The Royal African Society

The Development of the Scout Movement in NigeriaAuthor(s): Arthur BrownSource: African Affairs, Vol. 46, No. 182 (Jan., 1947), pp. 38-42Published by: Oxford University Press on behalf of The Royal African SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/718840 .

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38 38 AFRICAN AFFAIRS AFRICAN AFFAIRS

It is significant that after four years the Government has now recognised the Homecraft Village and given it a grant. When staff is available it is intended to open other similar centres. A knowledge of domestic science and the ability to learn Native languages are two of the qualifications desirable in the European staff.

It should not be necessary to stress the value of this work. The male Native has had opportunities to advance of which he has availed himself. There are in the towns Native carpenters, painters, upholsterers and taxi drivers. In the Reserves there are agricultural instructors and teachers. The women have been left behind or at most have picked up a veneer of civilisa- tion which leads them to wear flashy European clothes. Of womanly arts and crafts they know little or nothing. For this reason the Homecraft Village supplies a crying need, for unless the two sexes keep together there can be no real advance for the race.

I'he Development of the Scout Movement in Nigeria

By ARTHUR BROWN

The writer oJ this article is Chief Sco?t Comtnissioner for Nigeria, where a West African JatnDoree is being held at Lagos in Bebrgary. Although Scouting has not yet been developed in the region to any great extent, the possibilities are great, and it is interestzng to recall that M. Eboue tnade specific reference to its social valge in Africa in one of the last of his memoranda.

Is the past few years every eHort has been made by the Chief Scout Commissioners, and Scout Council of Nigeria, to make the Scout Move-

ment an even more vital part of the education of Nigerian boys than it has been so far. A tremendous lot has yet to be done before the effective force of Scouting reaches its maximum and many big problems have yet to be tackled. The important thing is that the Scout Council is prepared to face them and has already achieved useful results.

Before refemng to recent developments, it should be noted that the Scout Movement is not only the largest youth organisation in Nigeria, but by far the largest voluntary social service organisation in that country. It has a total membership of some IO,OOO, under the control of the Chief Scout (His Excellency the Governor) and a Council composed of leading citizens. All the African members of Legislative Council are members of the Scout Council, which delegates all normal administrative duties to an Executive and a Finance Committee. For the local administration of the movement throughout the country, committees are set up wherever possible and many of these have almost entirely African membership. With the exception of a few institutional Groups, all the Scout Officers are Africans and some 600 men are voluntarily giving their time to this work. A great deal of help is

It is significant that after four years the Government has now recognised the Homecraft Village and given it a grant. When staff is available it is intended to open other similar centres. A knowledge of domestic science and the ability to learn Native languages are two of the qualifications desirable in the European staff.

It should not be necessary to stress the value of this work. The male Native has had opportunities to advance of which he has availed himself. There are in the towns Native carpenters, painters, upholsterers and taxi drivers. In the Reserves there are agricultural instructors and teachers. The women have been left behind or at most have picked up a veneer of civilisa- tion which leads them to wear flashy European clothes. Of womanly arts and crafts they know little or nothing. For this reason the Homecraft Village supplies a crying need, for unless the two sexes keep together there can be no real advance for the race.

I'he Development of the Scout Movement in Nigeria

By ARTHUR BROWN

The writer oJ this article is Chief Sco?t Comtnissioner for Nigeria, where a West African JatnDoree is being held at Lagos in Bebrgary. Although Scouting has not yet been developed in the region to any great extent, the possibilities are great, and it is interestzng to recall that M. Eboue tnade specific reference to its social valge in Africa in one of the last of his memoranda.

Is the past few years every eHort has been made by the Chief Scout Commissioners, and Scout Council of Nigeria, to make the Scout Move-

ment an even more vital part of the education of Nigerian boys than it has been so far. A tremendous lot has yet to be done before the effective force of Scouting reaches its maximum and many big problems have yet to be tackled. The important thing is that the Scout Council is prepared to face them and has already achieved useful results.

Before refemng to recent developments, it should be noted that the Scout Movement is not only the largest youth organisation in Nigeria, but by far the largest voluntary social service organisation in that country. It has a total membership of some IO,OOO, under the control of the Chief Scout (His Excellency the Governor) and a Council composed of leading citizens. All the African members of Legislative Council are members of the Scout Council, which delegates all normal administrative duties to an Executive and a Finance Committee. For the local administration of the movement throughout the country, committees are set up wherever possible and many of these have almost entirely African membership. With the exception of a few institutional Groups, all the Scout Officers are Africans and some 600 men are voluntarily giving their time to this work. A great deal of help is

This content downloaded from 193.105.154.127 on Tue, 17 Jun 2014 08:43:38 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE SCOUT MOVEMENT IN NIGERIA 39

g*en throughout the country by Europeans, and the Movement gets the full support of the Administrative and Education Departments.

Locally the Movement is entirely self supporting, but the Central Head- quarters is largely maintained by a Government grant in aid, supplemented by donations from Scout Groups, from Trading Companies and from the public.

tJntil five years ago the Movement was for the most part confined to the Southern Provinces; indeed the only Groups in the Northern Provinces were a few attached to Mission Schools in the Sabon Garis of Kano and Zaria and the Jos township. Now with the backing of the Sultan of Sokoto and the Northern Emirs, there are many Groups in widely different parts of the North with a majority membership of Moslem boys. It is significant that early in I944 the late Lord Somers, Empire Chief Scout, presented the Scout Silver Cross for Gallantry to Scout hIohammeden Kologbo Bida for his attempted rescue of a girl from drowning.

The tendency had been, in the past, to retain in its entirety the Scout Training as given to boys in Britain, without considering the very different circumstances of boys in Nigeria. Membership of the Movement thus tended to be restricted to the English speaking school boys whose parents could afford and were willing to buy uniforrns. Many very able Scoutmasters were under the impression that to be able to speak English was a condition of membership, since otherwise a Scout could not learn the Scout Law and Promise and could not make the Promise ! This not only restncted member- ship to a privileged few, but, what is more important, although the Law and Promise was well known in English, it was most imperfectly under- stood by the majority of boys in their hearts.

One of the first tasks of reconstruction, therefore, was to encourage Scout- masters to use the vernacular in teaching the Law and Promise and in the Scout Investiture ceremony. But, by questioning Scout Officers at training courses, it was apparent that many men did not appreciate the meanings of some of the laws, and others had difficulty in translating them without considerable change of meaning. To oxJercome this difficulty, the Council sought the help of experts and of language committees, and the Law and Promise was translated into many of the Nigerian vernaculars. Some of these have been printed as pamphlets with simple explanations, and are in great demand: others will be printed as soon as possible. It has been sug- gested as part of a literacy campaign that each Scout who can read and write should teach an illiterate boy to do so on the Laubach model. If this is taken up, these vernacular versions of the Law and Promise should provide useful literature.

The system of Scout training is partly through a series of tests,forpassing which badges are worn. The Council has made considerable alterations in the tests which were drawn up for boys in Britain. A Nigerian Handbook of Tests and Badges has been printed, but it is a temporary publication only, based on the British model and the Council intends to make many more important changes in future. The following tests from this book may be of interest:

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o AFRICAN AFFAIRS

Wolf Cub Hor4se Orderly Badge I. hIake a good soup. 2. Wash up cooking pots and scrub a table. 3. Clean a compound and show how to dispose of rubbish in a sanitary

manner. 4. Make a broom. Sweep and dust a room.

Boy Scout-Fishing Craftsman Badge. Make or do at least six of the following:

I. Make and repair fishing nets. . Manage a canoe. 3. Fix a seat athwart a canoe. 4. Make a mat shelter to cover passengers and loads in a canoe. 5. Make a paddle. 6. Be able to use and make the types of fish traps made in his locality. 7 Make a thatched shelter for fishing nets. 8. Know the use of different types of spears. 9. Make a basket for holding fish.

Wood Carver Badge. Carve to your own designs or according to local traditions:

I. A spoon, comb, mirror frame, pestle, staff or paddle. 2. A bowl, stool or drum. 3. A mask, head-dress or figure of a human being.

Musician Badge. Be able to play any of the musical instruments used in typical dances

of your locality. It is not sufficient to be able to. play solo, the scout must be able to-play any of them as a member of a team of musicians to the complete satisfaction of the dancers. He should also be able to give directions with the drum to individuals among the dancers.

There are some 60 different badges to choose from, and they cover a wide range of Scouting subjects, hobbies and trades; so that suitable ones can be found to interest country or town boys, school boys and non-school boys. Scoutmasters are particvlarly urged to push those badges concerned with health, nature study and open air life, with farming and fishing and with useful hand crafts.

Though the majority of (lroups are attached to Schools and the majority of Scoutmasters are schoolmasters, this is no longer the rule; and, in fact, wherever possible, Groups are being formed which are quite unconnected with any school, society or institution. Thus it becomes possible for any boy in a town or village to join, without restnction of any kind. Furthermore, every endeavour is being made, and successfully made, to get more and more Scoutmasters from other walks of life. To-day there are clerks, fisher- men, policemen, officials of mercantile firms and Government departments of all kinds in the movement. By having Groups attached to schools it was possible in the past to keep fairly close control through the school Managers. The growth of the "open" (unattached) Group has meant considerable

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THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE SCOUT MOVEMENT IN NIGERIA 4I

development in local organisation. During the past few years, committees known as local Associations have been formed at almost all important centres of Scouting, and linked together in Provinces through a Provincial Commissioner. Many of these local committees get the encouragement and support of the local Ruler and Native Administration.

One of the greatest successes of the Council, and one which is perhaps doing most for the successful development of Scouting in Nigeria, lies in the training of Scoutmasters and Cubmasters. Before receiving a permit as a Scout Officer, every man must attend an eight day course in a training camp. Here, he not only learns Scouting methods Srst hand, but he lives as a Scout in camp; he is subject to discipline; he does everything "at the double"; one day he is a patrol leader, and next day he has to perform menial duties for the same patrol. The fact that some 700 men have attended such courses, the majority entirely at their own expense, shows that, despite the severity of the training, it is popular, and that there are hundreds of young men prepared to sacrifice leave and money to fit themselves to be Youth Leaders. And the increase in the standard of Scouting throughout the country shows that the training is effective. The Council owns a Training Ground at Ibadan, where most of the courses are held; but others take place at Kaduna for the Northern Provinces (principally for Scoutmasters of Moslem Groups), and at various places in the Eastern Provinces.

The question of Scout Uniform is seriously engaging the attention of the Council. In those parts of the country where a minimum amount of clothing is wom at any time, it would be out of the question to think of the Scout Uniform as worn in Britain ! A very modified form will very likely be adopted in such places, and for the time being no hard and fast rules are being made about uniform anywhere; in fact, in many instances, boys are Scouting happily without thought of uniform at all.

Up till now, Scout club rooms have been almost unknown, since all Group meetings are held in the early evening and in the open air. But it is the Council's policy to encourage the opening of club rooms wherever possible, to give Scouts something to do after sundown. They will be opened for handicrafts, for reading, for boxing and so on, for instruction and for the usual indoor games. It is thought likely that when they get under way Scouts will be able to take non-Scout friends with them to the club room. The intention is to have senior Scouts and Rovers as club officers. Several of these club rooms are in fact already being prepared.

I mentioned earlier the training of Scout Officers as a way of developing along the right lines. Two other important methods of this development are by conferences and by a Scoutmaster's Magazine. A Conference has been held at Ibadan for the Western Provinces; and others as annual events in the North and East. There is no doubt that tremendous headway will be made by these regular conferences in overcoming the problems still facing the Council. The magazine known as the "Nigerian Scouter" is also doing much to educate the Scoutmasters. For it provides of course a chance to exchange views on current problems, and it also reprints articles from other magazines of direct interest to Nigerian Scollt Officers.

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42 42 AFRICAN AFFAIRS AFRICAN AFFAIRS

There are still many difficulties to be faced by the Scout Council, but that the Movement is proving its worth is shown by the fact that the Nigerian Government has increased the grant-in-aid so that there can be a Regional Commissioner and a lsravelling Commissioner in each of the three Regions of the Northern Provinces, the South Eastern and SouthWestern Provinces. This will lead to the setting up of Regional Scout Councils and later to Regional Headquarters. I^his decentralisation will considerably aid develop- ment. Scouting, with its imaginative appeal to the adventurous spirit in every boy, has a great part to play all over the world, in the diHicult task of making the work of peace exciting. And nowhere is this more true than in s ,. .

D Igerla.

The African Elephant in Warfare By SIR WILLIAM GOWERS, G.C.M.G.

T HERE was a belief prevalent not very many years ago, which may not yet have been completely eradicated from the mind of the man in the street

(supposing this ideal being ever to have concerned himself with the problem), that African elephants cannot be and never have been captured and trained for the arts of war or peace. In point of fact there have been in the world's history, so far as we know, only three nations or governments which have systematically done this the Ptolemies of Egypt, the Carthaginians, and the Belgians in the Congo. The experience of the last named throws some interesting light on the historical record of the former as regards the captur- ing and training of the African elephant, but in the Congo he has been trained, of course, solely with a view to the arts of peace, whereas I am only concerned here with his record as an instrument of war.

The knowledge of the military possibilities of the elephant first came to Etlropeans at the time of the invasion of India by Alexander the Great. At his battle on the Hydaspes (the Jhelum R.) against the Indian king Porus the elephants of the latter (which the Greeks had never encountered before in large numbers) proved a most formidable obstacle, and their value in war impressed itself especially upon the mind of Alexander's general Seleucus, who had led the infantIy attack on them. After the death of Alexander a few years later and the division of his empire among his generals, Seleucus obtained Persia and the East, and during the en- suing years succeeded in obtaining large numbers of elephants from India, notably 500 in one consignment from Chandragupta, the first ruler of all Northern India, at whose court at Patna he maintained an ambassador, and to whom he gave his daughter in marriage.

Jealousies and rivalries broke out among the Diadochi (the successors of Alexander), and at the battle of Ipsus in Phrygia in 30I B.C. the victory of Seleucus and his allies Lysimachus and Cassander over Antigonus and his son Demetrius was largely due to the victor's overwhelming superiority in

There are still many difficulties to be faced by the Scout Council, but that the Movement is proving its worth is shown by the fact that the Nigerian Government has increased the grant-in-aid so that there can be a Regional Commissioner and a lsravelling Commissioner in each of the three Regions of the Northern Provinces, the South Eastern and SouthWestern Provinces. This will lead to the setting up of Regional Scout Councils and later to Regional Headquarters. I^his decentralisation will considerably aid develop- ment. Scouting, with its imaginative appeal to the adventurous spirit in every boy, has a great part to play all over the world, in the diHicult task of making the work of peace exciting. And nowhere is this more true than in s ,. .

D Igerla.

The African Elephant in Warfare By SIR WILLIAM GOWERS, G.C.M.G.

T HERE was a belief prevalent not very many years ago, which may not yet have been completely eradicated from the mind of the man in the street

(supposing this ideal being ever to have concerned himself with the problem), that African elephants cannot be and never have been captured and trained for the arts of war or peace. In point of fact there have been in the world's history, so far as we know, only three nations or governments which have systematically done this the Ptolemies of Egypt, the Carthaginians, and the Belgians in the Congo. The experience of the last named throws some interesting light on the historical record of the former as regards the captur- ing and training of the African elephant, but in the Congo he has been trained, of course, solely with a view to the arts of peace, whereas I am only concerned here with his record as an instrument of war.

The knowledge of the military possibilities of the elephant first came to Etlropeans at the time of the invasion of India by Alexander the Great. At his battle on the Hydaspes (the Jhelum R.) against the Indian king Porus the elephants of the latter (which the Greeks had never encountered before in large numbers) proved a most formidable obstacle, and their value in war impressed itself especially upon the mind of Alexander's general Seleucus, who had led the infantIy attack on them. After the death of Alexander a few years later and the division of his empire among his generals, Seleucus obtained Persia and the East, and during the en- suing years succeeded in obtaining large numbers of elephants from India, notably 500 in one consignment from Chandragupta, the first ruler of all Northern India, at whose court at Patna he maintained an ambassador, and to whom he gave his daughter in marriage.

Jealousies and rivalries broke out among the Diadochi (the successors of Alexander), and at the battle of Ipsus in Phrygia in 30I B.C. the victory of Seleucus and his allies Lysimachus and Cassander over Antigonus and his son Demetrius was largely due to the victor's overwhelming superiority in

This content downloaded from 193.105.154.127 on Tue, 17 Jun 2014 08:43:38 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions