METHODIST COLLEGE UZUAKOLI, 1923-2012

METHODIST COLLEGE UZUAKOLI, 1923-2012

                                                        CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

Uzuakoli is an ancient chiefdom in Bende Local Government Area of Abia State. It is made up of five villages: Amamba, Eluoma, Ngwu, Amankwo and Agbozu. It is believed that Ozu had five brave sons whose names were Oma, Ngwu, Mbah, Nkwo and Ozo. When these sons grew up, they built their homes a little further away from their father’s, which became the central meeting point.

It is from their five homes that the five villages which make up Uzuakoli developed. The five villages united to form Uzuakoli, a compound of the names of their father, Ozu, and their grandfather Akoli, the name was corrupted to Uzuakoli by the railway authorities and Uzuakoli is the version generally used today[1] .

 

Uzuakoli has a total landscape of 28.8 square kilometers, bounded in the North by Lohum; East by Ozuitem; and South by Ubani and Lodu Imenyi, respectively. It falls between 7.32 and 8.36 East of the Equator. The climate of the area does not differ from the rest of the rain forest belt of Eastern Nigeria. Uzuakoli enjoys a warm tropical climate with well-defined wet and dry seasons[2] .

Prior to the establishment of colonial rule in Igbo hinterland, Uzuakoli was a notable slave market with many middlemen from Awka, Aro, Bende and surrounding communities living and trading there. It assumed this role of an important slave market after the colonial military conquest of Bende in1896[3] , which robbed the latter of her middlemen role as a slave market to the Aro and thus the Aro moved over to nearby Uzuakoli that was a more central location and had long lobbied for the market.[4] Slaves were bought at Eke-oba and Eke-Ukwu (the two markets made up the Abangwu market in Uzuakoli), and taken through the slave route to Bende via Ozuitem, Arochukwu and then transported oversea through Cross River State.[5] Apart from slave trade, Uzuakoli has remained an agrarian society noted mostly for yam and cocoyam cultivation/production with a population of 60, 000 according to the 2006 census result.

The origin of modern education in Nigeria dates back to September 24,1842 when Rev. Thomas Birch Freeman and Mr. and Mrs. William De Graft of the Wesleyan Methodist arrived Badagry to start both Christian and education work. Later, other missions such as the Church Missionary Society (CMS), the Roman Catholic Mission and the United Presbyterian Church arrived Nigeria for the same purpose. The origin of 19^th century missions in Nigeria followed the evangelical revival movements in Europe during the late 18th century. The European evangelical movement was due largely to the work of John Wesley. Wesley’s challenge to the established Anglican Church, led to the anticlerical and evangelical movements and, consequently, to the “Protestant awakening” which swept across Europe and America in the 19th century.[6] This awakening demanded renewed zeal and commitment on the part of individual Christians as well as deep concern for the personal act of conversion. It was Wesley’s message that strengthened the desire for missionary work. Other missionary groups represented in Nigeria were the Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society, the Presbyterian Church, Adventist, Baptist of Scotland, and the Baptists from the (American) Southern Baptist Convention, Society of African Missions (the Catholic Mission) from France and the Primitive MethodistMission.[7]

Colonial rule, which was also a driving force in the missionary process, was not established in Igbo hinterland until after 1900. The Aro-Expedition of 1901-1902 opened the Igbo hinterland and touched off a scramble among missionary bodies of various hues. The work of the missionaries in Southern Nigeria was not easy sailing. For a while, a few Africans and their rulers patronized the missionary enterprise, others rejected its intrusion in any form. On the whole, support or lack of it for missionary work was greatly influenced by internal developments in Southern Nigeria. Further invitations arose out of schisms over joint ownership of church bells, personality clashes or inter-village rivalry. The differences in ideology and orientation of the foreign missionaries touched off rivalry by among then to outwit each other in the capture of adherents. As it became difficult to convert adults in the African society, education was seen as the easiest and most sustainable way of winning converts. As children educated in the school of a particular mission sect, grew up to automatically become adherents/propagators of that denomination of Christian faith.

The Primitive Methodist Mission first came into Africa in 1870 through Fernando Po (present day Equatorial Guinea).It was then a Spanish territory. They built a station and started evangelical work, but their progress was hampered by the activities of the Spanish Catholic Mission who later banned it. The mission started making plans in 1890 to move to a British controlled territory and Nigeria was chosen as the new location. Archibong Town became the first town in which the mission settled in Nigeria in 1893[8] and by 1895, a church, a school and a mission house were built there[9] . Later they moved to Oron, Adadia, Ikot-Ekpene and the environs. Reverend William Christie, a Scot, was instrumental to the occupation of many of these towns.[10] Having also realized the importance of education to evangelism, the Primitive Methodist Mission built in 1905 Training Institute at Oron, to train catechist and teachers to further their imperialistic cum missionary agenda. The British conquest of Arochukwu and subsequent destruction of its famed Ibinu-Ukpabi, encouraged the mission to begin to consider the idea of venturing into Igbo hinterland for evangelization.

Reverend William Christie first made a start at Arriam (Erriam) and later Ndioro in Ikwuano LGA Umuahia, but failed to get a footing there. Relief came his way when the Bende District Officer, Major W.A.E. Cockburn who placed a high premium on Christian missionary enterprise, invited him. He was convinced that Bende people would be friendly and quite disposed to the whiteman.[11] Bende District was by that time having its first contact with European Missionaries in this period (1909-1910).Reverend Christie had a hostile reception at Uzuakoli, a slave market, which attracted a wide clientele. The colonial government officials and missionaries discovered to their chagrin, the role of the middlemen in the lucrative trade. Equally, endemic fighting was reported as exceedingly common.[12] However, Christie was impressed with Uzuakoli and its avenues and the planned quarters of the various trading groups from Abiriba, Arochukwu, the Delta areas, Awka and Onitsha.[13] Before he passed the gauntlet on to Reverend Dodds, he paid a few more visits to Uzuakoli and prepared the ground for its effective missionary occupation by stationing a teacher there in October 1910. The latter conducted regular Sunday services in his bid to build a church in the town. Reverend Dodds on assumption of office continued to press on and in 1912 established a small church in Uzuakoli and Mr. Dappa was sent to the town to nurse the new church to life.

To provide teachers for the churches and primary schools that were springing up in Igboland[14] , Reverend Dodds had in 1913 sent some boys to the Training School at Oron. Due to the far location of Oron from Uzuakoli, Bende, Isuikwuato, and the inadequate means of   transportation, the idea of building an institute in the Igbo hinterland similar to that at Oron started gaining momentum.

The introduction of Western education became possible when at its maiden Synod in Eastern Nigeria, the Council of Primitive Methodist ministers in Nigeria, made the following observation:

Our object is in general terms, the spread of specifically Christian education for the African as an African. Stated more generally, it is an attempt to provide education not merely as an independent good, or as a means to material ends, but also in definite relation to his spiritual foundations of life as exhibited in the teaching of Jesus Christ, and at the same time to relate the instruction to African life so that the product may be truly African as the native material provided.[15]

 

Thus, right from the very beginning, the Primitive Methodist was committed to providing it’s converts with ‘Christian education’. For the missionaries, evangelism was to be promoted through formal education. Another reason education was seen as critical to evangelism was the need on the part of both the teachers and the newly converted to acquire the skills of reading the Bible and writing in the white man’s language. Consequently, missionaries turned their attention to youths and schools as sources of conversion because they soon realized, to their utter dismay, the futility of trying to convert influential men in the Igbo society.

A central site was sought for the establishment of the Primitive Methodist and an Institute in Igboland; Bende that provided a strong foothold for the mission, was considered too remote. The railway line that crossed Uzuakoli in 1915[16] , gave it an added advantage over other villages since it made for easy communication.

 

Theoretical Framework

The theory used for this study is the Social Systems Theory and Structural Functionalism: The social system theory is a collection of interrelated parts which form some whole, using an organismic metaphor to describe formal organizations (schools) with the same principles and concepts used to describe biological organisms. General systems theory is most closely associated with Ludwig Von Bertalanffy, whose work in the 1920s and 1930s captured the dynamic relationship between biological organisms and their environment. A Viennese biologist, Bertalanffy brought together the common principle of an evolving systems approach in such diverse disciplines as biology, the social sciences and economics under the rubric of general systems theory. He defined a system as “sets of elements standing in interrelation”[17]

General system theory provides concepts that are useful for understanding and analyzing the functioning of schools and the broader context in which they function. Schools are social systems and like all social systems, there are inputs, processing and output system; a system of interdependent parts to achieve a goal. Schools are specific type of social system that sociologists label ‘formal organizations’[18] unlike informal organizations that are more typically less organized, schools like Methodist College, Uzuakoli have been painfully and carefully instituted to accomplish specific objectives and typically have more rigidly enforced rules and norms that govern social interaction and performance.

Edgar Schein described two major goals of social system, such as schools that interact in a highly interdependent state: (1) external adaptation, which addresses the mission and purpose of the system, and (2) internal integration, which addresses the internal functioning of the system. A school without internal bond of commitment, supportive cohesion, a sense of caring and support is unlikely to achieve its mission.[19] In the context of managing the problems of external adaptation and internal integration, social systems develop group boundaries that define insider and outsiders and rules for behavior that regulate interactions and exchanges. Over time, they also develop cultures, which Schein defines as:

a pattern of basic assumptions-invented, discovered, or developed by a given group as it learns to cope with its problem of external adaptation and internal integration-that has worked well enough to be considered valid and, therefore, to be taught to new members as the correct way to perceive, think and feel in relation to those problems to achieving system level goals and objectives.[20]

 

To fully understand the social system theory as it relates to this study, one has to bear in mind, the reason for the establishment of Methodist College, Uzuakoli. The missionaries’ aim of coming to Africa, or the so-called ‘heathen lands’ as Africa was called then, was primarily for evangelization of the Christian faith as seen from their own societies ideology as distinct from that of the other Christian missionaries. The differences in ideology and orientation of the foreign missionaries touched off a rivalry between them to outwit each other in the capture of adherents. As it became difficult to convert adults in the African society, education was seen as the easiest and most sustainable way of winning converts. Again, education appealed to the Africans in different ways. It was a means of knowing the ways of the whiteman and integrating fully into his new system of economic and political ideals.  So, education by the missionaries was not seen as an end in itself, but as a means to an end. Missionaries used Western education to train Africans as catechists, messengers, and other positions needed to assist them in realizing their desired objectives and those of their colonial cohorts. To achieve that aim, clergymen were appointed as principals, while most of the teachers were Methodists who were trained teachers in training institutes owned by the Methodist Mission. The curriculum apart from having subjects in the arts and sciences, also have a strong religious and moral instruction imbibed in them. A former old boy of Methodist College Uzuakoli noted, ‘your teacher was first of all your pastor before he becomes a teacher’.[21] So according to Edgar Schein’s two goals of a social system (1) external adaptation, which addresses the mission and purpose of the system-which addressed the mission and purpose for the establishment of the college, was the mission’s need for converts in South-Eastern Nigeria, Schein’s number two goal of a social system-internal integration, which addresses the internal functioning of the system was achieved by appointment of clergy men as principals, trained teachers, and the introduction of curriculum which placed overwhelming emphasis on religious education. They practiced strict student admission process and creation of a strong moral/religious discipline. All these factors worked in synergy to achieve the purpose of the missionaries just like that of an organism.

 

Statement of the Problem

Methodist College, Uzuakoli, is one of the foremost elitist secondary schools in Eastern Nigeria contemporaneous with Methodist College, Ibadan; Dennis Memorial, Onitsha; Hope Waddell, Calabar; and the Government College, Umuahia. It has produced notable men in all areas of human endeavors in Igboland and Nigeria. It’s role in the development of manpower that have helped to shape the future of Igboland in particular and Nigeria in general is well known.From inception in 1923 to the present, this role has not received scholarly attention. This work is undertaken to bridge this important but neglected theme. However,the Civil War of 1967-1970 completely destroyed and ruined the College. At the end of the war, it came under Government control, which led to deterioration in morals, management and educational standard of the College. This period of the College’s history is yet to be researched and documented.

 

 

Purpose of Study

The aim of the study is to preserve for posterity, the history, role, and achievement of the Methodist College Uzuakoli in the annals of educational and manpower development of Nigeria. The little that has been written about the institution cannot be said to be comprehensive enough for a fuller understanding of the role and place of this famous Institution in the educational life of the Igbo people in particular and Nigeria in general. Its impact on the development of Uzuakoli is yet to be assessed. The history of the College during the inter-war year and afterwards has been ignored. These are the lacuna this work attempts to bridge.

 

Significance of Study

The Study will help to better appreciate the role Missionary schools like Methodist College Uzuakoli have played in Manpower development in pre and post independent Igboland and Nigeria.The work will also serve as a reference point to policy makers on education, to past and present students of the college and other general readers. It will help to guide those seeking reforms in our education sector to know the history of our educational development vis-à-vis Methodist College, Uzuakoli and draw one or two examples of what is needed to improve the standard of our education.

 

 

 

 

 

Scope of Study

The study start with the establishment of the Ibo Boys Institute,Uzuakoli that later became Methodist College, Uzuakoli in 1923. It ends in 2012 when the College was handed back to the Methodist church after the state government’s initial takeover in 1970.

 

Literature Review

As earlier stated, the history of western education in Nigeria is, to a great extent, the history of the activities of the missionary societies that came into Nigeria. The origin of modern education in Nigeria dates back to September 24, 1842 when the first Wesleyan Missionaries landed in Nigeria and began evangelization. Then education was seen as a major part of that goal. Since then, it has been a history of mixed fortunes for the Nigerian educational sector.

H.C. Ogbonnaya et al, Methodist College Uzuakoli: A Short History[22] is an attempt by the Old Boys Association of Uzuakoli to produce a written history of their alma mater. The work gives a brief history of the College from its establishment in 1923 to the aftermath of Nigerian civil war, with the bulk of the work focusing on the period between Nigeria’s independence in 1960 to the start of the civil war. The work on the whole is exploratory and presented on a pamphlet; it gives this research work a good background. However, the present work intends to give a more detailed and comprehensive history of the College beyond the start of the civil war and the period of government administration.

S.K. Okpo, A brief History of the Methodist Church in Eastern Nigeria[23] offers a brief history of the Methodist Church from the time of the landing of the Primitive Missions in Fernando Po, to the indigenization in 1976. It examined the efforts of the Methodist Mission in spreading the gospel in various parts of Eastern Nigeria. The contribution of foreigners as well as Nigerians to the mission was greatly appraised by Okpo’s work.

The interest of the work to this research is the author’s concise narrative of the efforts of the mission towards the development of education starting from the Oron Institute; Ibo Boys Institute; and efforts at women education championed by Miss Amy Richardson and Mrs. Langley. On the whole, the work details the contributions of education as it concerns the training of ministers for evangelizations. The work is very useful to any enthusiast of the Methodist faith and history, as it details the efforts of the Methodist Missionary enterprise in Eastern Nigeria, but did not extend to 2012. Hence, the need for this research.

Francis Anyika’sMethodism in Igboland, Eastern Nigeria, 1910-1932[24] , offers a detailed analysis of the beginning of Primitive Methodism in Nigeria, to the time of its unification with the Wesleyan Methodist sect, which was predominant in Southwestern Nigeria. Anyika divides the thrust of the primitive mission in Igboland into three stages, namely: the first advance, which covered the period, 1911-1914; the second advance which covered 1915-1919; and the third advance covering 1920-1925. The work by Anyika also treated factors that threatened the evangelization drive; varying from the hostility of some Igbo communities, the paucity of personnel and outbreak of the First World War. This informed the need of the mission to educate the indigenous populace to compliment the work of the few Europeans in Igboland. Anyika’s book further looks at the establishment of the Methodist College and its development up to 1932. Beyond this date, further development of the College was left untreated.

1. K. Ekechi’s,Missionary Enterprise and Rivalry in Igboland, 1857-1914[25] concentrates on the Anglican Church Missionary Society (C.M.S.) and the Roman Catholic Holy Ghost Fathers (C.S.Sp.). A major theme of the work is the rivalry of these two missionary bodies, and in examining this, he makes considerable use of the archives of both societies. With the penetration of the interior by the missionaries there also came rivalry, and with its policy of education, the Catholic missionaries gained the upper hand. The C.S.Sp. were quick to cooperate with government educational plans: they realized the status-conferring quality of education and the attraction that this might have for the Ibo. The C.M.S. lost many of their students to the ‘secular education’ of the Catholic mission. The story was similar in Calabar, as the Efik grew dissatisfied with the education offered by the Presbyterian mission: they thought it ‘too religious’. The Catholics seemed to have been able to foresee the attraction of education earlier than the C.M.S did. The work by Ekechi is basically on the rivalry between two mission societies in South-Eastern Nigeria and its implications for educational development in Eastern Nigeria. Though the study takes Onitsha, as it’s focal, the facts therein are a reflection of the general state of affairs of missionary education during the colonial era in other areas of Igboland.

C.N. Ubah’s, “Western Education in Africa: The Igbo Experience, 1900-1960”[26] gives lucid details of how Western type of education was introduced and developed among the Igbo of South-Eastern Nigeria. It focuses attention on three features of Igbo experience, namely, the factors that impeded or aided the development of the education system, the objective and problems of Christian missionaries in the field of education and the position of teachers and curriculum. Though the work takes Otanchara and Otanzu as case studies, but the experiences are marginally true of the general Igbo experience and that of this study.

Magnus Bassey’s “Missionary Rivalry and Educational Expansion in Southern Nigeria 1885-1932”[27] traces the origin of the 19^th century missions in Nigeria. It limits its research to the Anglican Church Mission Society and the Roman Catholic Mission (RCM). Also mentioned, were the responses of the people of Southern Nigeria, in relation to acceptance and rejection of missionaries. As the missionaries realized the importance of Western education as a veritable avenue for conversion, this perception brought a big rivalry and rush by the missions to establish schools as a way of winning more converts to its side, training African catechists and workers. Thus, a rapid expansion of education in Southern Nigeria was witnessed between the periods under review. To this end, the author argues that the high expansion of education witnessed was actually an accidental outcome of church and missionary rivalry rather than an altruistic policy to provide expanded educational opportunities for the African populace. Though, mentions were made of Wesleyan Methodist Mission educational achievement in Southern Nigeria, the author generally limits his study of missionary rivalry to the Roman Catholic and Church Mission Society around the Onitsha axis of Igboland. It thus, offers a hint to the speedy establishment of schools in parts of Igboland, which experienced the result of mission rivalries.

In S.N. Nwabara’sIboland: A Century of Contact with Britain, 1860-1960[28] focuses on the methods of British penetration into Igboland from 1860 to Nigerian independence in 1960. For the purposes of this review, it may be convenient to divide the book into three major sections: (1) British penetration of Igboland through trade, religion (Christianity), and education; (2) Anglo- Igbo military encounter; and (3) colonial administration, conflict, and decolonization. The book’s treatment of the role of the Christian missions in the furtherance of the imperialistic concerns of their home country is of interest to this work.

Nzekwu, Tobechukwu’s “Dennis Memorial Grammar School, Onitsha 1925-1998”[29] is an appraisal of the efforts of the Church Mission Society (CMS) and its agents to establish a Grammar School in Eastern Nigeria. The aim was to help in the evangelization of Onitsha and its environs, through training of indigenous agents to help carry the gospel further into the Igbo hinterlands and win more converts to its denomination. Schools were seen as a veritable agent of these evangelization efforts. Nzekwu chronicles the history of the School from the colonial period of its establishment to the end of the Nigerian Civil War, bringing out the developments that had taken place. The work is relevant for this study as it offers a comparative term of the history of a mission school in the frame of Methodist College, Uzuakoli.

Ogbu Kalu’s “Primitive Methodist on the Railroad Junction of Igboland, 1910-1931”[30] analyzes the missionary enterprise of the primitive Methodist Mission in Igboland until they lost their ‘Primitive stripe’ in 1932. The accounts of Reverend Fred Dodds dominate the author’s narratives of the Primitive Methodist in Igboland.  He asserts that the writing of church history should not only concern the activities of European missionaries, but should also include their African agent and the responses by locals to the new religious ideas of their guest.

The work is divided into two parts by the author for easy comprehension. In the first section named, ‘The home base’, the work highlights the character of the Primitive Methodist Missionary Society in Britain, starting from its split from the Wesleyans, to the political, economic and religious determinants of the evangelical revival of the 19^th century.  The second section named ‘the field,’ is basically a follow up of the first. It outlined how in spite of the size, difficulties and limitations of the Primitive Missionaries men on the field in Igboland, made spirited efforts to evangelize much of the railroad junctions in Igboland, overcoming rivalries from other missions, antagonism from many communities and shortage of funds and men. Progresses made in evangelization, education and healthcare were recorded at great length, in this, two primitive missionaries names stood out in the author’s narrative, namely Reverend Christie and the ‘charismatic’ Reverend Dodds.  The author asserted that the frequent Conference between the various Missionary societies in the Igbo hinterland prevented intense rivalry in the area that would have resulted in rapid educational expansion which was the case in the Onitsha axis of Igboland. The work is important to this study as it offers a peep into the early days of the Primitive Methodist mission in Uzuakoli and environs and events leading up to the establishment of the College.

Another useful work is Lawrence Amadi’s, “Public Education Edict, 1970: Educational Transition in East Central State, Nigeria”[31] According to the author, the introduction of the Public Education Edict, 1970, in East Central State, was an important episode in the history of education by the State, and possibly in the whole of Nigeria. Its potential impact was not only educational but also political and social. The purpose of Amadi’s work was to analyze and examine briefly the edict in relation to the society. Emphasis was placed on the background leading to the Edict, its implications and implementation in a post civil war East Central State of Nigeria. It traced the history of education in Nigeria from the time of missionaries to the various educational ordinances in Nigeria from pre-colonial to colonial times. The author made a critique of the lack of unity of curriculum, especially among the various mission schools that dominated education during the pre-colonial to early independence period in Nigeria. The work is, however, important for it offers first-hand appraisal of the Education Edict of 1970. On the whole, it offers a one-sided assessment of the pros and cons of the Edict as it totally appraises the Government of East Central State while being critical of the missions. The work is important in understanding the post-civil war educational policy of the East-Central State of Nigeria and accompanying developments that followed.

K.O. Umezurumba, Christianity and Western Education in Umuahia, 1917-1991[32] examines colonialism and the import of Western education into Umuahia and the impact on Igbo political, socio-cultural and economic life. It takes Umuahia, the capital of present day Abia State in Nigeria as a case study. The work highlight the efforts of the various Missionary societies in Umuahia and its environ to establish Western education, it also highlights the various clashes the ‘new religion’ brought by the missionaries had with the traditional Igbo culture and how colonialism brought contradictions to the political cum socio-economic life of the Igbo society. It discusses the reasons the Igbo were receptive to the western styled education. The work is useful in detailing the development of Western education in colonial Umuahia and stops at that. Little detail is given of the development of education in the post-colonial era, unlike the present research that extends to

M.M. Familusi’s, Methodism in Nigeria, 1842-1992[33] is an attempt at reconstructing the history of the Methodist Church in Nigeria from 1842, when the first Wesleyan missionaries landed in Badagry, to 1992 when the Church celebrated its 150^th anniversary in Nigeria. Familusi’s work details the development of the Church all over Nigeria and some of the agents of this development, but the bulk of the work focuses on Western Nigeria and little on Eastern Nigeria and other regions in Nigeria. The stride of the Church towards educational development in Nigeria received the author’s attention. In the author’s analysis of the Nigerian Civil War and the breakaway of the Eastern Methodist Church, one doubts if Familuisi is guided by the facts of the war or writing on mere sentiments. The work is a good tool for any church historian who has the Methodist Church as a focus. It is also important to the study as it chronicles development of education (via establishment of schools) by the Methodist in all parts of Nigeria. Having known that the literatures above could not include the Methodist College, Uzuakoli from 1923-2012, this researcher had no alternative than to do this work.

Sources, Methods and Organization

This study is approached from the historical method of narration; it combines qualitative method with analysis of facts.The qualitative approach aims at in-depth understanding of behaviors of the missionaries that administered the school and reasons that govern such behavior. This will help in the analysis of facts gathered. The study also applies interdisciplinary approach and uses facts from the discipline of religion and education to complement history.

Data for the study was gathered from two sources namely primary sources and secondary sources. Primary sources were derived mainly from oral interviews, communiqué, official documents.To better understand various periods of the College’s development, Old Boys who had attended the College at diverse periods were interviewedin Lagos, Umuahia and Uzuakoli, also interviewed were past and present Principals and staff of the College. In Uzuakoli where the College is located, traditional rulers, elders and women leaders were interviewed, with a view to get a better picture of the impact of the College in Uzuakoli and its environs.  Information gathered from oral interviews were augmented with government gazette, communiqués and written records sourced from National Archives, Enugu; Institute of African Studies, Nsukka; Methodist College, Uzuakoli Library; and the Nnamdi Azikiwe Library, Nsukka. The secondary sources were derived mainly from books, online and print journals, magazines, unpublished project works and other related articles on print and online media.

The work is divided into five chapters; Chapter one is the background to the study. Chapter two looks at the College from its formative years till 1960. Chapter three looks at the history of the College from independence to the end of the Nigerian civil war in 1970. Chapter four assesses the College under government control. Chapter five summaries and concludes the work.

[1] A. J. Fox,Uzuakoli: A Short History (London: Oxford University Press, 1964), 5.

[2] I. A. Nwokoro, Historical study of the Okonko society, 1996-2006.(B.A Project, History And International Relations, Abia State University, 2008), 10.

[3] For a comprehensive perusal of the conquest of igboland, see S.N. Nwabara’s Iboland: A Century of Contact with Britain, 1860-1960, (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1977)

[4] A. J. Fox, Uzuakoli: A Short …, 11.

[5] The slave route that linked Uzuakoli to Bende is still visible today and passed through the Methodist College Uzuakoli

[6]   B. Magnus, “Missionary Rivalry and Educational Expansion in Southern Nigeria 1885-1932”, Journal of Negro Education 60, No. 1, (1991):  36.

[7] B. Magnus, “Missionary Rivalry and Educational…, 37.

[8] F. Anyika, Methodism in Igboland, Eastern Nigeria 1910-1932: Genesis and Growth (Onitsha: Cape Publishers Int’l Ltd., 1997), 12.

[9] In 1902, a joint boundary commission by both the British and German governments to delineate their boundaries in Africa, gave a ruling that Archibong Town was part of the German territory, the PM was thus forced to move to Oron.

[10] F. Anyika, Methodism in Igboland, Eastern…, 20.

[11] F. Anyika, Methodism in Igboland, Eastern…, 47.

[12] K. Ogbu, “Primitive Methodist on the Railroad Junction of Igboland, 1910-1931” Journal of Religion in Africa, 16, No. 1, (1986): 56.

[13] A. J.Fox, Uzuakoli: A Short History…, 98.

[14] Primitive Methodist had very few foreign missionaries in the field, due to financial and logistic problems in the Home field; thus, a need arose to recruit from the native populace.

[15] F.W. Dodds, “Nigeria Policy: XI-Education” Advance, p.24 quoted in F. Anyika,Methodism in Igboland, Eastern Nigeria 1910-1932: Genesis and Growth (Onitsha: Cape Publishers Int’l Ltd., 1997), 125.

[16] In 1913, work began on the Port Harcourt-Enugu Railway, and the Primitive Methodist made a deliberate decision to get up a chain of missions along the railway, at Uzuakoli, Umuahia, Ihube, Ovim and in Udi area. See Elizabeth Isichei’s History of the Igbo People (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 1976). Francis Jaekel The History of the Nigerian Railway (Ibadan:Spectrum Books, 1997) Vol 1-3

[17] V. B. Ludwig, General System Theory (New York: Braziller, 1968), 38.

[18] V. B. Ludwig, General System Theory…, 9.

[19] E. Schein, Organizational Culture and Leadership (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers, 1985), 20.

[20] E. Schein, Organizational Culture and…, 9.

 

[21] E. Uchenna, 68 Years, old boy, interviewed at Umuahia, 14^th November, 2013.

[22] H.C. Ogbonnaya et al, Methodist College Uzuakoli: A Short History (Owerri: New Africa Publishing Ltd, 1995)

[23] .S.K. Okpo., A brief History of the Methodist Church in Eastern Nigeria (Oron: Manson publishing Company, 1985)

[24] F. Anyika, Methodism in Igboland, Eastern Nigeria 1910-1932: Genesis and Growth (Onitsha: Cape Publishers Int’l Ltd., 1997)

[25] C. M. Cooke, “The Missionaries and Ibo,” review of   Ekechi, F. K.Missionary Enterprise and Rivalry in Igboland 1857-1914, The Journal of African History, 14, No. 1 (1973): 154-155.

 

[26] C.N. Ubah, “Western Education in Africa: The Igbo Experience 1900-1960” Comparative Education review.  24, No. 3 (1980): 1-19.

[27] B. Magnus, “Missionary Rivalry and Educational Expansion in Southern Nigeria 1885-1932”, Journal of Negro Education 60, No. 1. (1991): 36-46.

[28] S.N. Nwabara,  Iboland: A Century of Contact with Britain, 1860-1960, (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1977)

[29] Nzekwu, Tobechukwu, Dennis Memorial Grammar School, Onitsha 1925-1998” (B.A project, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, 1998)

[30] K. Ogbu, “Primitive Methodist on the Railroad Junction of Igboland, 1910-1931” Journal of Religion in Africa, 16, No. 1, (1986): 44-66.

[31] E. L. Amadi, “Public Education Edict, 1970: Educational Transition in East Central State, Nigeria” Journal of Negro Education 48, No. 4 (1979): 530-543.

[32] K.O. Umezurumba, “Christianity and Western Education in Umuahia 1917-1991” (B.A project, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, 1995)

[33] M.M. Familusi, Methodism in Nigeria 1842-1992 (Ibadan: Olusanmi Printing works, 1992)

 

 

METHODIST COLLEGE UZUAKOLI, 1923-2012

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