They catered for the spiritual, material and mental needs of the ex-slaves by introducing them to Christian faith, legitimate trade, quality education and skills.
had begun her campaign against it in 1807. They therefore concluded that the policy of patrolling the West African coast with the Naval Squadron had not yielded any significant result. In the words of Anene (1966):
Although the squadron was usually able to rescue about three thousand slaves a year, it was clear that as long as large number of slaves were in demand in the New World and as long as the other Western European Powers were indifferent, slavers would resort to all kinds of strategies to continue to make even greater profits than when the trade was an open one. It should also be remembered that many African coast Chieftains who had become accustomed to the ready profit of the slave trade were reluctant to abandon the sale of their own people. (pp.103-4).
Even the extinction of Atlantic slave trade did not rid Africa of the trade. The export of slaves in the direction of West and North Africa was intensified and this equally affected some West African communities. The trans-Saharan trade in slaves had unique features which were more hideous than the sea-borne trade to America. The Nile and the Sahara trade routes provided other avenues for the export of negroes to North Africa and the Mediterranean. The wars precipitated by the Fulani Jihad in Hausa land and in Adamawa provided opportunities for the capture of ‘pagans’ for the slave trade. Bornu continually raided the regions south of Lake Chad for slaves. In Kano, Katsina and so forth, there were open slave markets. Without the promise of adequate compensation, it was unlikely that the Niger coast chiefs of Bonny, Brass, and Calabar and others would have agreed to sign the ‘slave treaties’ with the British officers of the Preventive Navy. It was later that Portugal, Spain, France and then the United States gradually began to co-operate with the British government. The abolition of slavery in American States and the virtual blockade of Brazil more or less marked the end of the Atlantic slave trade.
Inspite of all the measures taken to stop the trade in Africa, it was realized that African chiefs who based their livelihood on slavery disliked the abolition. They were therefore unwilling to
co-operate with the British to stamp out the nefarious trade. The part played by African chiefs to frustrate the abolition of the slave trade was regrettable when viewed from the objective of the abolitionists. Contrary to the objectives, these chiefs felt that they would be economically ruined if they gave up without compensation or an adequate lucrative substitute. Fowell Buxton’s recommendations were explored while force was used on many chiefs, leading to loss of many lives, money and property.
4.6.1 Anti-Slavery Wars
As noted in the previous section, after the fight to abolish slave trade was officially won, the traffick persisted. Therefore, the enforcement of the law became the task of the British Navy.
As a result of its patrol of the West African coast, captured African slaves were restored to the African coast. In order to avoid capture and seizure, slave dealers dropped their human cargoes into the sea at the approach of British war ships. Britain therefore had to introduce the Equipment Treaty which legally authorized British warships to arrest slave ships found with slaving equipment even though no slaves were found on board when such ship were intercepted and arrested.
However, the increasing costs of the maintenance of the British naval squadron stationed in West Africa to rescue slaves became a subject of critical debate in England. Some British people wanted parliament to withdraw the squadron in order to cut down government expenses. Some opined that slaves should be moved to Brazilian sugar plantations so as to sustain British trade there. As a result, some who were vocally attacking the slave trade began to change their minds and supported the continuation of the trade.
Meanwhile, the naval squadron at first found it difficult to stop and arrest foreign ships as such actions could lead to open war. Most European countries regard the right of search as interference with their sovereign powers and right. Although Britain entered into anti-slavery
treaties with other European nations, these nations did not take positive steps to enforce the Anti-slave trade laws against their citizens found trading in slaves. The efficiency of naval ships on the West coast of Africa was seriously in doubt. Apart from the long and expansive coasts which a few war ships could not guard effectively, British war ships alone, without the co-operation and assistance of other European navies could not impose a complete embargo upon the exportation of slave to America.
The West African coast was so expansive with many hiding places that slave ships escaped capture. The squadron could not intercept ships flying foreign flags of countries which had not granted the right of search. Furthermore, the crews of naval patrol suffered from malaria and other tropical diseases and the death toll was high among them. African chiefs were eager to sell more slaves. Slave ships were too difficult and risky to capture on the high seas. Those crews of the slaving ships might put up a fight of resistance and capture their attackers since they were well armed.
The British Government, however, persuaded other countries to agree to reciprocal treaties, granting the right of search to one another of ships suspected of carrying slaves or slaving equipment. The Equipment treaties signed in 1842 made it possible to capture slave ships with slaving equipment as before then, it was possible for a slave ship to throw her slaves into the sea when approached by the patrol team. Thus, after the granting of reciprocal search treaties, slave traders of many nations were brought to justice and their slaves were set to go to their countries of origin or settle in Sierra Leone.
Despite all the efforts made by the British and other governments to rid West Africa of the slave trade, reports of explorers and visitors to West Africa show clearly that the slave trade was widely carried on at even a higher rate than before. Falk (1997) insists that “the British navy patrolled the coast and succeeded in reducing the traffick, but it continued until the Arabs were defeated on the mainland in 1888-1891” (p.100). Explorers and missionaries like
David Livingstone and Mary Slessor encountered those slave traders in Africa. They became aware of the problem of the slave trade and they saw men, women and children seized and cruelly sold as un-paid labourers, and sent back accurate reports to England. They advocated the promotion of the legitimate sale of European articles in the slave market than trading in slaves, introducing the negro family into the corporate body of nations which would lead them into the blessing of civilization and Christianity.
The new approach of ending slavery espoused by Thomas Fowell Buxton in his book “The African Slave Trade and its Remedy”, published in 1839 was explored. In the book, Buxton advocated that only evangelization, exploitation of natural resources, expansion of legitimate trade and systematic colonization of Africa could stop slave trade and slavery. Between 1841 and 1850, Britain had to persuade the coastal chiefs or use force against them in order to stop them from harbouring or trading with the European slave traders. Nana of Itsekiri and Jaja of Opobo were arrested and deported. Kosoko of Lagos was also found guilty of continuing the slave trade and he was dethroned. It was abolished in the oil River protectorate which came into being in August 1891 and in most of the Yorubaland after 1893 when the Niger coast protectorate was established. In 1900, the various countries of West Africa were taking shape, coming under the government of the British and French. The slave trade was abolished in Northern Nigeria in 1901.