seemed to have broken the
prejudice against girl’s education in Oron.” Besides, the standard of teaching under the
white lady teacher was so high that the school attracted students from far and near. By
1961, the school was converted into a secondary school (Uya, 1984).
Methodism also recorded giant social strides in Igbo land, particularly in area that
constitutes the present-day Abia State. The first Methodist Primary School was established
in Bende shortly after the arrival of the missionaries. It is today known as Bende Central
School (Anyika, and Chinonyerem, 2009)
In 1923, the Methodist established the Methodist Boys’ Institute at Uzuakoli (now
Methodist College, Uzuakoli). In 1924 the school was described as “the highly successful
institute for Igbo boys”. The school was accorded government recognition in 1924 and the
number on roll stood at 143. The institution attained the status of training college when a
Normal Training Department for teachers was added in January 1926 (Okpo, 1985).
A source testifies to the elasticity of the school thus:

From 1926, the Uzuakoli Boys’ Institute began offering an all-round
education on lines considered most helpful to the people in their
fatherland. The various departments established were indicative of how
thorough the education provided by the Mission was. The Institute
therefore sought to open out from the earliest part of a person’s life, his
mind so that the whole of life might be embraced by him. The games
taught included cricket and football, besides; there were house societies,
such as house court and debating society. There was a scout troop with 30
on roll in 1926, officially recognised by the government and registered in
Lagos. The scout boys were taught and encouraged to perform at least one
good deed everyday to someone else, and by so doing, were gaining
necessary experience of humanitarian services (Anyika, and
Chinonyerem, 2009: 214).
The Institute closed in that year with 103 pupils on roll and re-opened in January 1927 with
256 students, of whom 186 were borders, the figure making the institution the second
largest boarding school in Nigeria. The students were always made to realise that the
spiritual realities were forces that survive earthly life because they were eternal. The
Methodist rejoiced for having such an institution, making great impacts on the social and
religious life of the youths (Okpo, 1985).
Many non-Igbo youths were groomed in this school. They included Rev. S.K. Okpo, a great
teacher and Methodist Minister from Oron (Dr.) Clement Isong, former Governor of the
Central Bank of Nigeria and first civilian Governor of old Cross River State, Sir Egbert Udo
Udoma, a frontline jurist, among others (Okpo, 1985; Udoma, 2008, Adesina, 2018).
Udoma (2008) account confirms the idea of “fusion of tribes” provided by the institution.
He adds that the principles imparted on these youths greatly sharpened their impetus and
sense of nation building. He notes that his classmates included Matthew Nwosu, Mfon
Afahaene Eyo, Ibebulem, Ebong and Udo Akang. Other students who became his lifelong
friends included S.N. Okorocha, J.K. Usuah, A.J.U. Ema, Edet Okon Unana Owo, J.C.
Achara, Dick Okorie, Ndem Abam, R.W. Iteke, Chikwendu, Gideon James Atai, Matthew
Ude, Gorden Opunsuju, Banigo, Sunday Obiago and G.C. Mborogwu (later G.C.
Akomass), Udo Udo Okure and Richard.
It should be mentioned that other schools were established by the Mission at Ihube, in Igbo
land, Nto Ndang in Ikot Ekpene, Ete in Ikot Abasi and Odot in Nsit Atai. Girls’ schools
were also established in Port Harcourt, Utu Ikpe in Ikot Ekpene, Ovim in Igbo land and
joint institutions at Umuahia (Women Training Centre), Eungu, Ibiaku in Ibiono Ibom,
Biarabi College in Khana, Ogoni land. Also there were Teachers’ Training Colleges at Oron
for women, Ikot Ekpene and Uzuakoli for men. (Okpo, 1985; Duke, 2005; Akpan, 2018).
Church Diplomacy and Nation Building

Nation building can described as the promotion of the health and well-being of the entire
populace that constitutes a nation, whereby citizens have confidence in the state’s ability
to ensure equitable justice and fairness, and to protect the integrity of the people without
restrictions on ethnicity, language or religion. It should be added that nation building is a
common subject in public discourse and involves the process of “transferring allegiances
from ethnic and sub-ethnic groups to a new political community” (Omolewa, 2016).
Adeniran (2015) explains that the process of nation building requires both a state of mind
and a sustained consciousness to act on the belief that one’s primary duty and loyalty
should be to the nation state. The end-product of nation building would thus be the
production of a people occupying a political space, welded together in their actions and
thoughts and engaged in such a way that the elite and the masses are linked, while the
culture is reconstructed to limit the impact of heterogeneity.
Omolewa (2016) asserts further that it is important to address the assumption that there is
in fact a relationship between education and nation building because education has proved
effective in assisting nations to develop the human resources with which to execute their
national development programmes.
He adds that:
Education involves the acquisition of knowledge, and so it has
tremendous value for individuals, empowering and aiding them in their
quest for social and political mobility. Its utility for nations is equally
important because it helps them to progress, and provides the human
resources and skills required to move forward. It is therefore clear that no
one can do without education, for it grants a people access to knowledge

and teaches them how to correctly apply their wisdom (Omolewa, 2016:
9).
Indeed, education is a potent ingredient, for example, in the production of technocrats. It

also helps to transmit the values and attitudes acceptable to a society. Philosophers such
as Plato made the case for the role of education in nation building in ancient Greece,
suggesting that the higher the quality of investment in education the more efficient
governance would be.
Omelwa (2016) also submits that Christian missionaries were eager to produce a mass
educated elite to further their evangelism. This was why primary and secondary schools
were founded by them. He adds that there is some evidence that in spite of colonial rule,
the products of the school system in the early days of amalgamated Nigeria grew up as
patriots. They had a proper belief of being a true Nigeria. At school, they were not very
conscious of their ethnic groups; there was one community – Nigeria. Even though they
did not forget their places of origin, they did not feel any greater loyalty to such places
than Nigeria.
Part of the problem of Nigeria particularly since the end of the Nigerian Civil War in 1970
has been the departure from Christian-based education. When Western education came to
Nigeria, it came mainly on the wings of Christian missionary work. Even the governments
in colonial Nigeria recognised the need for an education system that aimed at the spiritual
core of young people. Anim (2005) recalls that the government in Eastern Nigeria, in
founding the Government College Umuahia, appointed a reverend gentleman, Mr. Fisher
as its first Principal.
Conclusion
The role of education in bringing people from different parts of a country to live together
for certain portions of their lives was pioneered by the Christian missionaries in Nigeria.
It has been asserted that when people come together for the purpose of doing the same
thing over an extended period of time, they are bound to develop personal relationships
and understanding among themselves. This development undoubtedly enhanced unity
among such people. Educational institutions, which bring people together in such a way,
are obvious organs or promoting unity and integration. This was amply demonstrated in
Eastern Nigeria by the Methodist Mission via the fusion of the intake of the few schools
discussed who came from different parts of the country. The school helped in engineering
a feeling of brotherhood among them even though they were initially strangers when they
met in such schools.
According to Coleman (1986), whatever might have been the shortcomings of the
missionary activities, Christianity has blazed a brilliant trail in Nigeria. Through its
missionaries, it has played a leading role in the development of education. Through

education, it has helped to mould the character of many Nigerians. Through their extensive
evangelical activity and long monopoly in the field of education, Christian missionaries
played a critical role in the rise of nationalism in Nigeria.
Indeed, Church diplomacy via Methodist education has served as an integrative force, in
that it provided a trans-tribal bond uniting individuals of different and formerly hostile
traditional communities. The schools provided a link among students from different ethnic
groups and a new basis of loyalty in which ethnic origin became less relevant. As missions
had a monopoly over education, many educated persons were produced who were later
to become the leaders in protest movements and in the awakening of a political and trans-
tribal consciousness.
However, Anim laments that:

The pseudo-reformers of the post-Civil War era tinkered with everything:
the economy, the system of government, our federalism and the country’s
education system. When they seized mission-owned schools and imposed
secular authority on all schools, the educational system suffered an
irredeemable setback. The foundation that the missionaries laid in the 19th
and 20th centuries was demolished and the moral tone of the nation
suffered irreparable damage (Anim, 2005: 83-84).
Part of the basis for the phenomenal progress, discipline and excellence that were often
associated with the mission schools discussed was Boarding School System. Anim (2005)
argues that when the pseudo-reformers turned the school into Day School, trouble was
bound to come. In the country’s history of the Day School System usually signaled a school
that had poor standards morally and academically. Within its purview, it is difficult to
control students, keep tabs on their lives, and enforce the discipline that the average boy
or girl growing up needs in order to study hard and mature into people who respect law
and order, and obey rules and regulations.
Though there have been vigorous criticisms of the role of Christianity in the development
of Africa, there is little doubt that the coming of Christian evangelisers played a crucial
role in the opening up of the continent to other influences that have been beneficial in a
number of ways. The generations of Nigerian elite that were products of the church-based
schools had moral tone that stood the country in good stead in the struggle to build a
sovereign state. The struggle for independence demanded selflessness, commitment, and
something beyond mere acquaintance with the historical development of the various
nation state of the world of the time. Both moral high grounds on which those who built
the country stood gradually began to diminish with the Nigerian Civil War, fizzled out by
the end of the military interregnum, a new generation of Nigerians emerged (Anim, 2005).
This above scenario calls for a re-injection of the “moral tone” introduced by the founding
missionaries which triggered a deep sense of nation building in the past generations of the
products of the mission schools discussed. Without any doubt, the Methodist Mission
contributed in laying a solid foundation for the Eastern Nigerian people in particular and
the Nigerians in general through its church diplomacy. The founding fathers deserve
commendation for their enduring labour.
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Port Harcourt Journal Of History & Diplomatic Studies | www.phjhds.com Vol.7 N0.

Uwem Jonah Akpan, PhD

The Advent of Methodism in Nigeria

The Educational Impact of the Methodist Church on Eastern Nigeria

If the Christian missionaries were to establish schools in the towns on the

A source testifies to the elasticity of the school thus:

Church Diplomacy and Nation Building

one can do without education, for it grants a people access to knowledge

Indeed, education is a potent ingredient, for example, in the production of technocrats. It

missionaries, it has played a leading role in the development of education. Through

However, Anim laments that:

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