In Lokoja, the Kogi State capital, the presence of the British empire is still very glaring with the historical monuments of over 100 years, but they are all abandoned except the Lord Lugard House that is now the state’s seat of power.
Lokoja, the headquarters of Kogi State is no doubt the first settlement of British colonial masters in Nigeria and is dated back to 1830. The ancient city is sandwiched between mountains and rivers.
The Governor General, Fredrick Lord Lugard whose wife, Flora named Nigeria from a coinage- “Niger Area” after the amalgamation of the North and South Protectorates in 1914, administered Nigeria from the confluence town – Lokoja.
The historical monuments or relics of the British empire include the popular Lugard Office, which now houses the seat of government, Papa Randa Square, where British flag (the Union Jack) was lowered and Nigerian flag hoisted, colonial cemetery, Lord Luguard guest house, which now serves as the secretariat of the Kogi State Council of the Nigeria Union of
Journalists (NUJ) press centre, first Central Bank of Nigeria located in Papa Randa Square, Lugard rest house located onthe popular Mout Pati, the first prison yard as well as the cenotaph where Royal Niger Armed Force flag was lowered.
All these sites, which should have been tourist attractions for both local and international communities, are now shadows of themselves as they have been abandoned without maintenance. There are now just ordinary places to the ordinary man because there is nothing to indicate that there are historic sitea or relics. Most visible structure to indicate that something important are in those places are the concrete fence with iron rods which hinders people and visitors to either see inside or know what the monuments represent.
The site of the British Empire twilight is called Papa Randa Square. It is the place where the British flag – the Union Jack – was lowered for the Nigerian flag to be hoisted. It is located at Karaworo area besides the Open University campus in Lokoja main town. The area is barely the size of a room with fence around it. Except older people who know the place, for the younger generations especially those born after independence, that place is but anything to them.
Weeds have over grown the inside, and the outside littered with debris deposited by passersby. The fence has been defaced with political posters of old and new. It has been renamed Obansajo Square.
Regrettably, both the Nigeria and British flags are nowhere to be seen at the Papa Randa Square.
A resident who only gave his name as John told Weekly Trust that the place has been abandoned by successive governments in the state and that they keep cutting parts of the land to accommodate road construction and other. He blamed the state government for not doing enough to preserve the relics for posterity.
According to Alex Attah, a principal Ethnographer of the National Commission for Museum and Monuments (Museum of Colonial Monument), the place was called Preparandi during the British era but after the hoisting of the Nigerian flag, it was christened Papa Randa Square.
“The state tourism board only fenced the place, which has only worsened the site as the fence bars people from viewing inside.
“There is nothing wrong in putting a status or plaque to depict the two flags – the Union Jack being lowered and Nigerian flag being hoisted. We have artists who can design these flags with one being lowered and the other being hoisted. There should be an impressionistic view of this so that when people see it, it would give a vivid picture of the historic event that took place that time here,” he said.
The cemetery where some of the white men were buried is not different from the square as it is not being maintained. Also, weeds had taken over the cemetery while the front view and entrance is completely taken over by the state transport company, Kogi Travelers.
The Lord Lugard House at Mout Patti is still very visible but without roof. People referred to it as the first Aso Rock in Nigeria but the place has also been abandoned and covered by weeds.
However, all the colonial monuments in Lokoja wear the same look but what is apparent is that both the federal and the state governments are not doing enough to preserve the sites for posterity.
Alhaji Kassim Gana is one of the remaining few who witnessed the lowering of the British flag call and hoisting of Nigerian flag in Lokoja the then administrative capital of the British government in Nigeria.
Gana who was a member of the House of Assembly immediately after independent is in his late 80s. He tells the story of how it all happened.
“This incident took place a very long time ago and I may not recollect all that happened that very day, but I know it was full of excitement, hope and expectation. When the news came in that Britain would be lowering the Union Jack to pave way for the Nigerian green-white-green flag to be hoisted, there was joy because we believed that seeing Nigerian flag is enough for us to have everything. It was Tubman Goddie who lowered the Union Jack before Lord Luguard hoisted the Nigerian flag,” he said.
According to him, after hoisting the Nigerian flag, there was jubilation all over the country with many traditional dance. Everybody was happy because hoisting of the flag means we had been liberated from a kind of slavery.
Who controls the monuments?
Alex Attah said “the state government owns and controlsthem, it but in actual sense they did not own it because there is no legal backing for it and again no monument in the country can be owned by individual or government except the National Commission for Museum and Monuments, which is responsible for the administration of monuments in the country.”
He said lack of awareness and commitment by the government is responsible for the under development of the sites.