The tale of the individual who sold present-day Nigeria to the British for £865K in 1899

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This is the tale of the first oil war, which took place in what is now Nigeria during the 1800s. The British had a great need for palm oil throughout the 19th century because they needed it for industrial lubrication of machines.

Recall that in order to continue being the world’s first industrialised country, Britain need resources like palm oil.

Naturally, palm oil comes from a tropical plant that is indigenous to the Niger Delta. It took another century for Malaysia to become dominant. The Niger Delta, formerly known as the Slave Coast, began exporting palm oil in 1870, replacing slaves as the primary commodity.

The majority of the oil palm trade was initially unorganised, with locals selling to whoever offered them the best terms. Because to oil palm, native chiefs like Jaja of Opobo, a former slave, became extremely wealthy. Influence accompanied this money.

There was rivalry among the Europeans over who would have first dibs on the lucrative oil palm trade. The United African Company (UAC), founded in 1879 by George Goldie, was based after the defunct East India Company. The Lower Niger River was taken over by Goldie.

His enterprise operated thirty commercial terminals along the Lower Niger by 1884. During the Berlin Conference of 1884, the British had a strong advantage over the French and Germans thanks to their exclusivity.

Following the Berlin Conference, the British incorporated the region in which the UAC operated within their sphere of influence.

The British started negotiating with the African chiefs when they obtained the terms they desired from other European nations. In 1886, Goldie concluded treaties with tribal chiefs inland as well as along the Benue and Niger Rivers in less than two years.

The corporation had verbally agreed to limit its operations to coastal areas, but this march interior went against that principle.

The National Africa Company was the new name of the business by 1886, when it received a royal charter and became incorporated. The company’s charter gave it permission to manage the Niger Delta and the entire area surrounding the banks of the Benue and Niger rivers.

The business soon underwent another name change. The Royal Niger Company was the new name, and it is still in use today as “Unilever.”

The negotiators from the Royal Niger Company had promised free trade in the area to the local chiefs. They made private agreements on their terms behind them. The British government enforced the (deceptive) private contracts since the local chiefs signed them and they were often written in English. For instance, Jaja of Opobo was sent into exile for “obstructing commerce” when he attempted to export palm oil on his own. In any case, Jaja was “forgiven” in 1891 and given permission to travel back home; however, he was poisoned with a cup of tea and perished in transit.

After learning of Jaja’s fate, a few other aboriginal leaders started to scrutinise the agreements they were making with the Royal Nigeria Company. Nembe was one of these kingdoms; its monarch, Koko Mingi VIII, had been a Christian schoolteacher before taking the throne in 1889.

Like the majority of the yard’s kings, Koko Mingi VIII had to deal with Royal Nigeria Company encroachment. He also despised the Royal Nigeria Company’s monopoly and made an effort to find fair commercial conditions, especially with the Germans in Kamerun (Cameroon).

By 1894, the aboriginal people were denied direct access to their previous markets and the Royal Nigeria Company was controlling more and more who they might deal with.

King Koko abandoned Christianity in the latter part of 1894 and attempted to regain control of the trade by forming an alliance with Bonny and Okpoma against the Royal Nigeria Company. This is noteworthy since Bonny declined to join, whereas Okpoma did. a precursor to the effective “divide and rule” strategy.

King Koko launched an assault against the Royal Niger Company’s headquarters, located in Akassa, in the present-day state of Bayelsa, on January 29, 1895. Over a thousand men took part in the predawn raid.

King Koko was able to take control of the base with his attack. forty of his men were lost, sixty white soldiers were taken prisoner, and a Maxim cannon and tonnes of supplies were taken. Koko then made an effort to broker the hostages’ release in exchange for permission to select his trading partners Koko ordered the execution of forty of the captives when the British refused to engage in negotiations. According to a British report, they were eaten by the Nembe people.

Brass was destroyed by fire when the Royal Navy of Great Britain, commanded by Admiral Bedford, attacked it on February 20, 1895. Smallpox killed a large number of Nembe people and caused many more to perish.

By April 1895, everything had gotten back to “normal,” which the British defined as the desired state of affairs, and King Koko was abducted. The British fined Brass £500, £62,494, and returned the stolen weapons along with the remaining detainees.

Following the meeting of a British Parliamentary Commission, the British extended offers of settlement to King Koko, who declined them and vanished.

The British quickly labelled him an outlaw and promised to pay him £200 (£26,000, or NGN12 million in today’s currency).

In exile, King Koko committed suicide in 1898. The Oba of Benin, another “recalcitrant King,” was driven from the city at the same period. It was clear that the Lower Niger was becoming more peaceful.

The British public’s perception of the Royal Nigeria Company was negatively impacted by the Brass Oil War, and as a result, the company’s charter was withdrawn in 1899. The Royal Niger Company ceded its properties to the British government for £865,000 after its charter was revoked.

This amount essentially represented the price Britain paid to acquire the land that would eventually be known as Nigeria. The man who sold Nigeria to the British was George Goldie.

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