BRITISH COLONIAL POLICIES TOWARDS MISSION IN NORTHERN NIGERIA: SUDAN INTERIOR MISSION/SUDAN UNITED MISSION

Abstract

Sudan Pioneer Mission (SPM) was initially founded on 13th November, 1902 in quick response to the great concern of the Christian world over the fast expansion of Islam in the Sudan. In 1904, a new name was suggested known as Sudan United Mission (SUM) in order to emphasize the internationally interdenominational nature of the organization. SUM took its name from the concept of Greater Sudan. The main aim of the SUM was to halt the advance of Islam across this huge region. As it were at the beginning of the twentieth century, many of the colonial boundaries were in a state of flux and Greater Sudan comprised a vast area of Africa stretching from the coasts of Nigeria and other African countries. Employing historical and analytical approaches, this paper carefully examined British colonial policies towards mission in Northern Nigeria with a view to determining the effects of such policies on missionary endeavour. The study unraveled that to be able to evangelize and capture Sudan against Islam encroachment in the region the colonial missionaries introduced activities like education, hospital and entrepreneurship among others. The study submitted that were it not
for the indirect rule employed by the colonial administrator which engendered the restriction of missionary activities in Northern Nigeria, Christianity would have spread faster and gained much ground than it did in the north.