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THE TROPICAL ENVIRONMENT AND MALARIA IN SOUTHWESTERN NIGERIA, 1861 – 1960 BY ADEDAMOLA SEUN ADETIBA Thesis Presented for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in the Department of History, RHODES UNIVERSITY Supervisor: Prof. Enocent Msindo FEBRUARY 2019 CONTENTS Contents……………………………………………………………………………… i Abstract……………………………………………………………………………… ii Acknowledgement…………………………………………………………………... iv Chapter 1: Introduction: Malaria, Colonial Subjects, and Empire ………………….. 1 Chapter 2: Encountering the Tropical Environment: Early European Perceptions of Southwestern Nigeria ……………………………………………………………… 24 Chapter 3: The Politics of Preventive Medicine in Southwestern Nigeria, 1861-1960 ….. 56 Chapter 4: The Early Stage of Malaria Research in Lagos, 1890 – c. 1930 ………………… 100 Chapter 5: Development Planning and Malaria Control in Southwestern Nigeria ………… 148 Chapter 6: The Contributions of Africans to Antimalarial Schemes in Southwestern Nigeria 194 Chapter 7: Conclusion ……………………………………………………………………… 236 Bibliography………………………………………………………………………………… 248 i ABSTRACT This thesis is a social history of malaria in southwestern Nigeria. It contributes to the burgeoning literature in the historiography of medicine, specifically the medicine and empire debate. Key to the issues raised in this thesis is the extent to which the limitations in colonial medical policies, most especially malaria control programmes, inspired critical and ingenious responses from African nationalists, doctors, patients, research volunteers, and indigenous medical practitioners. Challenged by a wide range of diseases and a paucity of health facilities and disease control schemes, African rural dwellers became medical pluralists in the ways they imagined and appropriated ideas of Western medicine alongside their indigenous medical practices. Beginning with a detailed historical exploration of the issues that informed the introduction of curative and preventive medicine in southwestern Nigeria, this thesis reveals the focus of colonial medicine. It exposes the one-sided nature of medical services in colonial spaces like southwestern Nigeria and the ways it shaped multifaceted responses from Africans, who were specifically side-lined till the 1950s when the rural medical service scheme was introduced. The focus of colonial medicine is drawn from relatively rich but often subjective historical evidence, such as a plethora of official reports of the department of medical and sanitary services, official correspondences within the colonial government in Lagos and Nigeria, and between the colonial government and the colonial office in the United Kingdom. Details of African responses to medical policies were garnered from newspaper publications and correspondences between the African public and the colonial government in Lagos. They reveal very interesting details of the ways Africans imagined, reimagined, and appropriated malaria control ideas and schemes. ii The central argument in this thesis is that attempts to control malaria in southwestern Nigeria till the 1950s, were shaped by a single concern to ameliorate the implications of the disease on the colonial state. It argues that this one-sided nature of malaria control programme informed the basis for medical pluralism in most rural spaces where African communities became patrons and sponsors of Western medicine and at the same time custodians of their indigenous medical practices. The series of justifications for the sustenance of these services were reinforced on the basis of the failure of the colonial state to guarantee the health needs of their colonial subjects. The aim of the thesis is to reinforce arguments that portray colonial medicine as a “tool of empire” but goes a bit further to explain the extent to which Africans related to this reality. It states quite categorically that Africans were not docile and silent, but that they acted decisively in ways that suited their varied interests and courses. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The work presented in this thesis benefited immensely from the contributions, encouragements, and support of my supervisor, Professor Enocent Msindo. Professor Msindo was involved in every phase of the research and the thesis through his critical comments and his kind reception whether I faced certain hurdles. Also, he was instrumental in recommending the African Pathways Scholarship to me during the first year of my studentship. He has since played the role of a supervisor, mentor, and career advisor. The data used in writing this thesis were garnered from several onsite and digital archives and libraries. I would like to acknowledge the archivists that assisted me during my ten-month fieldwork at the National Archives, Ibadan, Nigeria. I also appreciate the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine archives, for allowing me to access several documents in their Ross Collection. Adam Matthew Digital Archive was generous enough to grant a trial request to my University Library when I made a request, even at a short notice. I was able to access their rich collections of the CMS medical missions in Africa and other records of the colonial office. The British Online Archives was also useful in my quest to garner more information about the colonial office. I am immensely grateful to the staff of Rhodes University Library. They made this research an easy and productive one. I was able to access bountiful newspaper records on colonial Nigeria through the library interface. I also owe a load of gratitude to the department office, especially the departmental secretary for helping with some admins, even when they were not convenient. This research benefited from a generous joint-scholarship award from the National Institute of Humanities and Social Research (NIHSS) and the Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa. The funds, workshops, conferences, and mentorship provided by the NIHSS were important in the successful completion of this thesis. Professor Paul Maylam iv and Professor Fred Hendriks, mentors of the NIHSS in Rhodes University, were very supportive with their encouragement and feedback during the period of my study in the university. I also appreciate the department of history and the platform of the ‘History in the Making’ seminar where some of the ideas in this thesis were presented and highly critiqued by colleagues and academic staff of the department. Most of all, and quite appropriate for this thesis and programme, I would like to appreciate my family, for their unconditional love and care throughout these years. My parents, Pastor and Mrs. Adetiba, my siblings, Kayode, Bisola, Busayo and my wife, Adepeju have been very supportive during these couple of years. My friends, Deji, Dimeji, Afolabi, Dotun, Thapelo, Jako, Sinazo, Omowunmi (and her beautiful family), Niran, John Onakwe, Bankole, Kola, and Adeola Samuel have also assisted in very important ways during the course of writing this thesis. Yinka Anifowose provided some funds to cushion some of my expenses during the first year of the programme. After receiving these individual and institutional supports, I remain solely responsible for any omissions and mistakes that may be found in this thesis. v CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION: MALARIA, COLONIAL SUBJECTS, AND THE PLIGHT OF EMPIRE The challenges of malaria remain a topical and recurring issue in discourses on development in sub-Saharan Africa. State and non-state institutions have been committed to channelling a feasible course for ameliorating the impact of the disease on infant and maternal health. Since the 1950s, controlling the disease has featured in development goals of the United Nations, and has been a significant item in the foreign policy of African states and that of foreign donors. At present, tackling malaria remains a contingent part of the Sustainable Development Goals and the agendas of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Global Funds, and the World Health Organization. Since 1998, the World Health Organization has invested considerably to eradicating the disease in Africa through her Roll Back Malaria programme. While the malarial problem remains perpetual in this part of the world, remarkable progress has been recorded elsewhere. The WHO, in May 2015, launched the Global Technical Strategy for Malaria 2016- 2030 programme to keep track on malaria elimination programmes in malaria-prone areas and the extent to which such programmes lower the burden of the disease. It set 2020 as a key milestone period for the elimination of the disease in 10 malaria-prone countries. Since the adoption of the new initiative, the WHO has recorded remarkable progress in the fight against malaria in countries like Paraguay – which has recently been certified as a malaria free zone. In the recently published report of the WHO, countries like Malaysia, China, Iran, and Costa Rica have been earmarked as ‘on track’ in eliminating malaria.1 In Africa, only Algeria has recorded significant progress in the elimination campaign. Countries like parts of South Africa, 1 WHO/CDS/GMP/2018.10, “2020: Update on the E-2020 Initiative of 21 Malaria-Eliminating Countries” (Geneva: World Health Organization, 2017), p. 6. http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/272724/WHO-CDS-GMP-2018.10-eng.pdf?ua=1 (Accessed June 30, 2018) 1 Swaziland, and Botswana remain endemic areas of malarial infections and has recorded new infection rates. Nigeria is not included in the WHO’s programme because of the impracticability of controlling the disease before 2030. This global development

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