Anthony Oham - 2006 - Labor Migration From Southeastern Nigeria To Spanish Fernando Po

LABOR MIGRATION FROM SOUTHEASTERN
NIGERIA TO SPANISH FERNANDO PO, 1900-1968

Anthony C. Oham
A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of
the requirement for degree of
Master of Arts
Department of History
Central Michigan
Mount Pleasant, Michigan
October, 2006
Accepted by the Faculty of the College of Graduate Studies,
Central Michigan University, in partial fulfillment of
the requirement for the Master's degree
Thesis Committee:
Date: hk---c
Committee:
Solomon A. Getahun, Ph.d., Chair.
Maureen N. Eke, Ph.d.
Timothy D. Hall, Ph.d.
John F. Robertson, Ph.d.
Committee Chair
Faculty Member
Faculty Member
Faculty Member
Dean d"
College of Graduate Stu Ies
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
While writing this thesis and studying at Central Michigan University, I
encountered many challenges. I had a hard time because my wife was not with me.
Because she was not with me, there were a lot of distractions that affected my academic
progress. Despite this, I succeeded and will not fail to thank the Almighty God for the
special grace and infinite mercies He gave me, especially in completing this work in due
time.
I am very, very grateful to my parents, Mr. and Mrs. J.O. Oham, who encouraged
and supported me financially to study in the U.S.
I thank my wife, Mrs. Godsfavour Akuoma Oham, for the patience, prayers,
encouragement, and love she gave me in order that I could achieve my goals at CMU.
To my advisor, Dr. Solomon A. Getahun-thanks for being so patient and caring.
I learned from you what no textbook could have taught me.
I also would like to recognize the assistance and encouragement of Dr. Chima J.
Korieh, who has been a colleague and father to me. I am also grateful for your support,
especially for making it possible for me to come to CMU to pursue my education. I thank
you also for finding time to edit my work.
My gratitude also goes to Prof. T. Hall, who assisted me in many ways to have a
successful academic career in CMU. I also thank you once more for your assistance in
bringing me here to CMU. I would not have learned as much if I had not come to CMU.
v
To all my instructors and committee members at Central Michigan University,
especially Prof. Stephen P. Scherer, Prof. John F. Robertson, Prof. Maureen N. Eke, Prof.
Thomas Benjamin, Prof. James Schmiechen, Prof. Eric Johnson, and others who have
made it possible in one way or another for me to be successful-thank you for being here
at CMU for me.
I also thank the CMU Writing Center for making time to edit my work, especially
Wesley M. Umstead and Wanda M. Thibodeaux, who contributed in no small measure in
the completion of this thesis.
To all those who contributed in one way or the other and who are not mentioned
above, thank you and God bless.
LABOR MIGRATION FROM SOUTHEASTERN
NIGERIA TO SPANISH FERNANDO PO, 1900-1968
by Anthony Oharn
The history of African societies has been defined and reshaped by internal and
external factors. The African colonial encounter of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries
reshaped the social and economic processes ofNigerian societies. Some of these
developments were internal (rural-urban) and international (across border) labor
migrations. I am particularly interested in the migration history of southeastern Nigeria
and the socio-economic impact of migration upon the migrants and imperial powers.
This thesis aims to discuss migration from southeastern Nigeria to Fernando Po
during the colonial era from several angles. The study specifically explains the Anglo-
Spanish labor agreement that led to the export of thousands ofNigerian laborers,
particularly from southeastern Nigeria, to Spanish Fernando Po. The research made use
of archival sources, oral sources, and review of related literature available on migration
of Nigerians to Spanish Fernando Po.
This work explores the nature, motive, and impact of this migration on both
imperial powers and Nigerian migrants. The research also investigates the kind of labor
vii
practices and attitudes that existed in the plantations of Fernando Po, particularly the \ives
and experiences of the migrants from their own perspective. The study combines aspects
of social, economic, and political history in colonial Nigeria, an area that has not received
adequate attention.
The study found that the Anglo-Spanish labor agreement was an important
example of colonial cooperation, but one in which the wage, living, and working
conditions of Nigerian laborers were compromised by both colonial powers.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................. x
CHAPTER
I. INTRODUCTION ......................................................................... 1
Theoretical Framework ........................................................... 7
History and Geography ......................................................... 12
Methodology and Sources ....................................................... 18
Motivation of the Migrants .................................................... 22
Age and Gender of the Migrants .............................................. 24
II. THE HISTORY OF THE ANGLO-SPANISH AGREEMENT ..................... 27
III. WAGE, LIVING, AND WORKING CONDITIONS ON THE
PLANTATIONS ......................................................................... .40
IV.
IMP ACT ANALYSIS ............................................................. ....... 57
Background for Migration Impact Analysis ....................... ........ 57
Impact on the ......................................................
Impact on the Impenal Powers ............................................ .
USION
...... 70
V. SUMMARY AND CONCL ......................................... .. .
APPENDICES ............................................ .... .. .. .. .....
82
BIBLIOGRAPHY .............................
.................. 88
ix
LIST OF TABLES
TABLE
PAGE
1. Estimation of Population .................................................................... 18
2. Number of Nigerian Migrants Who Returned To Southeastern Nigeria (Calabar
Province, 1947) ................................................................................ 26
3. Export of Cocoa from 1939-1968 .......................................................... 69
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
The experiences of African societies have been influenced by external contact,
which includes the European exploration of the fifteenth century, the Atlantic slave trade,
and the European missionary and imperialist activities of the late nineteenth century.
Thus, the nineteenth and twentieth centuries brought fundamental changes to African
societies. In Nigeria, the colonial encounter reshaped the economic and social processes
of local societies. Colonialism increased movement of people within and across
boundaries. Some individuals migrated because they were in search of new opportunities
created by the bureaucracy. Others migrated because they were seeking employment in
the industrial, mining, and commercial farms that developed in the wake of the European
colonialism.
This study examines the type of migration that the European encounter
engendered in local Nigerian societies. It focuses on the migration from southeastern
Nigeria to Spanish Fernando Po between 1900 and 1968-a subject that hitherto has been
neglected. I chose to begin the study in 1900 because it was at this period that Britain
established colonization in Nigeria-the Nigerian relations with Spanish Fernando Po
allowed Britain to be involved in Nigerian labor migration to Spanish Fernando Po.
Additionally, 1968 was the year in which Fernando Po received independence. This
marked the end of the colonial period on the island ofFemando Po that I covered in this
research. This work also utilizes historical facts before 1900 in order to place the present
study in context. The study also examines the impact of the Anglo-Spanish agreement of
1942 that led to the movement ofthousands oflgbo and Ibibio laborers to Spanish cocoa
pl:mtntons on the island of Fernando Po in present-day Equatorial Guinea. The focus is
on the nature. motive. and impact of this migration on the Nigerian migrants, as well as
on the imperial powers. The study pays particular attention to the kind of labor regime
that existed in the plantations of Fernando Po and explores the lives and experiences of
the migrants. The research combines aspects of social, economic, and political history in
the colonial period. The thesis argues that the Anglo-Spanish agreement was a colonial
cooperation, but one in which the conditions of Nigerian laborers were compromised by
both colonial powers.
This study is important for several reasons: It attempts to show that, despite
contestations for areas of influence in Africa, colonial powers often collaborated to
protect their mutual interests. The thesis further attempts to show that local people were
important in shaping colonial societies. It will make a valuable contribution to the history
of Nigerian migration, labor, and colonialism. The research will deepen the
understanding of Nigerian labor migration to Spanish Fernando Po, particularly regarding
the lives and experiences of these migrants under colonial administration. The study also
will deepen the understanding of the nature of migration in West Africa. By examining
the case of Nigerian labor migration, insights and conclusions can be drawn more
accurately about the implications oflabor migration for African societies.
Migration refers to the change in residence involving movement between
communities. R. K. Udo describes migration as a permanent or semi-permanent change
of abode; hence, migration generally is considered to be an economic act, which makes it
a rational act; it is man's reaction to economic differentials between regions.
1
Hill adds
that. in West Africa. the tendency to migrate does not essentially associate at all closely
with population density as demographers and economists so often assume; it may be the
result of a lack of lucrative non-farming occupations, because farming is not regarded as
"work" by some West Africans.
2
S. Amin, meanwhile, argues that colonialism
constitutes an important dimension of the labor migration nexus in West Africa.
3
M. Peil
appends that the political stability of the colonial period made possible a great increase in
migration.
4
The substantial migration in Nigeria began in southeastern Nigeria after the
colonization by the British in 1900. Migration had not been evident in this region before
the colonial period; most of the early forms ofmigration were limited in scope and often
were present for a very short period of time. However, the colonial authorities imposed
policies that forced migration to colonies in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. As
W.T.S Gould shows, colonial authorities often entered into agreements to promote inter-
territorial movement of this kind in an attempt to balance supply of and demand for labor,
and labor agreements were particularly prevalent during the 1940's and 1950's.
5
This
1
R.K. Udo, 'Internal migrants and development', in J.S.Oguntoyinbo et al. (eds.) A Geography of
Nigerian Development (lbadan: Heinemann Educational Books, 1978). Cited inS. Ekpenyong. Ikpe
Migrants Cocoa Farmers of South-Western Cameroon. African: Journal of the International African
Institute 54, no. I (1984): 20-30.
2
Hill, (1978: 25-26) Author's fust name and full bibliographical information not provided. Cited
inS. Ekpenyong. Ikpe Migrants Cocoa Farmers of South-Western Cameroon. African: Journal of the
International Afi-ican Institute 54, no. I (1984): 20-30.
3
S. Amin, Colonialism in West Africa. New York: Monthy Review Press. Cited in J.A Arthur,
"International Labor Migration Pattern in West Africa." African Studies Review 34, no.3 (1991 Dec.): 65-
87.
4
M. Peil, The Expulsion of West African Aliens. The Journal of Modern African Studies, 9, no.2
(1971): 205-229.
s W .T.S. Gould, "International Migration in Tropical: A Bibliographical Review." International
Migration Review 8, no.3 (1974, Autumn): 347-365.
3
was when the colonial economies were expanding rapidly and when labor supply
problems seemed particularly serious.
The International Labor Organization offered a summary of these agreements in
all African countries and concluded that movements such as these within and between
colonial districts could not be considered as "international" in the strict sense or as
distinct from internal migration: "The factors that justify a distinction between internal
and external migration in more advanced areas are not present to the same degree in
Africa ... What is said ... regarding the causes and results of inter-territorial movement is
therefore equally applicable to the numerically much more important internal
migration."
6
D. D. Cordell, J .W. Gregory, and V. Piche observe that, in the conventional
dictionary, colonial migration is generally characterized as "traditional" or "archaic"
migration that does not bring social transformation, but which recreates the original
society in a new setting.
7
According to J. A. Arthur, economic and social factors influence the character of
the international migratory flow of labor in West Africa. The vital role of economic
factors is the result of the movement oflabor across the borders of West Africa. He
argues that, because the international movement oflabor in West Africa is caused by
inequalities in economic development and natural resources among countries in the
region, the need of migrants to maximize income and achieve social status through
6
International Labor Organization, "Inter-territorial migration of Africa south of the Sahara."
International Labor Review 76( 1957): 292-310.
7
D.O. Cordell, J.W Gregory, & V. Piche, Hoe and Wage: A Social History of a Circular
Migration System in West Africa (Colorado: Westview Press.\996), 21.
4
thus existed.' Cordell. Gregory, and Piche add that migration in West Africa is
mostly forced. The capitalist sphere could not survive in its present form without the non-
capitalist sphere. which provides labor at an extremely low cost. This means that the non-
capitalist sphere sponsors its capitalist counterpart. Thus, migration is a form of
articulation that connects both spheres as a sole economy.
9
J.A. McCain sees the migration of Nigerians as a function of perceived economic
opportunity; this function can be viewed as the perceived opportunities of employment.
10
In addition, J. Osuntokun observes that Nigerian migration was a result of political
oppression, a lack of economic opportunities, and a shortage of land to cultivate crops.
All of these problems led to the mass exodus ofNigerian migrants to Spanish Fernando
Po. II
I. K. Sundiata gives a complete history of Fernando Po, explains the links
between slavery and free contract labor, and confronts the ideas of labor development and
progress in various colonial contexts. Thus, Fernando Po developed a plantation economy
dependent on migrant laborers who worked under conditions similar to slavery. Sundiata
reports that a "contract worker on Sao Tome in 1900 probably approximated various
definitions of 'slave' more than did those persons in 1800 who, while legally slaves, were
left to devote most of their time to the cultivation of small subsistence plots."
12
8
J.A Arthur, "International Labor Migration Pattern in West Africa." African Studies Review 34,
no.3 (1991 Dec): 65-87.
9
Cordell, Gregory, & Piche. Hoe and Wage, 18.
10
J.A. McCain, "Migration Pattern in Nigeria." African Studies Review 15, no.2 (1972): 209-215,
African Studies Association.
11
J. Osuntokun, Nigeria-Fernando Po Relations from the 19TH Century to the Present. Papers read
at the Canadian Africa Studies Association Conference. Sherbrooke PQ Canada (1977, Aprii26-May3): 16.
12
I.K. Sundiata, From Slaving to Neo-slavery: The Bight of Bight and Fernando Po in the Era of
Abolition, 1827-1930 (London: The University of Wisconsin Press, 1996), 121.
5
The N1gerian relationship with Fernando Po was based on an economic and
strategic reasoning that existed throughout the colonial times. Fernando Po was close to
the Bights of Benin and Biafra. Because ofthis, many of the Creoles claimed Nigerian
ancestry. D B. Akinyemi, the former Nigerian Minister of External Affairs, further posits
that Fernando Po was an important consideration in Nigeria's foreign policy. The island
of Fernando Po is virtually a neighbor to Nigeria, and many of the laborers on Fernando
Po plantations were Nigerian in birth.
14
According to R.T. Brown, the British government decided to remove the Mixed
Commission Courts and the slave suppression squadron from Sierra Leone to Fernando
Po in 1826. The British government took these actions because the government wanted to
make the humanitarian program of abolition more applicable to the reality ofthe
conditions in Africa. The original campaign of direct attack on the exporters of slaves had
been turned over to the Royal Navy and a system of Mixed Commission Courts. There
were various bilateral treaties signed between Great Britain, Spain, and other powers that
gave the Royal Navy authority to stop slave-carrying ships. Once captured, the slavers
would be punished by imprisonment.
15
The agreements gave the British the authority to
"search and arrest" because the British suspected that Spain was engaging in illegal
human trafficking of Nigerian laborers.
The crop of cocoa was taken from Brazil to Sao Tome in 1822 and later
introduced to Fernando Po. The introduction of cocoa to Fernando Po produced a shift
13
J. Osuntokun, Nigeria- Fernando Po Relation in Akinyemi, A.B Ed. Nigeria and the World
(Ibadan: University ofibadan, 1973), 3.
14
B. Akinyemi, "Nigeria and Fernando Po, 1958-1966: The Politics oflrridentism." Africa Affairs
69, no.276 (1970 July): 236-249.
15
R.T. Brown, "Fernando Po and the Anti-Sierra Leonean Campaign, 1826-1834." The
International Journal of African Historical Studies 6, no.2 (1973): 249-264.
6
fwm the palm oil trade to plantation agriculture.
16
The country was unable to meet the
labor need ofthc cocoa plantations. Thus, the decision was made to recruit labor from
neighboring countries, and by the 1940's, Nigerians had became the most populous and
important migrants working in the plantations of Spanish Fernando Po.
Theoretical Framework
Many scholars have propounded a number of models in order to determine what
influences internal and international labor migration. These models are the economic
maximization model, also known as the cost-benefit and human capital model; the
mobility transition model of Zelinsky; the volume, direction, and distance or gravity
models ofZipf, Isard and Bramhall, and Olsson; the ecological model ofRavenstein and
Lee; Mabogunje's system model; the value expectancy model of Dejong and Fawcett;
Byerlee's model, and Todaro's model. In regard to these models, I will discuss and apply
the three models of migration mentioned above that are supported by Arthur; I will
borrow the utility aspect of each model that is congruent with the study. The other
models will not be applied to this study because their features are not related to this
specific migration study.
Arthur's assertion is that Todaro's, Mabogunje's, and Byerlee's models are the
most suitable for studying migration in West Africa, particularly the migration of
individuals from southeastern Nigeria to Fernando Po. Arthur's reasons are as follows:
These models stress the importance of the labor market and economic conditions to the
decision-making of a migrant; they acknowledge the role of family structure, kinship, and
16
I.K. Sundiata, "Prelude to Scandal: Liberia and Fernando Po." The Journal of African History
15, no. I (1974): 97-112.
7
"''mmunuy organt7ations in the migratory process; they have the potential to examine the
major types of migration in West Africa, such as circular. stepwise, and chain migrations,
without the need to rely on any particular assumptions about human behavior; and they
explain migration as part of a general theory of economic development based upon a
sectoral approach which recognizes the transport of labor from one economic sector to
another.
17
Before applying these models to Nigerian migration to Spanish Fernando Po, I
shall attempt to explain the models based on individual approach, in order to make it
clear what the models are saying and also how they relate to the subject matter. M.
Todaro's model postulates that migration decision-making occurs in response to the
expected income differences between rural and urban locations.
18
The basic hypothesis
in this statement is that the possible migrant chooses a place that maximizes the
anticipated gains from migration. Thus, anticipated gain is measured in real income
differences between the rural and urban employment opportunities and also in the
probability of the potential migrant securing a job at the place of destination.
19
A. L. Mabogunje's approach to migration postulates that rural-urban migration in
Africa is influenced by the interrelationship of ruraVurban control systems, ruraVurban
adjustment mechanisms, and the positive or negative flow of information about
migration. There are four elements ofMabogunje's model. The first element states that a
pool of potential migrants in the rural areas is viewed as a mass resource rather than as
individuals. The second element consists of two systems pertaining to migration flows:
17
Arthur, "International Labor Migration Pattern in West Africa."
18
M. Todaro, "A Model of Labor Migration and Urban Unemployment in Less Developed
Countries." The American Economic Review 59, no. I ( 1969): 138-148.
19
8
,,nc centered in the rural area and controlling outflows and one in the urban area
controlling inflows. The third element is a background environment comprised of social
and economic conditions. govemment policies, transportation, and communication
infrastructure. Finally, the fourth element states that the low level of technological
progress and development causes migration.
20
G. Dejong and R. Gardner interpret
Mabogunje's model:
With regards to the push side ofmigration, it is evident that
local economic conditions would affect the pool of
potential migrants. Thus, if there is much work, fewer
persons will enter the migrant pool than if the opposite
were true. The pool, however, will also be affected by
local social practices pertaining to the family. [On the
other hand] the pull side of migration, wage rate and job
opportunities emanating from the urban system, would
affect whether individuals in the pool of potential migrants
in fact migrate.
21
D. Byerlee views migration as the outcome of cost-return calculation.
22
Going by
Byerlee's assertion, when the perceived return of migration exceeds the perceived cost of
migration, the decision to migrate will be made. Byerlee sees this model as beyond the
conventional cost-return analysis ofthe human capital approach because it includes
elements of the social system, explicitly identifies determinants of rural and urban
income, and introduces risks and other psychic costs into the migration decision-making
process?
3
20
A.L. Mabogunje, "System Approach to a Theory of Rural-urban Migration." Geographical
Analysis 2 (1970): 1-17.
11
G. Dejong & R.Gardner, Migration Decision Making. (New York: Pergamon.I981), 153-157
22
D.Byerlee, "Rural-urban Migration in Africa: Theory, Policy and Research."
lmp/ication.lntemational Migration Review 8 (1974): 543-566.
23
Byerlee, "Rural-urban Migration in Africa: Theory, Policy and Research."
9
The question is how these models relate to Nigeria's labor migration to Spanish
Fernando Po during the colonial period. It is here that Todaro's model provides one of the
best exphmations for labor migration in Nigerian society, because it recognizes the
unequal distribution of economic and social development among regions in Nigeria.
The migration ofNigerians to Spanish Fernando Po was determined by economic
reasons. According to the oral investigation I conducted of migrants between the ages of
68-85. Nigerians originally migrated to Spanish Fernando Po because of unavailability of
jobs in southeastern Nigeria. Onwubu notes that "the intimation that 'more job
opportunities' were available outside [Nigeria] would suggest that the British colonial
administration, if anything, had failed to adopt a policy of uniform development of all the
areas ofthis legal-commercial structure which they had created."
24
It is the income to be
earned as a migrant laborer that provides the driving force behind the decision to move.
Thus, the Spanish authorities promised liberal payment to Nigerian laborers. Because of
this, the Nigerian migrants were confident that they would have jobs with higher wages
in Fernando Po. This confidence influenced the decision of Nigerians to migrate to
Spanish Fernando Po.
Mabogunje's model stresses the structure and social practices of the community
and how they can facilitate or impede migration. During the period of this study, the Igbo
people were the largest population of the Nigerian migrants in Spanish Fernando Po. One
of the respondents who worked in a cocoa plantation and who is familiar with older lgbo
customs and traditions, Udochukwu, reports that the traditional Igbo society says that it is
a taboo for young unmarried women to migrate. The tradition, therefore, didn't permit
24
C. Onwubu, "Etlmic Identity, Political Integration and National Development: The Igbo
Diaspora in Nigeria." The Journal of Modern Africa Studies 13, no.3 ( 1975 Sept): 399-413.
10
Yotmg to migrate to Spanish Fernando Po. Rather, it was married women and
who migrated to Spanish Fernando Po. However, not all widows migrated. Only
those widows who had the strength to work on plantations and who did not have anyone
to assist them migrated. Mabogunje's model asserts that community has an affect on
migration. Since the tradition held by the Igbo community members impacted whether or
not women migrated, Mabogunje's model applies to Nigerian labor migration to Spanish
Fernando Po.
While Mabogunje's model focuses on the community as a whole, Byerlee's
model emphasizes the role of family in migration decision-making. Although the reasons
for migration change over time, based on the respondents' assertions, the family structure
helped in communicating to the migrants that there were job opportunities available in
Spanish Fernando Po. The government and churches were asking for people to be
recruited to work on Spanish cocoa plantations. The family structure helped to sponsor
the potential migrant to sign some documents presented by the government at Calabar
and also encouraged the potential migrant to migrate in order to increase family earning.
Also, many families and kinship groups played a vital role in preventing their daughters
from migrating to Spanish Fernando Po.
25
Byerlee's model provides one explanation of
the impact of family on the migration of Nigerians to Spanish Fernando Po.
It is important to note that, since independence, the migration pattern of West
Africa has undergone--and is still undergoing--changes. For instance, according to D.
Okali, E. Okapara, and J. Olawoye, there is a changing pattern of migration of young
women. In the past (as supported above), young women were restricted in migration.
21
Udochukwu, interview by Anthony Oham, December 20, 2005.
11
Howt:HT. young women now arc migrating in order to acquire education and skills for a
better job. The relaxation of the tradition began during the Nigerian Civil War in 1967
when some unmarried women ran away with soldiers; family members at home became
more accepting of unmarried women leaving when the women who had run away began
to send gifts back home.
26
Furthermore, based on the experiences I had in Nigeria, family
and kinship group does not have as much influence in the migration decision as it did in
the past because of social and economic poverty; some potential migrants make a radical
decision to migrate based on their own circumstances rather than on the decision of their
family and kinship group.
History and Geography
Full comprehension of the migration pattern in the region requires some
knowledge of the historical and geographical context. The generally accepted history and
origin of southeastern Nigeria was that collected through oral tradition by historians,
ethnologists, and others. Going by C.C. Ifemesia's assertion, "it is now believed that
there was an early Igbo homeland on the northern Igbo plateau; that is, in what are today
parts of the A wka, Orlu, Owerri and Okigwi area. From this heartland the people
dispersed at different periods in various directions ... to the south and south-east, towards
the eastern delta and the Cross River area; to the north ... to the west. .. and back again to
the bank."
27
Although Ifemesia did not identify the exact location of the heartland, the
account ofH.M. Cole and C. Aniaker is similar: "Early Igbo appear to have first occupied
26
D. Okali, E. Okapara, & J.Olawoye, Rural-Urban Interaction and Livelihood Strategies Series:
The case of Aba and its region southeastern Nigeria (London: Human Settlement Program liED, 2001), 28.
2
C.C. Ifemesia, Traditional H11man Living among the /gbo: An H1stoncal Perspective (Enugu:
Fourth Dimension Publishing Co.Ltd, 1979), 21-22.
12
th..: Awka-Urlu plateau area. often referred to as the 'lgbo heartland,' four to live
thousand years ago ... lN
lfemesia claims that in "the general expansion outwards from the Igbo heartland,
there is evidence of migration from elsewhere into Igboland, and of external influences
which played upon the Igbo." Some ofthese clans are:
In the south and south-east (Ijo, Ibibio, Efik and other
Cross River people), in the north and north-west (Tiv,
Idoma and I gala), and in the west (Edo ). In many cases, it
is said that original migrations were people moving because
of population pressure; or fleeing from justice, or from the
powerful arm of an oppressive king; or having off to set up
on their own after quarreling with their kinsmen; or
wanting to try their luck elsewhere after a series of
accidents or misfortunes, the persistent failure of crops, or
childlessness of women, in a particular place; or responding
to "the lure of the great commercial highway of the river
valley," seeking places in the river basin favorable to trade.
But natural disasters-like drought and farming, flood and
pestilence-and wanderlust might also have induced
migration.
Ifemesia observes that the lgbo people and their clans could be traced from oral
sources. "lgbo belongs to the Kwa sub-family of the Niger-Congo family oflanguages.
Also, it has been estimated that the languages ancestral to Niger-Congo family could not
have been spoken more recently than 10,000 years ago."
29
Similarly, A. E. Afigbo claims
that "lgbo is one of the languages which linguists designate 'kwa,' a sub-group of the
Niger Congo group ofNegro languages." Historical and linguistic scholars draw their
conclusion from glotto-chronological evidence that the kwa sub-group languages
assumed "their distinctive and individual forms, at least 6,000 years ago."
28
H.M. Cole & C. Aniakor, Igbo Arts: Community and Cosmos. (California: Regents of
Universitt,; of California, 1984), I.
9
Ifemesia, Traditional Human Living among the lgbo, 22, 17.
13
As for migration and dispersal oflgbo people to their present location. Afigbo
confim1s that anthropologists and other scholars always have arrived at "the theory that
the Nri-Awka-Orlu complex was probably the earliest center of lgbo settlement in
southern Nigeria. ,,Jo The migrants left the region of early settlement and migrated to other
places that they still occupy today. A. A. Dike added that "it is equally relevant that the
oral traditions of most Igbo groups point to part ofNorthem lgboland as the original
home of their ancestors. Specifically, most scholars point to the Awka and Orlu area as
the original home of the lgbo."
31
W.A. Onwuejeogwu gives a similar report that the Igbo
traced their origin from Nri. There is a saying in lgbo history that all roads begin at Nri,
the place named the Holy City.
32
On the study oflgbo Ukwu, the Encyclopedia
Britannica reports that "Nri may have been influenced by the Igala and seems in turn to
have exercised considerable influence in earlier times not only on the Igbo but also on the
Igala and other peoples around the Niger-Benue confluence."
33
Before the nineteenth century, the present geographical area at the coast and the
hinterland had been settled by the communities of southeastern Nigeria. On the coast
were the Ijo, the Andoni-Ibeno, and the Efik. North of the delta, east of the main Niger
waterway, and west of the Cross River was the hinterland, which was occupied by the
lgbo and Ibibio. East and north of the Cross River were the people of the Ekoi, Yakur,
30
A.E.Afigbo, "lgbo Land Before 1800." In Groundwork of Nigerian History. 73-88. Edited by
Obaro Ikime (Heinemenn Educational Books (Nig) Ltd, 1980), 75. Cited in Nwmjih, A Study of the
Origins, Characteristics, and Significance of the Traditional Art of Blacksmithing in Southeastern Nigeria,
(UMI Dissertation Services, 1993), 30
31
A.A.Dike, The Resilience of lgbo Culture. A Case Study of Awka Town. (Enugu: Fourth
Dimension Publishers Co. Ltd, 1985), 5.
32
W .A.Onwuejeogwu, "Nri, the Holy City" In lgbo World An Anthology of oral Histories and
Historical Descriptions, 22-29.Ed. Elizabeth Isichel (London and Basingstoke: Macmillan Education
Limted, 1977). Cited in Nworjih, 31.
n Encyclopedia Britannica, eta!, "Igbo Ukwu" www.britannica.com/eb/article-55308 (2006).
14
Agoi. and other groups of the Obubra and Ogoja areas. During the colonial rule in the
twentieth century. southeastern Nigeria was known as the Eastern Province(s), and after
that period was called the Eastern Region or Eastern Nigeria. From 1967 to 1976, the
lands of the Cross River basin were officially called the Southeastern State. In present
day, the area has been geographically designated in the wider Nigerian context as
southeastern Nigeria.
34
This title was put in place in order to ensure that power was not
monopolized by one ethnic group or a dominant group within the six zones of Nigeria.
Southeastern Nigeria is inhabited by numerous different groups, but it is inhabited
predominantly by the lgbo-speaking people that are found in Abia, Anarnbra, Ebonyi,
Enugu, lmo and River States; the lbibio people that live in Akwa Thorn State; the Efik
and Ekoi, who live in Cross River State; the Ijaws, who live in Rivers and Bayelsa States;
and the Ogoni people, who also reside in parts of River State.
35
The Igbo, lbibio, Ijo, and
Ogoja were politically decentralized. There is no proof that the people formed even a
loosely integrated empire or state of notable shape. The largest political unit ofthe lgbos
is the village-group, while the political unit of the lbibio, Ijo and Ogoja is the village. The
village-group for the lbo and the village for the lbibio, Ijo and Ogoja are loose
organizations of villages, which the colonial authorities referred to as 'clans'; many
social anthropologists called these villages or 'clans' tribes.
36
Southeastern Nigeria lies between the latitudes 4 20' and 7 OO'N and longitudes
5 25'and 9 35'E. The region is bounded on the east by the Republic of Cameroon, on
34
C.C.Ifemesia, Southeastern Nigeria in the nineteenth century: An Introduction Analysis(New
York:NOK Publishers, 1978), 1, Vii.
35
Okali, Okpara & 01awoye, Rural-Urban Interaction and Livelihood Strategies, 12.
36
A.E. Afigbo, The Warrant Chiefs: Indirect Rule in Nigeria 1891-1929 (New York: Humanities
Press, Inc, 1972), 7, 17.
15
the south by the Atlantic Ocean (or the Bight of Bonny), and on the west by the River
Niger. Its northern boundary is marked by the states ofKogi, Benue, and Taraba.
37
The
region covers 29.484 square miles and contains 12,394,000 inhabitants.
38
Also included
is the land east of the lower Niger, which covers 76,358 km,
2
and the area south of the
Benue valley.
39
Southeastern Nigeria is the second smallest of the four main regions in
Nigeria.
40
It encompasses nine out of the thirty-six states, namely the states of Abia,
Akwa, Thorn, Anambra, Cross River, Eungu, Irno, Ebonyi and Rivers. Additionally, the
vegetation of southeastern Nigeria is mangrove and freshwater swamp communities,
rainforest, forest/savanna mosaic, and derived savanna zone. The aforementioned
vegetation is grouped under a forest zone. The climatic condition of this region includes
high rainfall, constantly high temperatures, and high atmospheric humidities.
41
The high population of southeastern Nigeria is a fundamental fact of the region's
geography.
42
Southeastern Nigeria is one of the most populous regions in the country. Its
population stood at 13,467,328 in the 1963 census. In 1991, the census revealed that
22,000,000 of the approximately 88.5 million people nationwide were living in
43
The lgboland has the highest population density in the region of
southeastern Nigeria "with an estimated population density of236 persons or higher per
square mile."
44
It was noted in 1929 by the Colonial Resident for Onitsha that "land was
37
J. C. Okafor, "Conservation and Use of Traditional Vegetable from Woody Forest Species in
Southeastern Nigeria." www .ipgri.cgiar.org/publications/HTML Publications/500/ch04.htm (2006), I.
38
W.A. Perkins & J.H. Stembridge, Nigeria: A Description Geography (Ibadan: OUP.l966), 101.
39
Okali, Okpara & Olawoye, Rural-Urban Interaction and Livelihood Strategies, 12.
40
Perkins & Srembridge, Nigeria: A Description Geography, 101.
41
Okafor, "Conservation and Use of Traditional Vegetable," I.
42
B. Floyd, Eastern Nigeria: A Geographical Review (New York: Prager.1969), 19.
43
Floyd, Eastern Nigeria: A Geographical Review, 19.
44
See National Archive of Nigeria (hereafter NAE) ONPROF7/15/135,"World Agricultural
Census,"Resident, Onitsha to District Officer Awgu,16 January 1929. Cited in C.J.Korieh, The "Genuine
16
m proportion to the population in many parts of the rcgion."
45
The migration
study reflected the high population rate of the Igbo migrants in Spanish Fernando Po. By
the end or 1940. it was reported that I 0,000 Nigerians from Owerri were in Fernando
The total number of individuals who migrated from southeastern Nigeria to
Fernando Po cannot be easily determined because of incomplete data. Nevertheless, the
twenty-one respondents confirmed that a large number of people from southeastern
Nigeria migrated to Spanish Fernando Po. Previous to the Anglo-Spanish agreement, the
number ofNigerian migrants was estimated to be 10,000. The 1942-1955 stipulation of
the Anglo-Spanish agreement permitted 250 laborers from southeastern Nigeria per
month; the 1956-1957 stipulation permitted 800 laborers per month from the same
region; and the last amendment ofthe agreement from 1958-1968 permitted 2000
laborers for each period of three months. Based on this data, I can estimate a total
population of 148,200, assuming that the maximum number of migrants allowed by the
stipulations was met. Table 1 below shows the estimated population that migrated to
Spanish Fernando Po for a period of twenty-six years. It is important to note that the
estimated population does not include the number of illegal migrants, nor does it include
adjustment for those migrants who might have died during the migration period. This is
because there is no available data regarding the number of illegal migrants and the
number of migrants who might have died during migration.
Farmer": Gender and the Dynamics of Agricultural change in lgboland, Southeastem Nigeria,/900-
C./970(2001), 16.
45
NAN (hareafterNAE) ONPROF7/15/135.
46
G. Clarence-Smith, "The Impact of the Spanish Civil War and the Second World War on
Portuguese and Spanish Africa." In World War II and Africa. The Journal of African History, 26, no.4
(1985): 309-326.
17
rahk I. t:stJmatJOn of Population
I
Lct X-= 2SO per month. Y = 800 per month, Z --2000 per three months.
I
I
'r'ear(s)
I
Number of I
Increase of
I Migrants Already in I
Years Per Migrants by Fernando Po!Total
Calculation Month(s) Increase of Migrants
Pre-agreement --
--
I
10,000
j
1942-1955 13
X=250
1
39,000
J
1956-1957 2
Y=BOO
1
19,200
J
1958-1968 10
z =2000
I
80,000
J
I
Total Migrant Population= 148,200
J
Methodology and Sources
The problem in studying migration in West Africa is the shortage of systematic
data. The shortage of complete data makes it difficult to make a good analysis of the
events or to estimate magnitudes oftime and dates of specific migration flows. Even
though some data exist, it is very hard to join migrants directly with such factors as their
access to land, ownership of assets, occupational factors, marital statuses, ages, and other
variables that are important to understand why specific categories of people migrated.
Moreover, there were serious inadequacies in the census enumeration of volume of
migration and places of origin and destinations. Data regarding characteristics ofthe
migrants was affected not only by these qualitative deficiencies, but also by the nature of
available tabulations. It is necessary to use fragmentary pieces of data, some of which are
sometimes incompatible.
18
l'hl' I used in this study was obtained from archival sources. oml
and n:\icw of related material available on Nigerian migration to Spanish
hm:mdl' Pl'. St'Condary data also were collected from journals. research reports. and
,,thtr puhlishcd material. This study conducts a comprehensive review of the existing
st'\.'l'nda.ry sources to place the present study in context. The research location was in
Nigeria. The description of the study area has been given above. Most of the
l'r.tl data for this study was collected in areas of southeastern Nigeria such as Amakohia.
llmuguma. Ogwuwgu. Ireta. Mbano. Ak.'Wakuma, Ihiawa, and Orlu-umuaka. Most of
these areas are located in Owerri, the capital city oflrno State. Archival sources also were
collected. This was done at the National Archives Enugu and Regional Archives Calabar
in Nigeria.
This study emphasizes qualitative methods due to the interest I had regarding the
e:\:periences of migrants. As a result_ oral sources form an important source for this work.
The quantitative approach is intended to help people understand the age, sex, and
population of the laborers that migrated from southeastern Nigeria to Fernando Po. It also
facilitates the ability to understand and answer the questions: Why did they migrate?
Where did they migrate? When did they migrate? How did they migrate? The qualitative
data consists of in-depth interviews of former migrants. This helps because no one knows
the reasons for migration to Fernando Po better than the former migrants.
Due to the fact that the migration to Fernando Po occurred 40 or more years ago.
there was difficulty in finding migrants to interview. I therefore was not selective in
regard to the age or gender of the migrants; they needed only to have migrated and
worked on the plantations in Fernando Po. The people who were inten;ewed were
19
sck.-tcd because they were identified by the chief/kinsmen of the aforementioned
n>mmunitics as being individuals who claimed that they had migrated to Fernando Po
and worked in the plantations.
The first phase of the interviews was conducted in April 2004 before my arrival in
the U.S. for the study that commenced in January 2005. During this phase, a total of six
migrants were interviewed. The second phase of the interviews was carried out from 18
1
h
December 2005-4
1
h January 2006. During this phase, 15 migrants were interviewed. It
was necessary to use two phases of_interviews due to the fact that, after conducting the
first six interviews, I initially was denied a visa to enter the United States for my study. I
therefore believed that I would not be able to complete the research regarding Nigerian
migration, but my visa was approved at a later date. The approval of the visa provided
the means by_which I could interview more migrants. A total of only twenty-one migrants
thus were interviewed due to the difficulty in finding migrants and the short period of
time I had to conduct the research. The twenty-one interviews, however, still provided a
general idea of the age and sex of people who migrated to Spanish Fernando Po and
explored their reasons for migration.
Eighteen men and three women (aged 68-85 years) were interviewed. The gender
discrepancy existed because the migrants were difficult to find due to the fact the
migration occurred forty or more years ago. The difference also existed because social
and family structures at the time of migration resulted in few women actually migrating.
The three women I interviewed therefore were women who were available but who had
migrated with their husbands. Most migrants were single men.
20
Nineteen of the twenty-one respondents were healthy and active. Two less active
respondents were nonetheless not so unhealthy or inactive that they could not learn a
yocation. All twenty-one respondents were residing in villages where they engaged in
tmskilled labor, trading, and farming jobs. Appendix A further describes the migrants in
terms of name, age, occupation, date of interview, place of interview, and remarks.
The interviews were conducted in native languages and later were translated into
English. This is because most of the migrants do not speak English. They are more
familiar with their indigenous languages and other languages learned in Fernando Po.
The interview with each of the respondents lasted 45 to 50 minutes. Using the
methodology ofC.J. Korieh, I asked questions in the context of individual experiences
while also looking for a typical pattern for comparative analysis. The guiding questions
were framed to elicit a narrative answer/response, and they were based on the following
themes: experiences, treatment, and conditions while in Fernando Po. Appendix B details
the questions asked during the interviews.
Recording the interviews made some of the respondents very conscious of what
they said. Ten of the twenty-one respondents preferred to give the information without
being recorded. However, I made them understand that the interviews were being
conducted only for academic purposes by presenting my student J.D. card and also by
leaving personaVfamily information with them. I also facilitated the interviews further by
offering to pay the respondents approximately $10 USD (1,400 naira) for their
information, which all of the respondents accepted.
In addition to the oral interviews I conducted, I also used archival sources. I
consulted topic files and reports at the National Archives Enugu and Regional Archives
21
Calahar that dealt with the issue of Nigerian labor migration to Spanish Fernando Po. The
data included labor reports, annual reports, official correspondence, reports and papers as
submitted to the clerk at the House of Commons or Senate during parliamentary sessions,
and government reports. These documents provided useful information such as
stipulations of the Anglo-Spanish agreement of 1942, labor conditions, statistical data of
quarterly returned migrants, and other important information.
Despite the useful information provided by the documents listed above, all these
data were fragmentary pieces of documents; many of these documents were in bits and
pieces. In others, passages were blacked out, and entire pages sometimes were missing.
Korieh emphasizes that archival records are important documents to understand human
subjects and for the establishment of historical accuracy.
47
According to Barbara
Cooper's assertion, "African history, perhaps more than other domains of history, has had
to be inventive in its use of sources and eclectic in its approach to evidence ... due to in
large part to the relative paucity of written documentary materials.'"'
8
In this regard, the
available documents for historical research were not dependable, but they were utilized in
this study because there were no other data available to me at the time of the research.
Motivation of the Migrants
Migration was occurring in Nigeria prior to the existence of plantations in
Fernando Po due to factors such as trade, etc. Nevertheless, all twenty-one_respondents of
47
C.J. Korieh, The "Genuine Farmer": Gender and the Dynamics of Agricultural change in
lgboland. Southeastern Nigeria, 1900-C./970 (2001), 24-43, 48.
48
B.M.Cooper, Oral Sources and the Challenge of Africa History, in John Edward Philips, ed.,
Writing African History (Rochester, NY: University of Rochester Press, 2005), II. Cited in Korieh, The
"Genuine Farmer", 51.
22
the ,,ral inYcsllg.atlon report that they specifically were motivated to migrate to Spanish
Fcmando Po due to economic conditions in the region of southeastern Nigeria at the time
,,r their migration. These economic conditions resulted from the lack of employment
opportunities in the region of southeastern Nigeria. These conditions existed because
there was not enough land for the people to farm; those farmers who had no land had to
consider leaving southeastern Nigeria in order to find work. They went further to say that
they were attracted by the employment opportunities at Spanish Fernando Po. The
impression received by the migrants from propaganda and popular opinion was that
anyone who migrated to Fernando Po eventually would get a job and live a better life.
According to Udochukwu, one of the respondents, the returning migrants said that the
government of Fernando Po was paying a large amount of money to those who agreed to
migrate under labor contracts. Because of this, most men decided to migrate in order to
improve their economic condition.
49
Udochukwu, Augustine, Chibuike, and Damian
point out that most of the migrants worked in farming jobs with their parents; some were
running little trading businesses, and a few were going to school before they received
information through the government, churches, friends, and relatives that there were a lot
of job opportunities in Spanish Fernando Po. 5 In addition to what was indicated by the
responses of the interviewed migrants, Osuntokun observes that the migrants also were
influenced by political opposition and shortage of land to farm that made them resort to
49
Udochukwu
so Udochukwu, Augustine, Chibuike & Damian, interview by Anthony Oham, December 20 & 27,
WOS, Aprill8, 2004.
23

All these factors discussed above by the respondents and Osuntokun appear
to be congruent with the models discussed previously in the theoretical framework.
Age and Gender of the Migrants
Chibuike, Jude, Friday, and Damian, four of the respondents, report that people
less than eighteen years old weren't recruited. The migrants who were recruited at the
Calabar office by the Anglo-Spanish Employment Agency were between eighteen and
forty-five years old. 5
2
In fact, the stipulated charter ofthe Anglo-Spanish agreement
confirmed that no one less than eighteen years old would be recruited.
53
All twenty-one
respondents point out that the people who migrated were given acceptance forms for
completion. After the form was completed, the migrant endorsed the form with his or her
signature. The parents or relatives of the migrant also signed the form before the migrant
embarked to Spanish Fernando Po.
All twenty-one of the respondents claim that it was mostly men who migrated to
Fernando Po because the family structure in Nigeria, particularly in lgbo communities,
permitted. men to migrate to support their families. In the past, as Sylvanus, one ofthe
respondents, reports, young men were much more likely to migrate than women,
particularly unmarried women. 5
4
The way family structure affected the migration of
women was shown at Calabar. According to Osuntakun, the Spanish authorities aimed to
maintain a labor force of approximately 14,000 men for the duration of eighteen months
:: Osuntokun, Nigeria-Fernando Po Relation in Akinyemi, A.B Ed, 6
Ch1bmke, Jude, Friday & Damian, interview by Anthony Oham, December 20 & 22, 2005,
April IS, 2004.
53
Osuntokun, Nigeria-Fernando Po Relations from the 19TH C 16
" Syvanus, interview by Anthony Oham, January 2, 2006. '
24
to (\\'(1 years. Af1cr the expiration of the contract, another group of men had to take the
place of the men whose contracts had expired. Men officially embarked from Ca\abar.
55
During the period of Nigerian migration to Fernando Po, Calabar was the
headquarters of the eastern province of Nigeria and a point of departure and return_to and
from Fernando Po due to the fact that it was possible to reach Fernando Po from Calabar
by sea. Due to its location, the British founded the Anglo-Spanish Employment Agency
there. Anglo-Spanish authorities established the Anglo-Spanish Employment Agency
with the sole responsibility of recruiting Nigerian laborers for the plantations in Spanish
Fernando Po. Additionally, there were Nigerians working for this agency.
56
Respondents Udochukwu, Augustine, and Sylvanus claim that the recruiters were
not recruiting many women because of the nature of the jobs in plantations. The jobs in
plantations were hard jobs that needed physical strength. The recruiting agents did not
consider women to be strong enough to recruit them. For this reason, most of the women
who migrated to Fernando Po were following their husbands, and a few others were
widows recruited at the headquarters in Calabar and who had no other means of financial
security except to migrate and to work on the plantations in Fernando Po. 5
7
Thus, all
twenty-one respondents claim that the majority of people who were recruited to work on
the plantations were men. Furthermore, the fact that the plantations did not utilize any
modernization in terms of farming technology as the years passed meant that the nature
of the jobs on the plantations remained largely the same over time. The gender ratio on
55
Osuntokun, Nigeria-Fernando Po Relations from the 19TH C, 19-20.
5
6
See NAN (hereafter NAE) Annual Report of the Federal Ministry of Land-Labor Division of
1966-67.
57 Udochukwu, Augustine & Sylvanus interview by Anthony Oham. December 20 & 27, 2005 &
January 2, 2006.
25
plantations therefore remained the same over multiple years, as well. Data from the
Archive of Nigeria further supports that men were migrating more often than
women (see information for 1947, 1948, and 1949 in different provinces at
ONPROFCA/N0/42, 31 July 1952). Table 2 below is part of the aforementioned data. 5
8
Table 2. Number of Nigerian Migrants Who Returned to Southeastern Nigeria (Ca1abar
Province, 1947)
Areas
JanuaiJ
February March
M w
c M w c M w c
ABAK 20
-
- 13 1 - 8 - -
EKET 28 2
- 12
- - 10 - -
CALABR 8
- - 1
- - - - -
UYO 4
1
- 9 2 2 3 - -
OPOBO 12 2
1 13 2
-
3 2 -
IKOTEKPENE 44 1
- 40 3 - 6 - -
M represents Men, W represents women, and C represents children.
58
See National Archive of Nigeria (hereafter NAE) ONPROFCA/N0/42, 31 July 1952. For a
more recent study, see Abe Goldman, "Population Growth and Agricultural Change in Imo State, South-
eastern Nigeria," in Population Growth and Agricultural Change in Africa, B. L. Turner II, R. Kates, and
G. Hyden, eds. (Gainesville, FL.: University of Florida Press, 1993), 250-301.
26
CHAPTER II
THE HISTORY OF THE ANGLO-SPANISH AGREEMENT
Plantations had been in existence in Spanish Fernando Po before the Anglo-
Spanish agreement of 1942 that triggered the migration of thousands of the lgbo and the
Ibibio laborers of southeastern Nigeria to work in non-African and African plantations in
Spanish Fernando Po. The main crop grown on these plantations was cocoa. There were
I, 142 cocoa plantations of less than ten hectares, 242 of 10 to 30 hectares, 124 of 30 to
I 00 hectares, and 100 larger than 100 hectares. The 1,608 plantations covered twenty-
nine percent of Fernando Po's surface.
59
Many of the workers on these plantations were from Liberia and Cameroon, but
there were also illegal Nigerian migrants, particularly from southeastern Nigeria, who
were working on these plantations. Spain utilized the manpower of the migrant workers
on the plantations in order to maximize profit because the Spanish authorities wanted to
export raw goods so that those goods could be used in their factories. The Spanish
authorities continued to make use of these laborers until the Anglo-Spanish accord was
signed that officially ushered in the use of Nigerian laborers to work on the plantations.
It is important to note that Nigerian contacts with Fernando Po started prior to the
establishment of the aforementioned plantations. According to Max Liniger-Goumaz, the
relationship began in 1778 with the Treaty of Pardo, which specified that the entire Niger
Delta, particularly the Rio Gallinas and Bonny River, belonged to Spain. The British
expeditions ignored Fernando Po to conquer Nigeria-Laird, Lander, and Oldfields. Pelion
y Rodriguez later confirmed that, between 1860 and 1875, the Niger Delta was a territory
59
I.K.Sundiata, Equatorial Guinea: Colonialism, State Terror, and the Search for Stability.
(Boulder, San Francisco, & Oxford: Westview Press, 1990), 49
27
''"ned hy Sra111. Because of this. during World War II, some Spanish authors (not cited)
rL'nnnmcmkd that Spain should claim
The fact that contact with Fernando Po existed for such a long period of time
contributed to Fernando Po being a significant factor in Nigerian foreign policy.
61
The
relationship between Fernando Po and Nigeria was one based on economy and strategy.
These economic and strategic connections existed for the duration of the colonization of
both countries. Hence, "the economic relations, established as a result of Fernando Po's
strategic proximity to the Bights of Benin and Biafra, were added to the demographic
factor of the presence of Creoles many of whom claimed 'Nigerian' ancestry.',c,
2
Many
Creoles claimed Nigerian ancestry because they were the descendents of Nigerian freed
slaves. However, some Creoles also descended from migrants from Liberia and Sierra
Leone. These Creoles had communities in Fernando Po, particularly in Santa Isabel and
San Carlos.
63
The Spanish had been recruiting people from Nigeria illegally. In particular, the
Spanish had been recruiting the Igbo from southeastern Nigeria because labor was most
copious in that area. This was because the region was highly populated with a high
number of farmers. The land shortage that occurred in southeastern Nigeria resulted in
many of these farmers having no work, thus many farmers sought to work on the
plantations of Spanish Fernando Po.
60
Max Liniger-Gournaz, Historical Dictionary of Equatorial Guinea. African Historical
Dictionaries, No.21 (Lanham: The Scarecrow Press, Inc. 2000), 312.
61
Akinyemi, "Nigeria and Fernando Po, 1958-1966: The Politics oflrridentism"
Nigeria-Fernando Po Relation in Akinyemi, A. BEd, 2.
Max Lmger-Goumaz, Historical Dictionary of Equatorial Guinea, 171
28
Meanwhile. the Spanish were making inflated promises of paying high wages.
rlwse promises ncYcr were fulfilled. but because of the promises, laborers secretly were
migrating to Fcmando Po in order to work in the Spanish plantations.
64
Great Britain had
been suspecting Spain of illegal labor trafficking from Nigeria. It might have been
because of this that the Royal Navy ships that were based in Freetown (Sierra Leone)
were shifted to Femando Po to enable Britain to monitor the moves ofSpain.
65
The
important fact is that Fernando Po had been heavily dependent on Old Calabar for
workers since 1827; Fernando Po had to maintain this dependent relationship up to the
outbreak of World War I.
To prohibit the illegal human trafficking that was occurring between Nigeria and
Fernando Po, bilateral treaties were signed between Great Britain and other powers that
gave the British Admiralty the authority to "search and arrest" ships that might have been
conveying humans for trade. This was because the Nigerian authorities saw the human
trafficking as a new slave trade.
66
Niven notes that, throughout the early years of the
nineteenth century, Great Britain's Royal Navy had been the leading spirit in fighting
against human traffic on the high seas.
67
Sundiata states that some observers (not named) argued that anti-slaving was the
use of a pretense of morality to hide an immoral purpose.
68
This was because Britain had
its own interests in Fernando Po. These interests were so strong that Britain even
22.
64
Osuntokun, Nigeria-Fernando Po Relations from the 19TH C, 6.
65
Niven, Nigeria: Nations of the Modern World, 22
66
67
R. Niven, Nigeria: Nations of the Modern World (New York: FREDERICK. PRAEGER.1967),
68
Sundiata, From Slaving to Neo-slavery, 40.
29
;lt!cmp!cd to buy the island_"'' The argument thus was that Britain had mounted their anti-
slaYing campaign simply so that their interests would be supported.
The emergence of World War I resulted in tensions between Britain and Spain.
During this time. Britain suspected that Spain was continuing to participate in labor
trafficking. These tensions worsened until finally, in 1914, the British closed down the
German shipping company, the Woermann Line, which had been established in Nigeria.
The British forbade the company's ships from operating.
70
The ships that conveyed
laborers from Liberia to Fernando Po belonged to this company. In the two-year period
that followed, Great Britain had sufficient suspicion to claim that Spain was involved in
supplying weapons for the Germans during the hostilities between Germany and
Cameroon. Even after the end of German-Cameroon hostility in 1916, Britain claimed
that the Spanish government persistently gave aid to the German troops that were
defeated by their opponents.
Economically, Germans were interested in Spanish Fernando Po. The Germans
had many companies on the island of Fernando Po, such as the E. H. Moritz Company.
71
The Germans also were in control of the import and export trade on the island. This is
why Britain sensed that Germans ships were used to smuggle illegal Nigerian laborers to
Fernando Po and consequently shut down the Woermann Line. Meanwhile, the Nigerian
Labor Ordinance No.1 of 1929 prohibited Nigerian citizens from being recruited for labor
in any country and particularly from migrating to Spanish Fernando Po. This was
69
R Uwehue. African Today (London, African Book Ltd, 1991),873
70
Osuntokun, Nigeria- Fernando Po Relation in Akinyemi, A.B Ed, 4.
71
Max Liniger-Goumaz, Historical Dictionary of Equatorial Guinea, 194.
30
b<Yansc the N1gcn:m government was aware (from 1828 onwards) that its citi7.ens had
t'><'<-'11 migrating illegally to Spanish Fernando Po to work in plantations.
72
Relations between Nigeria and Fernando Po before the outbreak of World War ll
had not been cordial because of Great Britain's opposition to Spanish illegal recruitment
of Nigerian laborers, particularly the recruitment of people from southeastern Nigeria.
The British-Nigerian relationship with Spanish Fernando Po started to experience even
more serious damage during the outbreak of World War II. This was because Britain
believed that, due to connections between Germany and Spain, Spanish territories such as
Fernando Po had come under Nazi power. Osuntokun observes:
The pro-German attitude of Spain and consequently of
Fernando Po complicated relations with Nigeria during the
war, and eventually led to a flurry of exchanges between
Governor-General Angel Barrera and Sir Frederick Lugard,
as well as between the foreign ministers of Britain and
Spain, over the suspicious moves of a Spanish vessel
between Fernando Po and Calabar.
73
During the war, Germany used Fernando Po to run a powerful shortwave radio
station to transmit information to their soldiers who were scattered all over the southern
Atlantic. The aggressive attitude of Spanish authorities on the island ofFernando Po
against the Allied military operation in Cameroon resulted in regular communication
between Lagos and London, and between London, Paris, and Madrid. Also, "Fuehrer,"
whose official name was reported as Joseph Worner, was a leader for the German
72
Osuntokun, Nigeria-Fernando Po Relations from the 19TH C, 7,16.
73
Osuntokun, Anglo-Spanish relations in West Africa during the First World War. Journal of the
Historicial Society of Nigeria VII, 2(1974 June) 294-295. Cited in Osuntokun, Nigeria-Fernando Po
Relation in Akinyemi, A. B Ed, 5.
31
National Sonahsl Workers Party in Fernando Po.
74
Thus, it was clear to Britain that
Fernando Po was in the hands of an antagonistic power (Spain). which was a thorn in the
side of the British government.
75
Britain therefore feared that Fernando Po would be used
as a base from which the Axis Powers might attack them.
During this same period, the British authorities started to study Spanish labor
migration. This resulted in the Nigerian government sending an administrative officer to
Fernando Po to investigate labor conditions on the island and to cooperate with the
Spanish authorities' measure, which would ensure the welfare ofNigerian laborers.
76
This diplomatic mission established the ground for the Anglo-Spanish labor agreement.
The Nigerian relationship with Fernando Po's labor agreement was negotiated in order to
re-establish Spain's relations with Great Britain. The global interests of Great Britain also
contributed to this negotiation.
77
The British were prepared to attack Fernando Po if Spain refused to negotiate
with them. The British Admiralty remarked that it would not be a difficult matter for the
naval patrol to invade Fernando Po since the number of troops on the island was only
200. In respect to this statement, on July 6, 1940, the British Naval Commander of the
south Atlantic commanded the H.M.S. Dragon to advance and to vacate every British
national with the exclusion of the Vice-consul.
78
The Spanish government was not
notified before the action of the British Naval Commander, but Spanish authorities
decided to augment the defense of the island with 8,500 Moroccan and Spanish troops to
74
See Regional Archive of Nigeria (hereafter RAC583/240 W.A.F.F: Report for half year ending,
31 Dec., 1938.
75
76
See National Archive of Nigeria (hereafter NAE) Nigeria Sessional Paper No.38 of 1939.
77
78
See Regional Archive of Nigeria (hereafter RAC) 371/24526: Cypher telegram from Governor
of Nigeria to S ofS for the colonies. 9 July, 1940.
32
li.lrti fy 200 local ri flcs.
79
In spite of the war, the British went further to negotiate a labor
agreement with the Spanish concerning Nigeria and Fernando Po from 1940-1942 in
order to boycott illegal trafficking of labor. The British authorities emphasized that:
The object of these negotiations with the Spanish
government was to regularize what had become a large
scale traffic in laborers and to endeavor to eliminate the
unscrupulous native 'black birder' who earned a lucrative
livelihood by kidnapping the ignorant peasants from the Ibo
and Ibibio areas ...
80
The agreement was signed in 1942 between Spain and British authorities for
Nigeria and Fernando Po. The agreement
81
stipulated the supply of manpower. The
duration was one year for unmarried men and two years for married men who migrated
with their wives, but the unmarried men had to return to Nigeria when their contracts
ended. It was stipulated that each laborer must not be less than eighteen years old. The
contract would be signed in Nigeria in front of a labor officer and would include passport
photographs that would be kept in Calabar and Sante Isabel. The laborer had to be
medically examined by a Nigerian government doctor before embarkation, and medical
attention was required to be provided while the laborers remained in Fernando Po.
These laborers were to work in plantations, industry, and forestry on any Spanish
colony. The labor agreement also stipulated that the wages were to be paid regularly to
the laborers with a minimum monthly payment ofthirty-five pesetas (about 15s 9d),
82
which is equivalent to just under or equal to $1 today. The agreement stipulated the
provision of housing for laborers and also the provision of food such as 600 grams of
79
See Regional Archive of Nigeria (hereafter RAC) 371/34771: 22 Jan, 1943.
80
See National Archive of Nigeria (hereafter NAE) 657/54: Annual Report of the Department of
Labor for the year 1944.
81
Osuntokun, Nigeria-Fernando Po Relation in Akinyemi, A.B Ed, 6.
81
See NAN (hereafter NAE) Nigeria Sessional Paper No.2! of 1946.
33
riel', 200 !!rams or lish, 65 grams of palm oil, and 20 grams of salt per week. \n addition,
fruits and vegetables were provided every day.KJ Article 12 of the treaty recognized the
fundamental rights of each worker, particularly the right to freedom of worship. The
agreement stipulated that 250 Nigerians laborers would be recruited every month.s
4
This Anglo-Spanish agreement was in force from 1942-1950 without any
amendment, and it failed to stop illegal migration or to protect the rights of laborers. ln
the words of Osuntokun, "the lack of revision should not be construed as Spanish
acquiescence in terms of the agreement, for there were constant protests against violation
and breaches of the individual labor contracts." The amendment of the agreement in 1950
revised the compromise to recruit from the British Firm of John Holt in Nigeria and
Company Ltd., as well as from the Anglo-Spanish Employment Agency. This amended
labor agreement provided a clause to repatriate all illegally recruited laborers back to
Nigeria. There was also a section in the amended agreement that made the working
conditions of the laborers compatible with the principles of the International Labor
Organization. Osuntokun argues that:
This in fact was a clear indication that the Spaniards, who
used at one time to "kidnap" people and take them to
Fernando Po, were quite contented with the available
manpower on the island and trying to avoid any cause for
friction with the Nigerian authorities.
85
A delegate named ChiefS. L. Akintola, the Central Minister ofLabor, visited
Fernando Po in 1953 as the returning migrants were protesting against allegedly ill
treatment of Nigerian laborers. The Honorable Minister reported that there was no
83
Akinyemi, "Nigeria and Fernando Po, 1958-1966: The Politics oflrridentism."
84
See NAN. Nigeria Sessional Paper No.2! of 1946.
85
Osuntokun, Nigeria-Fernando Po Relation in Akinyemi, A. B Ed, 6.
34
c1idencc or II treatment of laborers in Spanish Fernando Po despite the high number of
complaints that indicated labor abuse was a problem. The Central Minister of Labor was
able to advise that the wages of the laborers be increased and that social and educational
amenities for the laborers and their children be improved. This involved the stipulation of
educational and religious amenities. The Minister suggested that the register of all the
Nigerian laborers in Fernando Po be kept safe. All these suggestions were included in the
amended accord of 1954.
86
One possible reason for Akintola's actions is that Akinto1a
was struggling to achieve a position of power from Britain. During this time, Britain was
unwilling to acknowledge any claims of labor abuse due to the capitation fee of five
pounds sterling they received on each laborer in Fernando Po (see paragraph below).
Akintola might have denied the claims of labor abuse in order to support the British
stance on migration and thereby support his case for power.
ChiefF.S. Okotieboh headed a delegation to Fernando Po on the request of
Spanish authorities in 1956. The visit provided an agreement of an increase in
recruitments up to 800 laborers per month to work in the plantations sector and earned a
twenty-five percent rise in salary for the Nigerian laborers. Also, the Spanish authorities
paid the Nigerian government a capitation fee of five pounds sterling for each Nigerian
laborer working in Fernando Po. The Federal and Eastern regional governments shared
this money in place of the workers' taxes. Osuntokun argues that "the acceptance of this
capitation fee by the Federal and Eastern regional government in a way made the
Nigerian government an accomplice in the degradation of Nigerian laborers in Fernando
Po since it was a big business for government to keep Nigerian labor in Fernando Po no
80
Osuntokun, Nigeria-Fernando Po Relations from the 19Tfl C, 27-28.
35
1
n:lllcr what the situation there w a s . ~
7
This shows that the Nigerian government
encouraged the condition of the Nigerian laborers by allowing recruitment of laborers ror
the sake of money.
Another group of investigators was sent in 1957 to visit Fernando Po. These
investigators were led by J.M. Johnson, the federal Minister of Affairs, Labor and
Welfare. and representatives from other groups, including the Eastern Nigerian Minister
of information, the National Council for Nigeria, Cameroon's house of representative
member for Owerri, and the Action Group member for Uyo in the Eastern House of
Assembly. The report of these investigators contained both good and bad reports from the
island of Fernando Po. They pointed out that the Spanish regime on the island had
provided primary school for the children of Nigerian laborers and also had established an
orphanage for Nigerian children. However, the delegates did not give a full, clear,
detailed description of the conditions in the primary schools or the orphanage. Instead,
Johnson and the other delegates focused on the general positive aspects. The delegates
also reported that some good housing was built for the laborers; for example, a large
room was built for married couples or two bachelors with electricity, a swimming-pool,
fresh water, and cottage hospital. However, in some bad housing, eight bachelors or three
married couples shared an eight feet by ten feet room.
According to the report of the investigators, there was information on the labor
abuses on plantations, but the report was mixed. They also said that some workers and
their spouses protested that they had been beaten and ill-treated. Some days, the hours of
work were from six in the morning to six in the evening without a break. The delegates
87
36
aJs,, reported that sick laborers who needed medical service had their medical bills
subtracted from their wages depending on the length of their sickness. They reported that.
,i<;spite the fact that Article 25 of the 1942 agreement listed that some foodstuffs were to
be given to the laborers, only those in the good housing received them, while those in the
bad housing were deprived of these foodstuffs. Even though the results of the
investigation were mixed, the investigators' report absolved the Spanish authorities of
blame in cases of labor abuse. It was said that the Spanish government had sought to
punish its nationals who had violated terms of the labor agreement. The delegates
recommended that more labor officers be stationed on the island.
Akinyemi argues that "critics in Nigeria ignored the favorable aspects of the
report and focused on the malpractices cited in it." The Nigerian Trades Union Congress
headed by Mr Borha suggested that the Nigerian authorities should appoint a permanent
commission on the island to make sure that the provisions of all the agreements would be
implemented in coming years. On the other hand, Chief Awolowo, the political secretary,
condemned the Federal and Eastern governments for allowing recruitment of their
citizens for purposes of labor under the circumstances of the reports of 1957 headed by J.
Johnson. The Government Chief Whip in the Eastern House of Assembly, M.E. Ogon,
advised the Federal Government of Nigeria to launch a protest against the inhuman
treatment of its citizens in Spanish Fernando Po. In spite of serious and continuing
complaints, the Nigerian government signed an additional agreement with Spain on the
basis of recruiting 2,000 additional laborers for the duration of three months.
88
88
Akinyemi, "Nigeria and Fernando Po, 1958-1966: The Politics oflrridentism."
37
The Anglo-Spanish agreement triggered thousands of laborers from southeastern
Nigeria to work in different plantations in Spanish Fernando Po. During the negotiation,
10.000 Nigerians were already in Fernando Po. It was estimated that, by 1954-1955, the
total number of Nigerian migrants on the island of Spanish Fernando Po was about
15,800. The mid-1960s recorded approximately 85,000; people from lgbo, lbibio, and
Efik comprised two-thirds of this population. The outflow ofNigerians to Fernando Po
was the result of Spanish officials paying their recruiters substantially, because the
substantial wages paid motivated the recruiters to work hard in terms of the labor
propaganda; the labor advertising, in turn, led to higher numbers of people who migrated.
There were other reasons, such as the pressure to pay taxes in Nigeria, which forced
people to migrate to Spanish Fernando Po. Demographic pressure also contributed to this
outflow. Particularly, labor came from the most densely populated areas of the Eastern
Region.
89
In 1961, the local militia, known as the Juventuds, shot four Nigerian laborers in
Rio Muni, what is now part of Equatorial Guinea along with Fernando Po. The Federal
government immediately launched a protest against Spain. A delegation was sent to
investigate the incident, and further reference was made to the 1956 labor agreement,
which stated that compensation would be paid to the employed laborers or their families
for any seriously injured worker. The visit led to the amelioration of poor labor
conditions on the island, the elimination of the pass law which made it mandatory for the
laborers to carry a pass while moving around on the island, the abolition of long custody
89
I.K.Sundiata, Equatorial Guinea: Colonialism, State Terror, and the Search for Stability.
(Boulder, San Francisco, & Oxford: Westview Press, 1990), 47.
38
without trial for Nigerian offenders, and an agreement to pay compensation in cases of
anent disability.
pe(111
After signing the amendment to the Anglo-Spanish agreement with the Spanish
authorities in 19
63
the Nigerian government cautioned its critics that "further criticisms
of fernando Po were in fact counter-productive, in the sense lthat1 constant emphasis on
.-. ct that Nigerians outnumbered the indigenous Bubi one to five was alienatmg the
the la
I
. g of the indigenous people and bringing them mto physical friction with
fee Jn
. ns ,90 The outbreak of Nigerian Civil War in 1967 prevented the revision of the
]'ligena
gr
eement which was due to be amended in 1966. However, by October 1968.
J963 a '
do Po and Rio Muni became the independent Republic: of Equatorial Guinea. They
Fernan
r. from the Spaniah authorities and elected their f\R\ President. franc:i&CO Macias
were 1ree
Nguema.
CHAPTER III
\VAGE. LIVING AND WORKING CONDITIONS ON THE PLANTATIONS
From 1875- I 880, the palm oil trade was the chief foundation for the economy of
the island of Fernando Po. The palm oil fruits that the Bubis, the indigenous group,
cultivated on the farms were sold to the middlemen. The middlemen were mainly
Europeans and Creole from Sierra Leone.
91
Some of these Creole claimed to have
Nigerian ancestry that linked them to the lgbos. This was because the Creole on the
island were free released slaves that had been captured by Britain in different parts of
west Africa during the slave trade-lgboland was one of the areas in west Africa from
which these free Creoles had been captured. These Creoles had a direct impact on the
migration of Nigerians due to the fact that the Creole invested in and promoted
agricultural development in Fernando Po that eventually required large amounts of
workers. The Creole investment in and promotion of agricultural development led Spain
to take economic interests in the island. According to W.G Clarence-Smith, "Social
discrimination against Creole and Bubi was oflittle significance ... the beneficiaries of
land transfers were black as well as white, and a map from around 1913 shows a roughly
even mix of Spanish and Creole landowners. Black and white planters were united in
every aspect of labor which involved relations with the authorities."
92
The Spanish government first showed their interests in Fernando Po with the
introduction of cocoa, which resulted in a shift from trade to plantation agriculture.
Cocoa was brought from Brazil to Sao Tome in 1822, and it was introduced on Spanish
91
Osuntokun, Nigeria-Fernando Po Relation in Akinyemi, A.B Ed, 2.
92
W. G. Clarence-Smith, "African and European Cocoa Producers on Fernando Po, 1880-1910."
The Joumal of African History 35, no.2 (1994): 179-199
40
Fcmando Po tlm1y-two years later.q
3
People who had profited from the palm oil trade
inn:stcd their capital in cocoa. as they hoped for greater gain in the future. The
Englishmen and Lynslager. a British businessman of Dutch origin, encouraged the
planting of cocoa on a commercial scale.
94
European capital flowed into the burgeoning
cocoa industry to such an extent that Fernando Po's economy and society increasingly
became by-products of the cocoa tree.
95
The colonial land policy totally controlled African property rights. It also joined
with intensive missionary Hispanicization of Africans to promote agricultural
cooperatives and the quest for emancipado status. Emancipados could own freehold land
and/or become leading members of cooperatives.
96
The colonial regime found it so
difficult to take interest in connecting the capital with other centers of settlement that the
San Carlos, for example, had to take their produce to Santa Isabel by sea because there
were no good roads.
97
As the acreage under cocoa grew, cocoa production surpassed palm oil production
on the island. For instance, "in 1900 the island exported 1,152 tons of cocoa, 33 tons of
palm oil and 16 tons of coffee. Twelve years later, 3,994 tons o(.cocoa accounted for 97
per cent of Fernando Po's exports by value."
98
However, the island Jacked the manpower
needed for farming. In order to obtain the essential labor, Spain claimed the northwest
93
Sundiata, "Prelude to Scandal: Liberia and Fernando Po."
94
Osuntokun, Nigeria-Fernando Po Relations from the 19TH C, I.
95
96
Sundiate, Equatorial Guinea, 49.
97
98
Clarence-Smith, "African and European Cocoa Producers."
41
,,,mer or French Gabon. Part of the mainland area, known as Rio-Muni, did not have
C!H'll!!h labor. Consequently. the Treaty of Paris ceded Rio Muni to Spain in 1900.
99
By the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, there was a population
decline in Bubi, the native people of Fernando Po; this was a result of venereal disease
and social displacement. This led to the use of corvee labor and direct taxation, but these
expedients only provoked the demographic and social crisis in the native population_l
00
Furthermore, "in 1903 the colonial administration sought to solve the problem of illegal
migration by imposing a system of forced labor."
101
Fernando Po was forced to look to
the mainland for its labor supply at a time when other colonies, particularly British
colonies, were in search of scarce labor resources within the colonial borders.
102
At first, Liberians were recruited, and later, Nigerians, particularly people from
southeastern Nigeria were brought in to harvest the cocoa on the island.
103
The people
from southeastern Nigeria conceded to migrate to Fernando Po because Fernando Po was
closer to southeastern Nigeria than other areas where they might have obtained work to
pay for British taxes. The manner in which the plantation workers were brought to and
employed on Fernando Po eventually caused controversy. According to R. Uwehue, ''the
conditions in which Liberians were shipped by force for such labour led to an
international scandal in 1930. Later, Cameroonians and especially Nigerians were
99
Fegley Randall, "The U.N Human Rights Commission: The Equatorial Guinea Case." Human
Right Quarterly 3, no.l (1981, Feb): 34-47.
100
101
1. Marchal, Chronique d' un cercle de l'AOF: Ouahigouga (Haute-Volta), 1880-194l(Paris:
L'ORSTOM, 1980) and S. Coulibaly, "Colonialisme et migration en Haute Volta (1896-1946)." In
Demographic et sous-developrnent dans le Tiers-Monde, ed. D. Gauvreau, J.W. Gregory, M. Kernpeneers,
& V. Piche. 73-110 (Montreal: McMill University, Centre for Development Area Studies, 1986). Cited in
Cordell, Gregory, & Piche. Hoe and Wage, 63.
102
103
Fegley Randall, "The U.N Human Rights Commission: The Equatorial Guinea Case."
42
cmpi<'YL'd. sttll 111 had condition. with brutality and low pay.''
104
The important point is
that lahor conditions on the island of Spanish Fernando Po made the service discouraging
and unattractive to Nigerians who were jobless. As demonstrated by Osuntokun, "the
Spanish authorities knew that Nigeria was the last obvious source of foreign labour and
they were not prepared to fail, [since] failure would mean the loss of 12,000 tons of cocoa
and 3.000 tons of coffee exported annually from Fernando Po to Spain."
105
Despite the
fact that the work appeared discouraging, the Spanish administration succeeded in
recruiting laborers from neighboring countries, particularly people from southeastern
Nigeria, to work in several plantations in Spanish Fernando Po for a wage. The Spanish
authorities were able to achieve this because there was a high population who were
jobless and also because the Anglo-Spanish agreement triggered a higher rate of
migration.
The migrants from southeastern Nigeria were regulated by the labor code of 1906,
which was the only labor code that attempted to normalize the conditions of laborers
before World War II. The labor code was recognized as the Nature Labor Code, or
Reglamento del Trabaja Indigena, which began as a temporary code but which was kept
on the statute record book until 1940. The labor code stipulated a contract of one year's
labor at minimum wage and also renewed the legislation that kept half of the wage with
the laborer office at Calabar in Nigeria. The code had a provision that excluded nursing
mothers and children from heavy work. It also provided provisions for free rations and
housing for laborers. The labor code stipulated the duration of hours of work for men as
ten hours and for women as eight hours daily. The code prevented laborers from leaving
104
Uwehue. African Today, 873
105
See F.0.371/26908. Cited in Osuntokun, Nigeria-Fernando Po Relations from the 19TH C, 10.
43
th, pLmtalloH>- cxn:pt wtth written pem1ission.
106
Perhaps this stipulation of the code was
put '"''' place because the Spanish authorities did not want the laborers to skip out of
The labor code was applied to the aliens who had come to Fernando Po prior to
the Nigerian migration, but it also was applied to the Bubi population of the island. In
1907. the indigenous population of "Bubi refused forced labor in the plantations."
107
This
decision led to a scarcity of laborers in 1908. The Spanish authorities then required the
Bubis who did not own one hectare of land to enter provisional contract in order to solve
the labor problem. The option was forty days hard labor, and these requirements were so
cruelly enforced that, by 1910, the allegedly docile Bubi of the Balache district revolted.
In addition, the African planters were not obeying the laws of the Nature Labor
Code. The Spanish regime in 1915 stressed that the planters were not satisfying their side
of the labor agreement, particularly "the aspect that enjoined on them to pay half the
wage of each laborer to the labor officer as savings." The Spanish regime in 1929 was
annoyed with some planters who made the island_seem inhospitable to outsiders by
mistreating laborers. Because of this, they started to enforce heavy fines for illegal
actions such as beating.
Even after the liberalization of the regime in 1937, the Spanish still failed to pay
compensation for the injured laborers. The properties that the departed laborers had had
previous to migration were forfeited to the colonial authorities, and there was a lack of
interest in work among the laborers. The conditions were so seriously burdened in
106
Osuntokun, Nigeria-Femando Po Relations from the 19TH C, 10 -II & Sundiate, From Slaving
to Neo-slave1y, 134.
107
Max Liniger-Goumaz, Historical Dictionary of Equatorial Guinea, 65.
44
c>f the planters that .. if a laborer declined to accept the contract placed before him.
he could be treated under the existing Spanish laws as a rogue and a vagabond, offences
punishable by transportation to a plantation for hard work." In fact, the Spanish
authorities were not treating their own subjects in Fernando Po better than the foreigners
who came as contract Iaborers.
108
Eighteen out of the twenty-one respondents point out that the majority of the
Nigerian contract laborers migrated having in mind that they would be able to work in a
factory or in another more lucrative job. However, the migrants found themselves
working in plantations because the jobs that contributed to the reason why they migrated
didn't exist. Some migrants knew that conditions were harsh due to the fact that they
heard of conditions from others who already had migrated. These people still migrated,
however, because there was such enormous pressure to pay the British tax. Furthermore,
the nature of the people of southeastern Nigeria, particularly the lgbo, is to believe based
on their own experience; even if the people had heard bad reports from others, they
would not have believed those reports until they experienced the conditions for
themselves.
All twenty-one of the respondents report that there were various plantations in
Spanish Fernando Po, such as cocoa, banana, rubber, coffee, and timber plantations.
However, the plantations were under the control of the Spanish authorities. All of the
male respondents say that these plantations were individual- and group-owned by some
Spanish and African migrants from Sierra Leone, etc. For instance, two of the
respondents, Cletus and Longinus, point out that a plantation like Afredo Farm was
108
Osuntokun, Nigeria-Fernando Po Relations from the 19TH C, II.
45
,,wm-d by Afrcdo Honest_ one of the men in charge of recruiting Nigerians going to
F<:mando Po. Aria go Fann was owned by Richardo Punche and was one of the biggest
single (non-group) plantations in Spanish Fernando Po, with laborers mainly from
10
" One of the respondents, Christian, adds that Ariago Fann was
between 19 to 21 acres of land.
110
The twenty-one respondents assert that the experiences and living/working
conditions of the Nigerian migrants were the same regardless of the type or size of
plantation on which the migrants worked. Furthermore, all twenty-one respondents report
that the laborers were paid monthly wages, but that these monthly wages were not paid
regularly. The respondents also point out that the wages that were paid were not enough
to take care of their needs. The wages were being paid based on the type of work one was
doing. Additionally, there was a difference in the wage amounts paid. For instance,
Cletus, Sunday, Israel and Damian, who worked in a cocoa plantation, claim that they
were paid five pesetas; Mathias and Ihejieto, who worked in a cocoa plantation, claim
that they were paid ten pesetas; and others who were also working in cocoa and coffee
plantations claim that they earned between 15 and 18 pesetas.
All twenty-one respondents report that the wages were divided into two. Half of
the wages would be paid to laborers, and the other half would be kept at Calabar for the
laborers by the Spanish government. They point out that the part of the wages kept by the
Spanish government at Calabar was to be paid to the laborers at the expiration of the
contract in Nigeria. They say that, in addition to the wages that they were being paid, the
Spanish authorities provided them with food items on a weekly basis. These included
109
Cletus & Longinus, interview by Anthony Oham, December 31, 2005 & January 2, 2006.
11
Christian, interview by Anthony Oham, April I 0, 2004.
46
rice. !ish. plantain. cocoa yarn, and palm oil. The wives of the married laborers prepared
these foods, while unmarried men prepared the food on their own.
111
One of the respondents, Grace, claims that the living conditions of the period
were very good because food was available and provided by the Spanish govemment.
112
However, Sunday and fifteen other respondents argue that the conditions were bad
because one lived on only what the Spanish government provided and also because the
wages earned were too small to meet basic needs. The laborers could not afford anything
or send money to their relatives at home in the way they had hoped to do.
113
All twenty-one respondents report that there were accommodation problems on
the plantations of Spanish Fernando Po. On the arrival day on the island, every person
recruited in Nigeria would lodge in a camp before the recruiters would look for
accommodations for everyone. The houses had electricity, but they were of poor quality
and made with clay. The respondents all claim that they were very overcrowded in the
houses given to them. They state that there were three families crowded into a single
room with their children, while the unmarried were living five to a room. This single
room was their sleeping I cooking place. They also claim that the houses were poorly
built, and that the sticky, humid air could not escape. The houses were back to back with
only one outlet and also had no yard, toilet, good drinking water, or receptacle for refuse.
All twenty-one respondents report that the standard of water supply on the
plantations remained poor. The types of water were the communal standpipes and pond
111
It is not possible at this time to represent a ratio of marital status on the plantations because no
records were kept that give an accurate representation of the ratio. Furthermore, the situation is further
complicated by the fact that there were also illegal migrants in addition to those who migrated under the
labor conn;cts. I intend ~ o research this further in my Ph.D work.
Grace, mterv1ew by Anthony Oham, January 2, 2006.
113
Sunday, interview by Anthony Oham, April 8, 2004.
47
water. hut these were not pure for drinking. However, everyone drank from the pipe
water because there were no alternative means of getting good drinking water. They
repon that the poor quality of water resulted in plantation communities suffering a high
rate of water-related diseases such as cholera. One of the respondents, Israel, adds that
the Spanish authorities were unconcerned with safeguarding the public health of the
plantation communities. There were no proper toilet facilities, nor was there a drainage or
sewage system. The toilet provided was a public toilet that every laborer used, and the
Spanish authorities took no precautions or effort to keep it in good repair.
Eighteen out of the twenty-one respondents report that the plantation owners were
hostile and brutal. They claim that they were badly treated and that _they labored as slaves
in the plantations. The laborers were identified by a pass worn around the neck. The labor
code was also ignored. For instance, the eighteen respondents claim that they were forced
to work from six in the morning to six in the evening with only a little food in their
stomachs. This was done despite the fact that the labor code stipulated that men could
work only ten hours per day and that women could work only eight hours per day.
Eighteen out of the twenty-one respondents claim that a Capertise, or Headman,
was in charge of the plantations. There were both white Capterises from Spain and black
Capertises from Nigeria, Fernando Po, and other parts of Africa in which people were
recruited to work on the plantations. One of the respondents, Israel, points out that the
Capertise usually insisted that every laborer finish his own portion of work given to him
each day; the laborer would be punished severely if he did not complete his job. As a
result of this, some people died due to lack of strength, and those who lacked the strength
48
l<' n'ntinue were beaten by the Capertise.
114
One of the respondents, Sylvanus, claims
that any laborer who did not finish his own portion of work at the time designated by the
Capertise would be beaten and locked up in jail, where the police would torture them_l
15
Furthem10re. the eighteen respondents claim that there was a supervisor (only from
Spain) who oversaw all work in the plantation. These supervisors had the power to expel
both the Capertises and the laborers.
Loise, one of the respondents, reports that, because of the work and experiences
on the plantations, some men who did not have the strength to work in the plantations
stopped going to work and sent their wives to "New-Bill,' a public square for
prostitution. The prostitution enabled the family to survive, because once a laborer
stopped going to work, the Spanish government would stop providing some food items as
was stipulated in the labor agreement.
116
Fabian, one of the respondents, claims that many
women were arrested for prostitution because the Spanish authorities were ordered to
arrest any woman who indulged in the act.
117
Women could engage in prostitution because they were not being recruited for
work on the plantations. All twenty-one respondents claim that there were no women
who worked on the plantations. Christian and Israel, two of the respondents, state that it
was only during the harvest of cocoa in August that some of the women helped their
husbands on the plantations. This was because the harvest of cocoa took more time to
complete and also because each laborer was required to finish the amount of work given
to him. Additionally, the society viewed woinen largely as individuals who had to care
114
lsrael
115
Sylvanus
116
Loise, interview by Anthony Oham, December 30, 2005.
117
Fabian
49
l(,r the home and for others. Thus. rather than working in the plantations, the women who
mi!,.>ratcd worked mainly in traditional women's roles as cooks, stewards, and cleaners for
Spanish authorities.
118
These jobs probably required fewer hours of work than the jobs on
plantations due to the fact that women were expected to take time for their traditional
family responsibilities in addition to other responsibilities. This, when combined with the
fact that the Anglo-Spanish Employment Agency did not consider women to be strong
enough for the jobs in the plantations, might explain why the labor code allowed women
to work fewer hours than men.
All twenty-one respondents point out that the circumstances that surrounded the
Nigerian laborers made the Igbos remember that they were one tribe with one origin. This
made the Igbos love themselves, move together, and help one another, which later
resulted in a solidarity union that integrated all the lgbo laborers in Fernando Po with a
king known as "Eze Ndi lgbo." One of the respondents, Israel, mentions that the king,
Eze ndi lgbo, was their spokesman. Any time an incident of labor abuse in plantations
occurred, the laborers that were involved would come and inform Eze ndi lgbo. This was
because the laborers did not have freedom of speech. Thus, Eze ndi Igbo would go and
make a complaint to the Spanish supervisor. The important fact according to Israel was
that the union was active, but that, since it was operating in a strange or foreign land, its
power was very limited.
119
The twenty-one respondents claim that, despite the efforts
made by Eze ndi lgbo to stop labor abuse on plantations, the abuse continued until some
Nigerian laborers were shot in Spanish Fernando Po, which attracted the attention of the
Nigerian government.
118
Christian & Israel
119
Israel
50
Accordmg to Mathias. the respondent, delegates of the Nigerian government came
w Spanish Fernando Po and instructed the laborers that, in the case of any beating,
flogging. or punishment in plantations or any place by the Spanish authorities, they
should fight back. Thus, if the information about a crime of self-defense got to the
Nigerian government, the Nigerian government would demand the custody of the accused
laborer from the Spanish government, so that the Nigerian government would judge and
punish the person.
120
One of the respondents, Cletus, adds that the Nigerian delegates just
were pretending that they would prosecute the offenders in Nigeria and that the Nigerian
government would free the offenders. The Nigerian government probably did this in
order to facilitate the return of the laborers to Nigeria from Fernando Po, because the
government was aware that there was mistreatment by Spanish authorities towards
Nigerian laborers.
121
All twenty-one respondents claim that health conditions were very poor on many
plantations regardless of what crop was being grown, particularly where the laborers
were crowded in barracks for sleeping and exposed to malaria, smallpox, and cold. One
of the respondents, Loise, reports that she and her family lost their baby because of the
cold. The exposure to cold that resulted in the death of the baby was a result of the poor
quality house where they were living.
122
Despite the housing problems that faced the laborers, the twenty-one respondents
all claim that the Spanish regime showed some concern about the laborers' health by
building hospitals and health centers. Missionaries controlled these hospitals and health
120
Mathias, interview by Anthony Oham, April 2, 2004.
121
Cletus, interview by Anthony Oham, December 31, 2005.
122
Loise
51
ccnt.:..-s. Qualified Spanish doctors treated the migrants. and plantation owners paid the
1
n-atmcnt bills. They claim that the laborers were allowed to go for health checkups.
According to Sundiata,
After 1945, once rampant diseases declined in importance,
although new ones took their place. Trypanosomiasis was
practically eliminated. Whereas at one time forty-three
percent of the populace had been listed as infected, by the
end of the I 940s the rate was one case per 4000. Mortality
from smallpox and yellow fever declined. Unfortunately,
malaria, gonorrhea and syphilis remained significant health
problems.
123
Sundiata supports the idea that efforts were made in order to alleviate the problem of
diseases. However, most migrants did not have access to good medical care that would
treat and educate them regarding sexually transmitted diseases. In addition, the abuse of
labor in the plantations resulted in prostitution, as described previously in this chapter.
Some of the laborers resorted to sending their wives to prostitute because they did
not have access to adequate wages and because they were not able to live comfortably in
their homes. The prostitution was seen as a way to better their living conditions and the
homes in which they lived, as well as a way by which to better their family back home by
sending money. Furthermore, the fact that laborers were largely uneducated and illiterate
meant that they could not easily gain information for themselves about the health risks
involved with sexually transmitted diseases. Because of this, prostitution continued,
which, in tum, caused gonorrhea and syphilis to remain a problem in plantations in
Spanish Fernando Po.
One of the biggest obstacles to social improvement on plantations was the
continuing illiteracy of workers. One of the respondents, Christian, reports that only a
123
Sundiata, From Slaving to Neo-slavery, 182.
52
t<-w L'r !he migrants were in school before the job opportunities in Fernando Po came.
These migrants abandoned their education with no certificate in order to migrate. Eight-
five percent of the population that migrated was illiterate.
124
Using the total estimated
population listed previously in Table 1 (148,200), this means that 125,970 people who
migrated or who worked on plantations were illiterate. No secondary source regarding
Nigerian literacy during the migration period was available to me at the time of this study
that supported the claims of the migrants. However, one website states that "only a tiny
fraction of the colonial population was able to attend even the elementary school[s]" set
up by the British.
125
This most likely had a large impact on the illiteracy rate.
Not only did illiteracy conditions affect the educational performance of laborers'
children, but inferior educational facilities and the attitude of the Spanish authorities
toward migrants' education made social mobility through education difficult. All of the
twenty-one report that the Spanish authorities were not concerned with the education of
the migrants' children; rather, they were interested in obtaining child labor. The migrants'
children thus were forced to do some minor work in the plantations.
Ten of the twenty-one respondents claim that, after the visit of one of the Nigerian
delegates, Akintola, in 1953, the Spanish started to look into the educational welfare of
these children, which resulted in the construction of a school. Also, Nigerian teachers
were employed to teach the children. One of the respondents, Udochukwu, reports that,
"despite the provision of education for these children, the Spanish authorities were not
concerned with equipping or improving the school. Rather, they were interested in
124
Christian
125
The website, available at http://classweb.gmu.edu/chauss/cponline/nigeria.htrn, did not list any
bibliographical data in terms of author, date of publication, or publisher.
53
,,pl,,iting t h ~ manpower and the resources in order to maximize profit." This is
>lll'l'''rtl'd by the fact that the school lacked proper classrooms, desks, chairs, toilets,
lihrarics. and playground. Furthermore, the school was the poorest school in the entire
education system. and it lacked the preparation for higher school.
Eight of the twenty-one respondents report that, as soon as the Spanish authorities
handed over power to Macias in 1968, there was another phase of problems for the
Nigerian laborers. They point out that Macias' regime gave rise to economic hardship
that caused many Nigerians to leave Fernando Po. For example, the government stopped
Nigeria's laborers from moving around within Fernando Po. Udochukwu, one of the
respondents, reports that Macias stopped children from working on plantations and
punished parents that were taking their children to work.
126
The eight respondents report that the government endorsed discrimination based
on ethnicity by not preventing it. This discrimination resulted in many Nigerian laborers
losing their lives in Spanish Fernando Po through shootings. Three of the respondents,
Loise, Damian, and Valentine, report that four Nigerians were killed during the early
period of the regime of Macias, which made some ofthe Nigerian laborers travel back to
Nigeria for the safety of their lives.
127
Israel, the respondent, states that policemen flogged and beat the Nigerian
migrants with ropes known as "talk truths," and that the police did not like to see the
Nigerian "braseros," or laborers, despite the fact that most of the Nigerian laborers
worked and did not engage in stealing. By contrast, the Bubis did not like going to work;
126
Udochukwu
127
Loise, Damian & Valentine, interview by Anthony Oham, December 30, 2005, April 18, 20QL
"December 31, 2005.
54
rathn they would indulge in stealing. The police would arrest the Nigerian laborers
instead of the Bubis even though the Nigerian laborers were not committing any
oiTcnse.
1 2
~ This probably occurred due to the fact that the Bubis were the native people of
the area and because the Nigerian laborers were foreigners. The population of Nigerians
had become higher than the population ofBubis as a result of migration, and this caused
friction between the two groups because the Bubis believed that the Nigerian laborers
were taking away their jobs. The native police did not want the foreigners in the area and
thus took action against them even when the Nigerian laborers had not committed a
crime.
Finally, all twenty-one respondents also report that the regime of Macias
promulgated a law that repatriated thousands of Nigerian laborers home to start life again.
One of the respondents, Timothy, adds that some of the migrants who married the
indigenous Bubi women remained in Fernando Po.
129
As demonstrated by J.M. Lipski:
The Nigerians remained on Fernando Po until the first
years of the postcolonial regime, when the Macias
government ordered the expulsion or extermination of most
foreigner workers. The linguistic traces of such a massive
number of Nigerians, who preferred using Pidgin English
rather than Nigerian languages as a lingua franca, remain in
Malabo and even in the rural areas, where Bubis had daily
contact with Nigerians.
130
Meanwhile, the migrants who settled in Fernando Po as a result of marrying Bubi
women were hiding from the regime of Macias. Israel, one of the respondents, reports
that families, relatives, and friends saw the migrants who married Bubi women and who
settled in the island as "griho." This simply means that those people were carried away by
the high life in Fernando Po that existed in the form of women and a\coho\. Because of
this, the settled migrants forgot their place of origin.
131
These facts support the idea that
tl1e desire to have or to support a family and enjoy life may have bad an impact on the
migration of Nigerian laborers.
CHAPTER IV
IMPACT ANALYSIS
Background for Migration Impact Analysis
Labor migration, in one form or another, has been a characteristic of Nigerian
society for many years. Nevertheless, the increase in the rate of migration in recent times
has been particularly striking. Before the advent of British rule in Nigeria, individuals
and groups migrated for the purpose of trade. During the period of colonial rule in
Nigeria, the British government wanted to promote the construction of road, railway,
bridges, and paying of laborers. Therefore, the British colonial administration introduced
nvo innovations that encouraged migration. First, in order to obtain money for the
developments listed above, the British imposed taxation on the local people. The
imposition of taxes early in the 1900's developed a need for cash. Secondly, the
introduction of forced labor resulted in the movement of males from southeastern
Nigeria, their home area, to work on plantations in Spanish Fernando Po. This movement
of males was for the people who did not have excess property to exchange for money
(pounds) and whose only option thus was to sell their labor.
However, migration is often analyzed using Amin's terms of the "push-pull
model," which looks at the negative "push factors," which force people to leave their
place of origin, and the positive "pull factors," which draw them to the desired
destinations.
132
Meanwhile, migration creates both opportunities and risks for the
migrants. At this juncture, I will discuss the impacts of Spanish colonial migration on
Nigerian migrants, as well as on the imperial powers.
132
S. Amin, Modern Migration in West Africa (London: O.V.P. 1974), 68-69. Cited in Osuntokun,
Nigeria-Fernando Po Relations from the 19TH C, 15.
57
Impact on the Migrants
Based on the interviews of twenty-one Nigerian labor migrants to Fernando Po, it
appears that the movement of Nigerian migrants to work on several Spanish plantations
under colonialism had negative impacts on both the migrants' place of origin and the
migrants themselves. The Nigerian migrants to Fernando Po suffered devastating losses
and adverse socio-economic disaster as a result of their migration to the present-day
Equatorial Guinea. The models ofMabogunje and Byerlee assert that family structure
and society directly influence the decision to migrate. These models are supported by the
fact that the communities and family members of the returning migrants viewed the
returning migrants as socio-economic failures because the migrants did not achieve their
sole aim of migration (sufficient income). They were merely a source of cheap labor to
the Spanish authorities, who utilized them in their plantations in Spanish Fernando Po
through British labor contracts.
A.T. Nzula defines forced labor as "a legal deal in which one party thereto, the
black worker, is deprived of all rights, and forced into the bargain by administrative
means."
133
The local people had little choice in whether or not they wanted to work
because their need for money by which to pay the British taxes was so great. They were
forced to work in several plantations in Fernando Po with the hope of gaining money
with which to pay the taxes, but they were given little income in return. Todaro's model
asserts that the decision to migrate is influenced by whether or not greater income
through work is available in the new location, and the migrants were under the
impression that the money to pay taxes would be available if they migrated. Furthermore,
Ill A.T.Nzula, et al, Forced Labour in Colonial Africa (London: Redwood Bum Ltd, 1979), 82.
58
Rycrlec"s model asserts that migration will be made if the return from migration exceeds
the cost of migration. The migrants believed that they would return to their homeland
with more money and social status than when they left, thus the migrants believed that
the cost of migration would not exceed the return they would gain.
By Arthur's assertions, "people move because they sense a need and want to
satisfy it. The nature of the need can be economic, social, or psychological. Individuals
become candidates for migration when they perceive opportunities for satisfying their
needs elsewhere."
134
The migrants believed that migration to Fernando Po would result in
economic and social benefits for themselves and for their families, thus they entered into
the labor contracts. However, the migrants came back home with little money left in their
hands, which was not enough to provide the essential needs of life or to engage in
investment. The migrants faced abject poverty, as they could not get the high income that
had been their sole aim for migrating. Even today, most of the migrants live simply from
hand to mouth and do the same work most of them abandoned in favor of migrating to
Spanish Fernando Po. However, one of the respondents, Udochukwu, reports that
fanning is not considered important in present-day Nigeria. The Nigerian government has
not been interested in large-scale farming since the emergence of the oil boom in the
1970s. Also, the lands are not as fertile they used to be because of constant cultivation.
This overuse of the land in southeastern Nigeria is partly the consequence of a shortage
of land, which has occurred due to the high population.
135
Thus, the migrants are
dependent on non-commercial farm work for their income and food supply.
114
135
Udochukwu
59
.-\s reported by Israel. one of the respondents, most of the migrants lost their
propcrtics'hcritagc at home as a result of the migration. Many lost their properties when
those properties were forfeited to the Spanish authorities. Others lost their farm and
heritage properties when those properties were taken over by other members of the
extended family who did not migrate. This has caused crises in kinship ties, loss of life,
lengthy court cases, and family breakup. Also, some migrants who migrated with their
families lost their properties to strangers who took over because no one was available at
home to claim the property rights.
136
One of the respondents, Longinus, adds that some of
these migrants were not familiar with their own lands/their father's properties because of
their long period of absence. This denied most of the migrants their rights and
properties.
137
The returned Nigerian migrants also lost their social status in the place of origin.
Udochukwu, Matthew, and Sylvanus, report that, in the Igbo society, people migrate in
order to acquire wealth and also to increase their social status in the place of origin.
138
All
twenty-one respondents point out that the migrants lost their social status because they
did not achieve their sole aims, which were economic well-being and improvement of
their standard of living. One of the respondents, Christian, reports that, before most of the
migrants could come back to Nigeria, their peers or those who were the same age as the
migrants had invested, married, and had children that had occupied high position.
139
By
contrast, after the migrants returned, they had nothing to show for their migration to
136
Isreal
137
Longinus
138
Udochukwu, Matthew & Sylvanus, interview by Anthony Oham, December 20, 31, 2005 &
January 2, 2006
139
Christian
60
Spanish Fcnwndo Po. Because of this, their peers, extended families, communities and
friends look down on them.
The social impact of migration on the migrants is also shown in the fact that, upon
returning to Nigeria, the migrants were deprived of most of the communal rights. In
particular, the migrants lost the privilege to speak in any communal gatherings. In local
Nigerian communities, the privilege to speak is given to migrants who have obtained
wealth, either by migrating within Nigeria or by migrating internationally. This is
because the traditional Igbo society believes it is the duty of the migrant to enrich his
family members who did not migrate and to represent his community at the place of
destination. If the migrant does not succeed, then their social status is reduced in the eye
ofthe community as a whole because the lack of success is seen as shameful to the
migrant and the family from which the migrant came.
The fact that most of migrants' time was spent in the farms limited the capacity of
a greater percentage of them to acquire education and skills necessary for them to have
access to higher paying jobs within their national boundaries as well as internationally.
The best position of employment the returned migrants could get was security guard in
some government offices in Nigeria. As demonstrated by Udochukwu, one of the
respondents, good education provides the skills and knowledge required to access jobs
that are capable of raising people above the poverty line.
140
Since the migrants lack this,
they have continued to live below the poverty line.
All twenty-one respondents report that their children did not have a good
education. One of the respondents, Sylvanus, reports that the poor status of education on
140
Udochukwu
61
plantatit'IlS is rctlectcd in low levels of achievement and in high dropout rales.
141
Presently. most of the migrants' children are jobless and are still dependent on their poor
parents. A few children of the migrants who are working with their low qualifications
haYe acquired jobs of low socio-economic status.
Migration also affected the health of those who migrated to Fernando Po. As a
matter of fact. Loise, one of the respondents, reports that most of the Nigerian migrants
were exposed to health problems that ranged from excessive intake of alcohol to sexually
transmitted diseases aggravated by prostitution, and that most of the migrants were
infected with one disease or another.
142
One of the respondents, Mathias, adds that this
equally has resulted in infertility among some migrants.
143
For instance, Israel, the
respondent, reports that about fifty Nigerian laborers out of seventy or more laborers on
the Afredo Honest plantation were affected by gonorrhea and syphilis.
144
On the other
hand, according to Loise, the respondent, the migration strengthened them physically,
and this is attributable to their long hours working in the plantations.
145
Most of them still
look strong and healthy even in their eighties and also still involve themselves in some
hard jobs like farm work, which is their primary source of livelihood.
Due to the many problems associated with migration, most of the migrants ended
up being deprived, frustrated, withdrawn, and depressed, which resulted in socio-
psychological problems and disorientation expressed in drunkenness. Most former
migrants regret ever migrating to Spanish Fernando Po, especially when they consider
141
Sylvanus
142
Loise
143
Mathias
144
Israel
145
Losie
62
their present condition because of the wasted years in Spanish Fernando Po. As a result of
this. Sl11llC migrants discourage their children from migrating. Other migrants, despite
thc:ir experiences in Fernando Po, and despite losses they suffered as a result of the
migration. still push their children to migration. Because of their desire for money, they
sometimes unknowingly involve their children in child trafficking, slave labor, and
prostitution.
Despite the negative impacts of migration on the migrants, there were a few
positive impacts, as welL Migration resulted in new ways of life; new patterns of thought;
a new and large-scale agriculture; new languages, and a new social system among the
migrants. Most of the migrants were able to learn the Spanish language and some
indigenous languages of Fernando Po, which they use to communicate among
themselves. The indigenous languages were Bube, Batanga, and Fernando Po Creole
English.
Many of the migrants who could not communicate with "Pidgin English" when
they were in Nigeria could speak it fluently after their return from Spanish Fernando Po.
As demonstrated by Lipski:
Equatorial Guinean laborers rarely embodied the
juxtaposition of more than two ethnic groups, and when in
the present country the indigenous labor force was virtually
replaced by nearly 50,000 Nigerians, the latter's lingua
franca, pidgin English, rapidly became the most useful
vehicle of communication on Fernando Po, continually
even past the exodus of the Nigerians.
146
146
Lipski, The Spanish of Equatorial Guinea, 6.
63
!'his lan_1!uagc hccan1c a n1cdiurn through which the migrants communicated with each
,,
1
hcr. rLgardlcss of the tribes to which the migrant originally belonged. In addition, the
pidgin English bccan1e a means of inter-tribal communication in Nigeria.
The migration of Nigerian laborers caused a mixed culture among Nigerian
migrants and the indigenous population of Spanish Fernando Po. Grace, one ofthe
respondents, reports that there were cultural exchanges between Nigerian migrants and
the indigenous people of Fernando Po during the colonial era. Some ofthe food in
southeastern Nigeria, such as "mashed plantain mixed with oil," an indigenous food of
the Bubis of Spanish Fernando Po, was introduced by Nigerian migrants from Fernando
Po.
147
The returned migrants ate this food more because it was affordable; some ofthe
non-migrants have started to eat the food as well due to socio-economic hardships in
Nigerian society.
There were intermarriages between Nigerian migrants and the indigenous people
ofFemando Po. Most of the Nigerian migrants during this period married with the
indigenous women of Fernando Po and settled down on the island. On the other hand, the
Nigerian migrants who migrated as bachelors and came back to Nigeria unmarried are
finding it difficult to marry even now. The reason for the difficulty is that the returned
migrants do not work in a well-paying job that would provide enough money to carry out
traditional rite; without the well-paying job, the traditional rite is too expensive.
Most of the migrants who were not Christian before they migrated embraced
Christianity. Donatus, one of the respondents, reports that there were some missionaries
who used to visit the island and preach the observance or practice of the teachings of
147
Grace
64
.ksus Christ. particularly which God would take care of their situations.
148
The Annual
Report on the Departn1ent of Labor and on the Resettlement of Ex-servicemen of 1945
stated:
The workers are allowed freedom of worship as laid down
in Article 12 ofthe Treaty. The Rev. F. N. Dodds, one of
the General Secretaries of the Methodist Missionary
Society who visited Fernando Po from England to inspect
the Methodist Churches there reported that a large
percentage of the laborers from mainland working in the
farms and industries of the country had placed themselves
under the spiritual direction of the Methodist Church. In the
opinion of Dodds ... the people seemed well content and
their conditions at Fernando Po compared favorably with
those of the fellow-tribesmen on the mainland.
149
The migrants usually use the teachings of Jesus Christ as a guide for their behavior and
actions. They are always conscious of what they do, say, or fail to do, bearing in mind
that people are watching them. They eagerly and regularly attend church services and
activities.
Impact on the Imperial Powers
While migration had both negative and positive effects on the migrants, the
impact of the migration on the imperial powers was largely positive. This can be seen
from the growth of their factories/industries in Europe. For instance, W. Rodney noted
that "there is also a hint here on the contribution of slaves to the accumulation of capital
for the Western capitalist; that is to say, profits from the slaves' work in the plantations
148
Donatus, interview by Anthony Oham, December 19, 2005.
149
See NAN (hereafter NAE) Nigeria Sessional Paper No.2 I of 1946.
65
gave fillip to the development of heavy industries [Spain and Britain]."
150
The
important fact is that the primary reason behind colonial land policy was the exploitation
of the resources of Africa, whether agricultural or mineral. According to Nzula, "the
indigenous population [had] been reduced to semi-slavery, and almost all of them are
exploited by open and non-economic forms of coercion on the plantations and in the
mines."
151
They served as sources of cheap labor for the imperial powers' large
plantations.
The Nigerian migration to Spanish Fernando Po brought the imperial powers-
Great Britain and Spain-together and restored co-operation between them. As
demonstrated by Osuntokun, "the Nigeria-Fernando Po labor accord was therefore
negotiated in the spirit of Anglo-Spanish rapprochement and in consideration ofthe Great
British's world wide interest"
152
As I discussed in Chapter II, the Spanish were recruiting
laborers illegally from southeastern Nigeria, an area where labor was plentiful and cheap.
The demand for labor in Fernando Po was so great and the market was so profitable that
illegal smuggling of people from Nigeria continued. The British authorities started to
suspect Spain of illegal trafficking and shortly were given the power of "search and
arrest" to detain any ship that carried illegal laborers. This resulted in the closure of the
German shipping company, the Woermann Line, in Nigeria. This was significant because
the only ship that carried Liberian laborers to Fernando Po belonged to the Woermann
Line.
150
W.Rodney, How Europe Underdeveloped Africa (London: Bogle-L'Ouverture Publications,
1972), Cited in Ndu Life Njoku, Studies in Western Imperialism and Afi'ican Development (Owerri:
Tonyben Publishers, 1998), 205.
151
Nzula, et at, Forced Labour in Colonial Aji'ica, 37.
152
66
Great Bntam accused Spain of involvement in arms assistance to Germans during
the Gennan-C'ameroon conflict. During the outbreak of World War II, the favorable
attitude of Germany towards Spain-Fernando Po complicated the Nigerian relationship
with Spanish Fernando Po. This rapport between Spain and Germany put Great Britain in
fear that the Axis powers might attack them and the other Allied powers from the island
of Fernando Po. This fear made Britain open to negotiation with Spain regarding labor.
According to Osuntokun, "in late 1942, the British signed an agreement with Spain to
legalize and control this flow of [Nigerian] labor, but it was not until the defeat of
Germany became imminent that the Spaniards really began to co-operate with British to
enforce the clauses of the 1942 agreement."
153
Through this agreement, peace was
reinstated among the imperial powers, which directly affected the treatment and
conditions of the Nigerian laborers in the plantations ofthe Spanish.
The migration increased the production of the crops that were most needed for the
factories of these imperial powers, as well as the consumption of these goods among the
migrants. The migration also gave rise to the imperial powers' desire to ensure, through
the use of persuasion and coercive methods, that the migrants conducted their plantation
work in ways that favored the imperial powers. The imperial powers made use not only
of laborers and crops, but also the land where the African planters harvested cocoa and
other crops. Going by R. Gard's assertion:
At early as 1930, it was apparent that Spain intended
Fernando Po (especially its uplands) for use by European
cultivators. At that time 18,000 hectares had been conceded
153
J. Osuntokun, Equatorial Guinea-Nigeria relation, the diplomacy oflabor. lbandan: chapter 3.
For labor in lieu of military service, see Perpina Grau, De colonization (1978), 115-17. Cited in
G.Clarence-Smith, "The impact of Spanish Civil War and the Second World War on Portuguese and
Spanish Africa." The Joumal of African History 26, no. 4( 1985): 309-326.
67
to Africans. while some 21,000 hectares had gone to
Euwpcans. a situation which remained legally frozen until
1948. In 1942 and 1943, out of 40,000 hectares devoted to
co ITec and cocoa, only 4,000 were in the hands of the
Africans.
154
Church also demonstrates that the majority of the land went to Europeans:
By the 1960s the coastal band on the north, east and west,
up to 2,000 feet was almost completely devoted to Spanish
plantations; in 1964, 600 European plantations occupied
about 90,000 acres (on the average about 150 acres per
plantations) and 40,000 were occupied by African farms
(averaging thirteen acres per farm).
155
The migration increased the production and export of many cash crops such as
cocoa, coffee, banana, cotton, and tobacco for the imperial powers that supported large
plantations of such crops. The imperial powers utilized Nigerian laborers, who produced
profits of billions from cocoa and other crops, which the imperial powers exported to
their factories I industries and enriched themselves. The first four columns of Table 3
below are based on the data from Armin Kobel's La Republique de Guinee Equatorial/e.
ses res sources potentielles et virtuelles, which shows the exportation of cocoa products
[rom Fernando Po to Europe.
156
The last column is based on my total estimated
population from Table 1.
IS R. Gard. Colonialism and Decolonization of Equatorial Guinea. Northwestern University;
Unpublished manuscript (1974), 92. Cited in Sundiate, From Slavery to Neoslavery, 180.
Iss R.J. Church, et al., Africa and the islands. (New York. 1964), 278. Cited in Sundiate, From
Slavery to Neoslavery, 180.
1
s
6
A Kobel, La Republique de Guinee Equatorialle, ses ressources potentielles et
virtuelles.Possibilites de development: PhD diss., Universite de Neuchatel(1976), 267 citing Resumen
estadistica del Africa Espanola,1932-1960. Cited in Sundiate, Equatorial Guinea, 42.
68
15,759
16,548
20,039
18,\16
21,529
19,554
20,971
25,433
22,100
23,559
28,673
29,458
31,305
31,014
35,344
30.058
. ". l(obel, cited in Sundiate, Equatorial Guinea 42
source. ~ ,
This is to demonstrate that the proftts made by the imperial powers-Great
. . and spain-are directly proportional to the number of Nigerian laborers who
sotaln
. d which promoted the growth of the factories/industries oftbe i m ~ e r i a \ !"'"""
Jll
1
grate ,
and also strengthened their economies.
CHAPTER V
SUMMARY & CONCLUSION
This study em harks on the task of assessing the Nigerian labor migration to
Spanish Fcntando Po from 1900-1968. It examines the emergence of the Anglo-Spanish
agreement that triggered the migration of Nigerians into Fernando Po. This study also
investigates the lives and experiences of the migrants. Moreover, this study traces the
impact of the migration on both migrants and imperial powers.
At the mid-twentieth century, thousands of lgbo and lbibio laborers from
southeastern Nigeria worked in Spanish cocoa plantations on the island of Fernando Po,
the present-day Equatorial Guinea. This migration occurred as a result of an Anglo-
Spanish labor agreement. This is a form of mobility or migration that involved local
Nigerian societies. The imposition of taxes developed a need for cash, and the
introduction of forced labor through the Anglo-Spanish labor agreement resulted in a
mass movement of workers to several plantations in Fernando Po.
Chapter II of the study explains the history of the Anglo-Spanish agreement.
Nigeria's contact with Fernando Po started in 1778 with the Treaty of Pardo, which
specified that the entire Niger Delta, especially the Bonny River and Rio Gallinas, was to
be in the control of Spain. Fernando Po maintained economic relations with Nigeria
because of its strategic location that was close to the Bights of Benin and Biafra.
The relationship between Nigeria and Fernando Po was not cordial before the
eruption of World War II due to British hostility to Spanish illegal recruitment of laborers
from Nigeria. Subsequently, Great Britain was given the power of"search and arrest," to
capture any ship that carried illegal laborers. This resulted in the closure of the German
70
shipping cmnpany. the Line in 1914. These tensions continued for the next
r,n> until Great Britain accused Spain of supplying weapons to Germany during the
Gennan-Camcroon hostility.
When World War II finally erupted, the Germans' favorable attitude towards
Spain-Fernando Po further complicated the Nigerian relationship with Spain. This caused
a tense exchange of words between the governments ofNigeria and Fernando Po. The
Germans used Fernando Po as a broadcast station to communicate with their soldiers
dispersed in the Southern Atlantic. The rapport between the Spanish and Germans placed
Great Britain in anxiety that the Axis powers might use Fernando Po as a base to attack
them and other Allied powers. This anxiety made Great Britain open for compromise
with Spain in 1939, which resulted in the migration of 10,000 Nigerian laborers to
Fernando Po in the same year. Finally, in December 1942, the Anglo-Spanish labor
agreement was signed in order to legalize and control the flow of illegal migration of
Nigerians to Fernando Po.
The labor agreement stipulated the supply of manpower. The unmarried men
worked for the period of one year but had to return to Nigeria after the end of the
contract, while the married men migrated with their wives for the duration of two years.
Each laborer could not be less than eighteen years old. The laborers had to be medically
approved in order to be awarded the contract. The agreement stipulated that a minimum
of thirty-five pesetas would be given to each laborer monthly. The labor agreement
provided the laborers with accommodations and food items. The agreement also
stipulated that 250 laborers would be recruited per month. Even with the stipulated
agreements, there were still allegations of ill treatment of Nigerian laborers in plantations
71
in Fcnwndo Po. Because of this. various delegates visited the island for an investigation,
t->ut no one among thcn1 gave a concrete report about labor abuse on plantations by the
Spanish authorities. However, the research I conducted revealed that there was ill
rrcatment of laborers on plantations by the Spanish authorities, which is examined in
Chapter III of the study. The chapter explains the labor regimes that existed in plantations
in Spanish Femando Po.
The labor code of 1906, which was known as the Nature Labor Code, regulated
the condition of the Nigerian laborers. This labor code, which had the provision of a one-
year minimum wage agreement, prevented the nursing mother and children from doing
hard work, provided free accommodations for the workers, stipulated for ten hours
duration of work per day for men and eight hours for women, and stopped laborers from
leaving the plantation except on approval. It was not completely intolerable. The Spanish
colonial regime was unfavorable to the Nigerian laborers.
The laborers were treated as slaves and also were instructed to put passes around
their necks that were used for identification of each laborer. The Nigerian laborers were
forced to work for a long period of hours with only a little food in their stomachs, and the
Capertise always insisted that each laborer complete the portion of work assigned to him.
This resulted in death for some laborers. Meanwhile, because of hard labor/maltreatment,
some of the laborers abandoned the work and advised their wives to prostitute themselves
in "New Bill" and to make money in that way in order to provide for their needs.
The circumstances of Nigerian laborers, particularly the lgbo, made them come
together as a union. The union elected an orator known as the king (Eze Ndi lgbo), who
attempted to alleviate the labor abuse on plantations in Fernando Po, but the king's power
72
limit<'d. This is because the union was operating under the colonial regime as well as
in a for.:-ig.n land. The labor abuse on plantations continued until a day when some of the
Nigerian laborers were shot. This attracted delegates from Nigeria that came and
the laborers to retaliate against any labor abuse in Fernando Po. If this
statement was made, it may have been made after Nigeria had gained independence from
Great Britain, which was too late to help the migrants.
Furthermore, the Spanish authorities separated the wages received by the Nigerian
laborers into two parts: one part was paid to the laborers, and the other was held for the
laborers at the headquarters in Calabar. The wages received often were not paid.
Although the Spanish colonial authorities provided some foodstuffs weekly for the
Nigerian laborers, it still was not enough to put an end to the laborers' needs.
Apart from the problems encountered by the laborers in wages, the Nigerian
laborers also faced serious difficulties in the accommodations provided by the Spanish
government. The laborers were overcrowded in the poor quality houses provided to them.
These houses lacked the essential amenities of an average house in the present society.
Because of the poorly built houses, the Nigerian laborers were exposed to various kinds
of diseases, which resulted in the death ofboth adults and children.
The Nigerian laborers received treatments in the hospitals and health centers
provided by the Spanish government on plantations. The hospitals and health centers
were under the control of the missionaries. The Nigerian laborers received treatments
under the expense of the plantation owners and also were permitted to go to health check-
ups from time to time. This does not mean that the Spanish authorities were taking good
care of the Nigerian laborers in Fernando Po; rather, the physical health condition of any
73
<kt,nnincd the tons of cocoa or other crops to be produced. Furthermore, it was
.-hcap,r t<' proYidc n1cdical care to existing laborers than to recruit new laborers. It was
r<>r these reasons that Spanish authorities showed some concern for the health condition
o(thc lahorers_
The Spanish authorities were not interested in the educational welfare of the
children of Nigerian laborers. They used these children to do some work on plantations.
The Spanish regime later built schools for the children of the Nigerian laborers after their
meeting with the Nigeria delegates. The schools provided for these children lacked
facilities for learning and also training for higher schools. This implies that the Spanish
authorities were not interested in anything that would not maximize profit for them.
Hence, Spanish authorities were not concerned with equipping the school.
By 1968, there was a colonial hangover to Macias's government. This regime
deprived freedom of moving for Nigerian laborers and also prohibited the work of
children in plantations. Macias' regime allowed discrimination against the Nigerians,
which resulted in the death of four Nigerian laborers. Finally, this regime made laws that
repatriated Nigerian laborers back to their home country. These laws were made because
the number of Nigerians was so large compared to the original population. The native
people believed the Nigerians were taking away their jobs. These laws were disastrous
because most of the Nigerian migrants had settled down in Spanish Fernando Po despite
the conditions on the plantations; when they returned home, many found that they did not
have access to their former properties or to a job.
Chapter IV explores the impact of Nigerian migration to Fernando Po on both the
migrants and the imperial powers. This migration had economic, social, physiological,
74
and rdigious impacts on the Nigerian migrants. The bulk of the migrants were living
from hand to mouth and therefore were surviving from fann work, which they rejected in
order to migrate to Spanish Femando Po. The Nigerian migrants were thinking that they
would get a more lucrative, non-farming job if they migrated to Fernando Po. This
supports Todaro's theory that the possible migrant chooses a place that maximizes the
anticipated gains from migration. However, when they got to the island, they found that
they still were working in farms just as they had done in their homeland. Hill's idea that
migration occurs due to a lack of lucrative non-farming employment in West Africa,
particularly in the region of southeastern Nigeria, thus is supported in the migration to
Fernando Po. The farm-to-farm job change would have been a lateral move that would
not have resulted in any economic or social gain for the laborer, and that gain was exactly
what the laborers had hoped to receive through migration.
The Nigerian migrants suffered loss of status, rights, and property/heritage as a
result of migration. The returned migrants lost their social status in the eyes of their
community as a whole because the migrants had nothing to show for their migration to
Spanish Fernando Po. In regard to this, their peers, extended families, communities, and
friends looked down on them for not having achieved and for not having provided
assistance through migration. Because of this, the migrants also lost most oftheir
communal rights. Furthermore, they lost their properties/heritage at home as a result of
colonial migration. This caused deprivation, frustration, withdrawal, and depression for
most of the migrants and resulted in socio-psychological problems and disorientation
expressed in drunkenness. Most of the migrants regret migrating to Spanish Fernando Po,
which has resulted in demoralizing thoughts. Because of this, many of the migrants
75
their children from migrating. In addition. the models of Mabogunje and
[hcrkc assert that family structure and society directly have an impact on whether or not
an individual will migrate. The returning migrants were seen as socio-economic failures
\:ly their families and communities because the_migrants did not achieve their sole aim of
migration (sufficient income). The research thus offers support for Mabogunje's and
Byerlee's models.
The majority of the Nigerian migrants were illiterates because they spent most of
their time on plantations. They did not obtain the education and skills necessary for them
to have access to higher paying jobs. Also, they did not have time to take care of their
children to give them good educations. Because of this, most of their children were
dropouts and still depended on the poor parents for survivaL
Migration under colonialism also had an impact on the health of returned Nigerian
migrants. The migrants were exposed to different types of diseases; most of them were
infected with one disease or another. However, the migration also strengthened the
Nigerian migrants physically because of the long hours they were required to work on the
plantations. Consequently, most of the returned migrants were strong and healthy in their
eighties.
The returned Nigerian migrants were able to learn some languages in Fernando Po
that they use to communicate among themselves. The majority of the Nigerian migrants
can communicate with "Pidgin English" fluently. This language has helped them to
communicate with other tribes in Nigeria, especially those migrants who are travelers.
The Nigerian migrants were able to communicate and intermarry with indigenous
people of Fernando Po. This encouraged the mixture of culture. Some of the traditional
76
t<><><l,,f indigenous local people of Fcmando Po is still used by Nigerians. Mashed
pl:mtain mixed with oil. for example, is still eaten in Nigerian society by the migrants as
well as t>y non-n1igrants.
Finally. the Nigerian migrants embraced Christianity through colonial migration.
Most of the migrants who were pagans before migrating embraced Christ as a result of
their circumstances in Femando Po. The teaching of Christ made them always mindful of
what they do or fail to do and what to say, having in mind that the public is watching
them.
Although the migration caused social, economic, and physiological problems for
the Nigerian migrants, it benefited the imperial powers economically and otherwise.
Britain and Spain used the migration to settle their differences and established a
collaboration, which resulted in forced labor, exploitation, and de facto enslavement of
Nigerian laborers on Spanish plantations. The migration increased the production and
export of several cash crops for the colonial powers. The imperial powers made profits
of billions from tons of cocoa and other crops, which they exported to their
factories/industries and used to enrich themselves.
In conclusion, based on the examination of this research, it was clear to me that
there was labor abuse/enslavement in the plantations of Spanish Fernando Po. The
Nigerian government delegates who visited the island concealed the incidents of abuses
of Nigerian laborers. However, the Annual Report of the Federal Ministry of Land/Labor
division noted 3,742 complaints oflabor abuse from the Nigerian laborers. This included
long hours of work, various forms of maltreatment, poor medical facilities, short payment
77
unlaw till deductions from wages, and short supply of food rations.m For every
,.,,mplaint made. there are probably many other cases left unreported because some
111
igr:lllts might have been scared of receiving further punishment. Also, as the returning
migrants were reporting continually on labor abuse in Spanish Fernando Po, some of the
Nigerian government delegates like Chief S.L.Akintola, the Central Minister of labor,
denied the abuse.
On the other hand, J. M. Johnson, the Federal Minister of Affairs, Labor and
Welfare and other representatives visited in 1957 and reported that there was labor abuse
in Fernando Po, but the abuses were not reported in detail. Instead, the delegates focused
on the positive aspects of the report, which contradict the experiences of the respondents
I interviewed. The Nigerian government delegates knew about the labor abuse in Spanish
Fernando Po but refused to report the abuse to the public. This is because the Anglo-
Spanish relation was a collaborative business in which the imperial powers worked
together in order to benefit financially as a result of the labor of the Nigerian laborers on
the plantations. The acknowledgement of abuse might have resulted in the loss of the
opportunity for profit for the imperial powers, thus the imperial powers did not report the
abuse. This is supported by the fact that the Nigerian government received a capitation
fee of five pounds sterling for each Nigerian laborer working in Fernando Po. For
instance, the sum of 873,630 pesetas (approximately 5, 144.17.7d sterling) was received
as a capitation fee by the Nigerian government at the first contracts.
158
Because of this,
the Nigerian delegations continuously increased the number of recruitments in order to
:::See NAN. Annual Report, 1966-67.
See NAN. Annual Report, 1966-67.
78
make greater profits, which caused Nigerian authorities not to speak against or report any
labor abuse in Spanish Fernando Po.
Also, the revised agreement of 1950 cooperated to recruit laborers from the
British Firm of John Holt in Nigeria and Company Ltd., as well as from the Anglo-
Spanish Employment Agency. This revised agreement turned against the illegal laborers,
which resulted in repatriation of these Nigerian laborers. The illegal laborers were the
ones to whom the Spanish government promised a heavy amount of wages, which the
Spain secretly recruited in their plantations. The important fact is that the Anglo-Spanish
agreement was a colonial cooperation, but one in which the conditions of Nigerian
laborers were compromised by both colonial powers.
Finally, it is important to note that the labor code to which I refer throughout the
study was in existence before the Anglo-Spanish agreement was signed. Due to the
timeframe, it might be that the labor codes were meant for the men and women of the
original Bubi population of the island. This is important because if the labor code never
was intended to cover the migrants, a migrant who exceeded the number of hours
stipulated could not claim abuse in terms of hours worked. If the labor code did apply,
however, then a migrant who exceeded the stipulated hours could in fact make a case that
the labor code was violated. For the purposes ofthis study, however, I presumed that the
labor codes in fact did apply to the migrants.
This study narrowed the window of information unavailable regarding the
Nigerian migration to Fernando Po. In particular, the research provided information
regarding the aspects of the lives and experiences ofthe migrants and the impact ofthe
migration on the migrants, as well as on both the imperial powers. The research
79
demonstrates aspects of the nature and pattern of migration in West Africa such as those
contained in the models of Todaro, Mabogunje, and Byerlee. These three models were
used because they are the models most applicable to this study in that they take into
consideration the role of family, kinship ties, social structure and social practices, and
tmequal distribution of economic and social development among the regions in Nigeria.
It went further to show that the local people were important in shaping colonial societies;
the study has contributed to the history of Nigerian migration by combining the aspects of
social, economic, and political labor history in colonial times.
This work reveals that the imperial powers often collaborated to shield their
mutual economic interest. The research fits into the overall picture created by existing
research in regard to the nature of colonial migration in Africa, which placed an emphasis
on forced labor. Finally, this study also features the pattern of migration in Africa,
particularly in West Africa.
The information that I had at the time of my research is represented in this thesis.
Nevertheless, while this thesis makes multiple contributions of value to the study of
migration, there is a great deal of information yet to be collected on the topic. There were
numerous questions raised by the responses of the respondents and the inquiries of my
advisor during the research and construction of this work. Therefore, I am motivated to
continue my study in order to find the answers to the questions raised. To find these
answers, I intend to travel to Public Record at London where colonial records are kept, as
well as to Nigeria and Fernando Po to conduct additional interviews. This is because poor
documentation practice has resulted in few archival sources being available in Nigeria on
the research topic. The lack of archival sources is precisely the reason why scholars have
80
not studied this topic in detail previous to this work. 1 feel that even more documentation
may be available at Public Record in London. Due to the lack of documentation and the
fact that I am only focusing on the Nigerian migrants for my study, l intend to gain data
primarily via oral interviews. I will use this thesis as a foundation for my Ph.D. study.
APPENDICES
LIST OF INFORMANTS INTER.. VIEWED
AGE
OCCUPATION
DATE/
-- NAME
REMARKS
PLACE
OF
INTERVIEW
Ahamuefula 72
Trader 12/27/05
"Fanner in FP cocoa
Chibuike Akwakurna
Plantation; migrated with
friend in 1950; 5 pesetas
Akamadu 80 Farmer 12/20/05
Fanner in FP cocoa
Augustine
Mbano
plantation; migrated with
friend in 1949; 5 pesetas
A lam 85 Farmer 04/08/04
Fanner in FP cocoa
Sunday Umugurna
plantation; migrated alone
in 1946; wage of 5 pe_setas
Asuluka 70 Carpenter 12/31105
Farmer in FP cocoa
Cletus Umugurna
friends in 1964; wage of 5
Pesetas
Atasie 75 Farmer 04/2/04
Watch-day guard for a white
Mathias Ogwuwgu
man in FP; migrated alone
in 1948; wage of l0__esetas
Dike 74 Trader 12/20/05
Farmer in FP banana
Udochukwu Ogwuwgu
in 1951; wage of 5 ~ s e t a s
Ekechukwu 75 Farmer 01/4/06 Farmer in FP cocoa/ coffee
Fabian Ihiawa plantation; migrated alone
in 1953; wage of 1 8 ~ s e t a s
Ihejieto 68 Farmer 12/19/05 Farmer in FP rubber
Donatus Ogwuwgu plantation; migrated alone
in 1964; 15 pesetas
Obiaku 78 Farmer 04/10/04 Farmer in FP cocoa
Timothy Umugurna plantation; migrated with
friend in 1962; 5 _2_esetas
Obiaku 69 Trader 04/10/04 Housewife in FP; migrated
Arnaka Umugurna after her husband (Timothy)
in 1963
Ogwudire 71 Farmer 12/31105 Farmer in FP cocoa
Valentine Umuguma plantation; migrated alone
in 1958; wage of 10 pesetas
Okehie 68 Security Guard 0112/06 Farmer in FP coffee
Sylvanus Ogwuwgu plantation; migrated alone
in 1956, later his wife joined
him; wage of l8_2_esetas
Okolie 70 Farmer 12/22/05 . Farmer in FP coffee
Jude Umuguma plantation; migrated alone
in 1952; wage of 18 ~ e s e t a s
Okonkwo 72 Farmer 12/31105 Farmer in FP rubber
Matthew Orlu Umuake plantation; migrated alone
in 1952; wage of 18 jl_esetas
83
Opara
72
Secunty Guard
,.........
Israel
12/29/05
\Fanner in FP cocoa \
Amakohia
Opara
68
Fanne;--
in \960; wage of 5 pesetas
Loise 12/30/05
\ Trader in FP to help her \
Amakohia
husband; m i ~ ~ e d after her
Njemanze
69
Shoe Mende-;--
husband. <Israel in \963
Friday 12/22/05
Fanner in FP cocoa/banana \
Ireta plantations; migrated alone
Ugwonali
70
Fanner
in 1963; wage of 15 pesetaS
Christian
04/10/04 Farmer in FP cocoa j
Amakohia
his wife in 1959; wage of\ 5
Ukagha
1 oesetaS
BS
Unemployed
04/\8/04
~ .... -. J
Damian
Ogwuwgu
plantation; migrated with a
friend in \944;wageof5
oesetaS
Umunnakwe 74
Farmer 0\/02/06 Farmer in FP cocoa/banana J
Longinus
Umuguma
in \ 960; wa11,e of \ S pc_sew
Umunnakwe 68 Trader
01/02/06 \Housewife in FP; migrated J
Grace Umuguma
a 1\er her husband
(Lonv.inus) in \96\
APPENDIX B
INTERVIEW QUESTIONS ON NIGERIAN LABOR
MIGRATION TO FERNANDO PO
1. What is your name?
2. How old are you?
3. When were you born?
4. Are you married?
5. If yes, do you have children?
6. How many children do you have?
7. How many of them are male I female?
8. Did you go to school?
9. What is the level of your education?
10. What is your religion?
11. What do you do for a living?
12. Have you ever left your place of birth?
13. What do your parents do for a living?
14. What were you and your family doing before migrating?
15. When did you migrate?
16. Why did you migrate?
1 7. Did you migrate alone?
18. Ifno, with whom did you migrate?
19. How did you know about the place to which you migrated (Fernando Po)?
20. Where their people from other areas I parts of Nigeria?
85
21. II yes, Wllal wa:; your rcJaUUH WHU l U t ; ~ t ; J.JI;;UfJJC:
22. What were you doing in Fernando Po?
23. If you were working in plantations, who owned the plantations?
24. Were you paid?
25. If so, how much?
26. Were you living alone or in a group at Fernando Po?
21. How were the living conditions on Fernando Po?
28. What were the foods you ate?
29. Who prepared the food and where was it coming from?
30. What were the worst experiences you had at Fernando Po?
31. What were the best experiences you had at Fernando Po?
32. Did you have a supervisor?
33. If so, where were they from?
34. Who treated you better, the British or Spanish? Why?
35. Who treated you worse, the British or Spanish? Why?
36. How did migration affect your fellow migrants?
37. Have you been sick?
38. If so, how did you cope?
39. How were you treated or who treated you? Was it your friends, your family
members, or the plantation owners?
40. How did you communicate with your relations at home (in Nigeria)?
41. When you migrated, who supported you? Was it your wife, family, or kin?
42. Were you sending money to your family members?
86
BIBLIOGRAPHY
.'\ PRIMARY SOURCES
ARCHIVAL MATERIALS
C.O 657/53: Annual Report ofthe Dept. Labor for the year 1944.
National Archive of Nigeria. Annual Report on the Work of the Labour Inspectorate.
Enugu, 1940.
__ . Annual Report of the Department of Labor. Enugu, 1942.
__ .Annual Report ofthe Department of Labor and on the Resettlement of Ex-
servicemen. Eungu, 1946.
__ . Annual Report of the Federal Ministry of Land Labor Division. Eungu, 1966-67.
Regional Archive of Nigeria. RAC 371/24526: Cypher telegram from Governor of
Nigeria to S of S for the colonies. Calabar, 9 July, 1940.
National Archive of Nigeria. Labor Report ONPROF 525/2503. Enugu, 5 January, 1937.
__ .Nigeria Sessional Paper No. 38. Enugu, 1939.
__ Nigeria Sessional Paper No. 21. Enugu, 1946.
Regional Archive of Nigeria.ONPROFCA/N0/42. Calabar, 31 July, 1952
_. RAC 371134771. Calabar, 22 Jan., 1943.
__ RAC 583/240 W.A.F.F: Report for half year ending. Calabar, 31 Dec., 1938.
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__ .Southeastern Nigeria in the nineteenth century: An Introduction Analysis. New
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Tonyben Publishers, 1998.
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Sundiata. I. K. From Slaving to Neo-slavery': The Bight of Bight and Fernando Po in the
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LABOR MIGRATION FROM SOUTHEASTERN

NIGERIA TO SPANISH FERNANDO PO, 1900-1968

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