There is something about a name. The name of a person, place or object encapsulates the nature, character and authority of the bearer, though not necessarily in a literal sense. The name, ‘’Nigeria’’, given us by Flora Shaw, wife of former colonial master, Frederick Lugard, bears a negative vibration.
It is covertly derogatory and should be re-invented as NIGERIAH (NIGERI-AH) to make it more meaningful and symbolize a new spiritual foundation to reposition our country in the heavenlies where world events are seeded and settled.
Though ‘’Nigeria’’ and the proposed ‘’Nigeriah’’ may seem and sound alike, but they differ greatly in meaning as we will later understand. We will also locate and unveil the principality of Nigeria and its dark activities which has continued to bind our country in shackles. But first, let us examine the origin and meaning of ‘’Nigeria’’.
Historically, before the name was put forward, Nigeria had been known by other names, such as Central Sudan, Niger Sudan, Niger Empire, Hausa Territories and Royal Niger Company Territories, until Flora Shaw intervened as captured in her article published in Times of London in 1897, wherein she wrote, among other things, ‘’In the first place, as the title Royal Niger Company Territories is not only inconvenient to use but to some extent is also misleading, it may be permissible to coin a shorter title for the agglomeration of pagan and Mohammedan states which have been brought, by the exertions of the Royal Niger Company, within the confines of the British Protectorates, and thus need for the first time in their history to be described as an entity by some general name.
To speak of them as the Central Sudan which is the title accorded by some geographers and travellers, has the disadvantage of ignoring political frontier-lines, while the word ‘’Sudan’’ is too apt to connect itself in the public mind as the French hinterland of Algeria, or the vexed questions of the Niger Basin.
The name ‘Nigeria’ applying to no other portion of Africa, may, without offence to any neighbours be accepted as co-extensive with the territories over which the Royal Niger Company has extended British influence, and may serve to differentiate them equally from the British colonies of Lagos and Niger Protectorate on the coast and from the French territory of the Upper Niger’’. From the above, it is evident that the name , ‘’Nigeria’’ is an imitation of ‘’Algeria’’.
It was originally coined to identify those Flora Shaw referred to as ‘’pagan and Mohammedan states’’ and was compounded from two words Niger and Area which translates Niger Area (pronounce Nigger Area or Niggeria) in English, or, Ny-jer/Naidzer Area, or, Ny-jeria in French, or Nigerlando in Esperanto.
The Niger component speaks to the ‘’perfect blackness of the pure-bred Hausa’’ and the area element, their large concentration(about 15million). It is noteworthy that the word ‘’Niger’’ as in Niger River or Niger State is not indigenous.
Niger River(pronounce Nigger River) in English or, le Floev Ny-jer(River Ny-jer) in French, is the name of a river with its source in the Guinea Highlands, in the Mountains of Fouta Djalon of Guinea, a Francophone country, near the border with Sierra Leone.
And notice that a common feature in all the former names of Nigeria(Central Sudan, Niger Sudan, Niger Empire, Hausa Territories and Royal Niger Company Territories) is the word, black. Sudan was derived from the word, Saoud, which means black in Arabic. The original name of Sudan was Bilad-al Sudan (Land of Blacks).
And the word Niger (pronounce nigger in English, and Ny-jer in French), is a Latin adjective and offensive word for black. Also, Hausa is synonymous with black as evidenced in another extract from Flora Shaw’s piece: ‘’the Hausa who are generally regarded as the most interesting of the races which inhabit the country, are believed to number as many as 15 million. The pure-bred Hausa is PERFECTLY BLACK (emphasis mine), but is of course, of a far higher type than the ordinary negro and differs from him especially in the fact that he is naturally active, persistent and industrious. He is essentially a man of peace as the Foulah (Fulani) is a man of war.’’
The word ‘’Niger’’(pronounce Nigger) is found in the Bible, in the book of Acts Chapter 13 verse 1. It is the other name of Simeone(Simon), a black man from Libya ( formerly known as Cyrene) in North Africa. He was the same Simon who was forced to carry the Cross of Jesus as witnessed in the Synoptic Gospels of Mathew Chapter 27 verse 32, Mark Chapter 15 verse 21 and Luke Chapter 23 verse 26.
Notice the word ‘’forced’’. The reason Simon was forced to carry the Cross of Jesus was because he was ‘Niger’! He was black! In His passion, Jesus was badly scourged by the Jews and as they led Him towards outside the gate as an Outcast to crucify Him, they saw a black man who was coming from outside town in the opposite direction where Jesus was headed and FORCED him to carry the Cross because white Jews considered such service befitting only the black- the Niger. But ironically, that momentous encounter was a victorious one for the black man because it was at that point that the black race symbolically made contact and followed Jesus, the Theantropic Man.
Till date, the average white man sees a black man or person with a negro descent(Niger) as inferior, servile, a foolish person and very silly fellow as is evident in the various synonyms they coined for Black and Niger. One of such is ‘’Jigaboo’’- an ethnic slur and extremely offensive name for a black person.
- Rev Nwobu, is a Sociologist and Public policy Analyst. He wrote via arizenwobu@yahoo.com.
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