Jengre

The Background

Adventist missionary John J. Hyde started building the first mission station in Northern Nigeria on a piece of land measuring 15 acres in Zangon Kataf (Southern Kaduna State; formerly, Southern Zaria Province) in February 1931. Hyde came prepared with a grand design for the construction of a “European Residence, Houses for Native Assistance, Mission Dispensary, School for Pagan Children, and a Hospital.”¹ The Muslim and non-Muslim polities of Zangon Kataf, including the colonial government, welcomed the establishment of an Adventist mission station in the area. Impressed by such an encouraging acceptance, Hyde started building a foundation with the first installment of ₤950. He was fully supported by the Seventh-day Adventist World Church back at home as he succinctly wrote, “… a much larger sum than this has been appropriated by our Mission Board …, and we confidently expect to spend from ₤2000-₤3000 on this site…”² However, when the construction of concrete European Residential Quarters was nearing completion, Hyde’s joy and hope for a suitable permanent Adventist mission headquarters in the north at Zangon Kataf were shattered. The Sudan Interior Mission (SIM) based at Kagoro wrote to the colonial government claiming that the territory of Zangon Kataf was within its sphere of influence.

Kagoro was between ten and fifteen kilometers to the south of Zangon Kataf. The SIM had built a local headquarters there since 1913―that was more than ten years before the coming of the Adventist mission. Neither the colonial government nor Elder Hyde was aware that the SIM sphere of influence extended to Zangon Kataf. To resolve the problem, the colonial government advised the two missions to find an amicable solution to the matter. Following a protracted and exhaustive discussion between the SDA Church and SIM, the Adventist Mission reluctantly decided to abandon Zangon Kataf.

Hyde left Zangon Kataf and, after eagerly searching for a free location, he came to Jengre in June 1931.³ Describing the location of the town, Elder Manoah Yohanna Chakara wrote:

Jengre is the headquarters of Pengana Chiefdom in Bassa Local Government Area of Plateau State in Central Nigeria. It is located at longitude 14° 14' 0" North and latitude 8° 48 '0" East at an altitude of 875 feet above sea level. The town lies in the plain immediately below the Plateau escarpment hills along the Jos-Zaria Federal motor road. It is the last town of Plateau State before the boundary with Kaduna State. It is easily the biggest town in Bassa Local Government Area.⁴

Due to the rapid development and growth of the town, the North East Nigeria Conference (NENC) of the Adventist Church organized Jengre into three districts: Jengre Gari, Jengre Hospital, and Jengre Mission.

For administrative convenience, the colonial government divided Pengana Chiefdom into three districts of Amo, Buji, and Jere. The three districts consist of eleven polities: Amo, Buji, Chokobo, Duguza, Gusu, Janji, Jere, Kurama, Lemoro, Ribina, Sanga, and Tariya. Though the languages of Buji, Duguza, Gusu, Jere, and Ribina are mutually intelligible to each other, the languages of Amo and Janji are closely related, and so are those of Lemoro and Sanga, but the languages of Chokobo, Kurama, and Tariya are mutually unintelligible not only to each other, but to the rest of the polities. Despite the differences in the mutual unintelligibility of languages, linguistic studies have classified all of them within the Eastern Kainji of Benue Congo, one of the major branches of Niger-Congo of the African language family.⁵ Many of the polities live in the Jengre town, the largest town in the whole of Bassa Local Government Area.

The choice of Jengre town by Elder Hyde for a Mission station was because of its obvious strategic location. The population of Jengre town has always consisted of a large number of Muslim and non-Muslim polities. It is located at the northern apex of Plateau State (formerly Plateau Province), and about sixty-five kilometers north of the city of Jos, capital of Plateau State, and just some three kilometers to the border of Kaduna State (formerly Zaria Province). While the population of Kaduna State is predominantly Muslims, the bulk of Plateau State consists of non-Muslim polities.

Brief Historical Antecedents of Jengre Town

From the extant oral evidence, it is recounted that Jengre town was established by Hausa traders during the second decade of the nineteenth century. This was at the same period of the expansion of Islamic frontiers into the North Central Nigerian Highlands when Unguwan Sarkin Kudu was founded at Rimi (a Hausa settlement located below the north of the Jos Plateau massif). The Hausa traders at Jengre town exchanged horses and exotic items from across the Sahara desert with the local agricultural, animal, and handicraft products.

According to the colonial accounts, following the consolidation of authority and power by Mallam Musa about in 1810 as the first emir in Zaria, Titi, a cattle herder and a Fulani, who was dwelling amicably with the polities of Gusu, Lemoro, and Jere, went and paid homage to the emir. While he was in the palace court of Zaria, Titi decided to convert to Islam. After his conversion, he brought Mallam Musa to the polities of Gusu, Lemoro, Jere as well as the Amo, Chokobo, Buji, and some Kurama villages to enter into a non-aggressive pact, popularly known in Hausa as amana, with each one of them. The word amana is derived from the Arabic word aman which means “trust.” The polities in non-aggressive pacts with the emirates were regarded as protected subjects. However, the Amo, some Kurama villages in Kudaru hills, and Jere rejected the entreaties to enter into a non-aggressive pact.⁶

This period of the nineteenth century was characterized by Jihadist wars and slave raids across Northern Nigeria and West Africa.⁷ Though by the time Hyde came to Jengre town, the British had conquered Northern Nigeria and stopped all slave raids.

The Traditional Beliefs and Customs of the Non-Muslim Polities

The beliefs of the non-Muslim polities are what most scholars referred to as the indigenous African traditional religion. The religion is practiced through the veneration of deceased ancestors who died of natural death and at ripe old age. Though they were deceased, it is believed that these ancestors continue to exist in the world of the departed where they actively intervene in the daily affairs of their descendants. There are different methods of approaching and worshiping the ancestors. These are through the performance of rites, animal sacrifice, and divination. The daily and occasional performance of the rites form an integral part of the customs and practices of the polities.

To ensure proper conduct of the rites and customs, the institution of a local ruler called either Ogomo or Ugo existed in each polity. The local ruler was called Ugo among the Amo or Ogomo among the Buji, Gusu, and Jere. The ancestors were the sources of authority and power of the Ogomo that enable him to govern the polity. The Ogomo had a principal assistant either addressed as Chope among the Buji, Gusu and Jere or Ugo Kipin among the Amo. While the Ogomo was in charge of the secular or mundane affairs and resided in a palace, Akusaru, among the Buji, Gusu and Jere, or Kudara Ngo among the Amo, his principal assistant took charge of sacred or religious affairs of the polity.

The Amo and their neighbors like all non-Muslim polities of Central Nigeria believe in the existence of the invisible Supreme Being (Deity) variously addressed as Kutelle (Amo), Adashiri (Buji), Ashiri (Gusu) and (Jere), etc. Since Kutelle was invisible, and his abode in heaven, His pervasive presence on earth was represented by shrines and by powerful ancestral worship of the kododo cult. This was a male-dominated secret cult in which membership was through initiation rites. Children, women, and non-initiates were excluded from its membership.

Severe penalties were imposed on anyone who broke any of the public laws. The laws covered immorality such as incest, adultery, stealing, murder, and homicide. The weight of the penalties depended on the degree and gravity of the offense committed. For instance, the penalty for murder was death or banishment from society or being sold in into slavery, while adultery was punishable by payment of many goats. With the introduction of Christianity―the building of churches, construction of schools, clinics, dispensaries, and hospitals, during the colonial and post-colonial periods―most of the non-Muslim polities were attracted and so embraced Christianity as a modern way of life.

By the time that the Adventist Church established a permanent base at Jengre in 1931, the polities of Amo and their neighbors had been under colonial rule for almost three decades. It was against the backdrop of this military humiliation by the colonial power that Elder Hyde established the Adventist mission camp at Jengre especially among the Amo and Jere polities. Because of their compulsory subjugation to colonial domination, the Ogomo of Jere and Ugo of Amo as well as their neighbors did not openly protest against the planting of the SDA Church in their midst. Despite the absence of open protest by the local rulers, the Amo polity however decided to react differently.

Passive Resistance

The practice of the Amo traditional ancestral worship entailed the veneration of deceased ancestors. All their health, peace, wealth, and any good fortunes were attributed to the spirits of the ancestors. Thus, adherents of the traditional religion needed to placate their ancestors always with animal sacrifices and local beer (ntoro in Amo). The Christian converts renounced such heathen and erroneous beliefs. It soon became inevitable that clashes would burst out between the early Christian converts and the predominant ancestral worshipers. In the 1930s among the Amo polity embarked on passive resistance against the colonial government. The passive resistance took the form of mass migration from Amo District in Plateau Province to Lere District in Zaria Province.⁸

Dave Nyenkwere recorded that similar problems posed to Christians by the indigenous Africa Religion in Yoruba land were also encountered by the Adventist Church.

Ancestor veneration was a big problem to the Adventist church in the teaching of the dead. Local evangelists have been frightened to deliver a sermon in their churches on the state of the dead. They feared in the past that they would be accused by the local chiefs and the 'egungun' priest. In 1937 in Otun-Ekiti this kind of revelation resulted in a serious open clash between the Christians and 'egun'egun; worshippers. 'Egungun' in Yoruba refers to dead relatives that return to minister to their living.⁹

Besides the passive local resistance by adherents of ancestral traditional religion, it is pertinent to note that, way back in the 1920s W. E. Read wrote about the pervasive influence of Islam which was a formidable challenge to the Christian missionaries even before Hyde came to the north in 1931.

One of the perplexing problems feared by the missionary today [1920] is that of the Moslem advance. This is particularly so in Africa. Every year large numbers of young men leave the University of Cairo and scatter to the south and to the west of Africa as missionaries of the Moslem faith. Every Moslem trader is also a missionary and feels it is his solemn duty to gather converts to the worship of Mohammed. They press in to the most isolated places, and in many parts seem to be running a race with the missionary forces as to who can get first into the different villages. … The policy adopted by the Moslem missionaries today is one of peaceful penetration: they do not enforce the religion by the sword, their tactics have changed.¹⁰

With particular reference to the NN, he wrote

From northern Nigeria, the Hausa merchants carry the Koran and the Moslem catechism wherever they carry their merchandise. No sooner do they open a wayside shop in some pagan districts, than the Mosque is built by its side. The laity is, in a sense, all preachers. Shopkeeper and Carmel driver are proud of their prophet and his book. If they cannot read it, they at least kiss it, and wear it as an amulet and carry it elsewhere. All ranks of society are propagandists.¹¹

When Elder Hyde came, he acknowledged the enormity of the challenges in the spread of the Adventist faith in the north and the large population of Hausa speakers in Africa.

In all this vast area Hausa language is heard to a more or less great degree. It is the language of trade. And the Hausa is a great traveler. If only the Gospel were to grip a few of these hardy, fearless travelers, so that they would travel and preach and trade Gospel books, what possibilities would open before us. For it is estimated that Hausa is spoken by 20,000,000 people [in Africa] … We here, on the borders of Hausaland, are operating the one station which does its work in the Hausa language.¹²

Elder Hyde used the Hausa language as the lingua franca spoken by the non-Muslim polities of Amo and their neighbors at Jengre Mission station. While the non-Muslim polities embraced Christianity, the Hausa people shunned the religion. It is interesting that whereas in the precolonial period the non-Muslim polities rejected Islam, from the colonial to the post-colonial periods many of the non-Muslim polities are increasingly embracing the Islamic religion. In essence, colonialism facilitated and paved the way for the promotion of Islam among the non-Muslim polities in the Plateau Highlands and Central Nigeria. Though there were no statistics, at the time that Elder Hyde established the mission station, Jenge town had more Muslims than Christians.

Development of Jengre Mission Station

The station started on temporary shelters made of grass mats (zana) and corn stalks. The first European house was built of mud and thatched with a grass roof. On completion of the European Residential Quarters, the mud house was used as the first dispensary. Similarly, the first Bible School was built of mud thatched with grass. These two institutions were the initial foundations of Jengre SDA Primary School and the Mission Hospital.

While there are no records of the population of Jengre town, nonetheless, from the first pupils of the Bible School, Elder Hyde in 1932 baptized 28 souls.¹³ The first organized church in NN was largely from this baptism. In 1933, Hyde wrote an urgent plea to the World Church requesting assistance for the north,

Our work here in this new field is forging most unexpectedly. Government officials once told us how many years of careful work would be needed before the primitive pagans would trust us or come to us. We looked at these naked people and believe what we were told. And now, with less than two years’ work behind us, what do we see?¹⁴

Apparently, the initial mission workers were not paid any wages. While they worked as lay preachers, they engaged in farming to fend for their families and others. The Mission, however, provided them with bush lamps and a small token amount of money to buy kerosene. But as soon as the number of converts increased and many churches were built, the Mission was able to pay the lay evangelists. Among the early Mission workers were Mallam Lamba Kakwi, (baptismal name Simon Number Kakwi), Mallam Kaji Dariya, (baptismal name Istifanus Kaji Dariya), Mallam Mayam Kakwi (baptismal name Filibus Mayam Kakwi), Mallam Mallum Kakwi (baptismal name Bulus Mallum Kakwi). Simon Number Kakwi founded the following churches: Kakunka, among the Chokobo and Lemoro; Kalabaye, among the Amo and Jere and Amon Bisa church (predominantly Amo). He was the first pioneer evangelist to Piti (Abisi) and Riban people. Filibus Kakwi established the following churches: Kadamo, among the Amo and Jere; Fadaman Shanu, among the Amo and Kurama while Bulus Mallum Kakwi planted the gospel messages to villages like Tudei (Hausa and Kurama), Woba, Bauda (Hausa and Kurama).

By 1950, Jengre mission station had grown as the headquarters of Adventist Mission in NN. Consequent on the growing importance of the station, a large befitting church building was constructed which replaced the original Bible School classroom where members of the first organized church worshiped. With the continuing growth record of the mission station by the end of 1955 the church approved the ordination of Bulus Mallum Kakwi to the full gospel ministry. In January 1956, he thus became the first national minister to be ordained in the north.¹⁵ Following his ordination, he participated in the largest baptism conducted since the inception of the Adventist Church in the north. It is recorded that:

It was such an open air pool that the largest baptismal service ever conducted in Northern Nigeria was performed on February 11^th [1956]. On that day forty-one believers of whom twenty-three were men found their way into the church of God from a life of paganism… One of the African Pastors who performed the service was Bulus Kakwi, the first and only ordained African minister from the northern region of Nigeria.¹⁶

Not long after bringing a large number of people to the church, Pastor Bulus Mallum Kakwi took the gospel message to distant places like Wamba (among the Rindere) and Gidan Waya (among the Chessu) as Simon Number Kakwi also established churches at Kono and Kuzamani. Similarly, Filibus Manyan Kakwi founded new churches at Ramin Kura, Warsa, Kayarda, and Maigamo.

Meanwhile, the initial Jengre Bible School and Dispensary continued to attract more people from near and far, and out of the many that attended, some were converted to the Adventist Church. Subsequently, the population of Jengre Mission station and membership of the church continued to increase substantially as will be examined below.

The Health Ministry

The Medical Ministry began right from the inception of the station where patients were treated in temporary grass huts (zana). At the time of Elder Hyde’s arrival, Jengre’s population was under the attack from a severe epidemic of jigger, a parasitic tropical sand flea (Dermatophilus penetrans). Elder Hyde stated that:

We have some very bad cases just now. We are by no means sure all will recover. But our faith in God and His ability to heal is high, and we do not despair, even of these cases. But it is extraordinary how bad these can become. In other parts of West Africa where jiggers are well known they seldom develop in this way. However, the jiggers are helping the work. We had many children with us. In ten days those children learned three hymns.¹⁷

In an interview with Mrs. John A. Hyde about the treatment of jigger, Anita Marshall wrote:

Recently, I had the privilege of talking to Mrs. Hyde [in retirement], and she told me how armed with only a scalped and a kerosene tin of cheap disinfectant, she had rid the people of this pest (jiggers). ‘After his treatment, my first patient left with feet looking like pieces of raw meat, … but he returned the next day to tell me he‘d had his first good night’s sleep for three months.¹⁸

From 1934 when Elder Hyde moved into his permanent resident quarters, his mud house was turned into a dispensary. The dispensary was administered by his wife, M. Louse, who was a trained nurse. The earliest report recounted that: “We were having thirty to forty patients to dress each day ... The Government sent us six dozen bandages. They were used.” The extant sources stated that 8,968 patients from Jengre town and far distant places attended the dispensary in 1933.¹⁹

The progress of the medical ministry continued steadily and attracted patients who were taught the gospel message, and they, in turn, helped to carry it back to their homes as Elder Hyde reported,

Our patients attend the dispensary an average of twenty-one days each. During that time, they learn to sing hymns, they hear the commandments, the Lord’s prayer, and the good news that God is their Friend and that they can become friends of God and His Son Jesus. They are carrying those thoughts back to their homes, and now for miles around the people are singing our hymns.²⁰

On account of the increasing number of patients that were treated in the dispensary, in appreciation and support of the good work by the Adventist Church, the colonial government assisted with the construction of temporary shelters for the patient's relatives:

We have a group of patients and their parents or friends who cook for them, numbering sixty, staying on this station with us. The Government has built six of the huts in which they stay. An hour ago two new patients arrived and brought today’s total to seventy. This is the first time we have reached this figure and we thank God for it. The Government has dispensaries, too, though not near us. They have ceased to charge for medicine there.²¹

Elder Hyde was grateful for the permission to establish a firm medical foundation work at Jengre, as he recounted:

We are very thankful that we are permitted to open our work here in Nigeria on a strong medical foundation. Not many stations have been more generously treated in this respect than has our station, and Mrs. Hyde finds her nursing skill taxed in handling the many cases that come to her.²²

Generally, the non-Muslim polities were amenable to Christianity, but despite the negative response of the Muslims, the medical work was very invaluable in reaching people with the gospel.²³ Elder Hyde stated that about sixty or seventy relatives who accompanied the patients to the dispensary, each person spent an average of three weeks and, “By that time they are on most friendly terms with us whether they are pagans, Fulanis, or Hausas... We have an average attendance on Sabbath morning of sixty, and of seventy in the afternoon.”²⁴

Reiterating on the strategic location of Jengre station concerning witnessing the gospel to the Hausa people, albeit a mere hope, Elder Hyde stated:

“Our station is of particular importance. It stands on the edge of Hausa-land, that stretch of country which, with adjoining provinces, is well-nigh closed to missions... It is our only Hausa-speaking station. Hausa is understood and is spoken over a large section of Northern Africa and by millions of people. Hausa speaking coverts from this station, may, in the providence of God, help to finish the work over a large part of the world field. Normally this would be but a faint hope, for Mohammedan peoples are very slow to leave their faith.²⁵

By 1937, the General Conference tagged the Thirteenth Sabbath Offering of the fourth quarter for the construction of a mission hospital in Nigeria. Because of this consideration, Elder Hyde wrote a convincing appeal for the hospital to be sited at Jengre. He stressed how unique Jengre station was on the borders of Hausaland with an estimated population of 20,000,000 where trade routes from North and West Africa converged and the language of trade was Hausa. He was emphatic that the Hausa man was a great trader and traveler who would certainly stop by at the hospital for treatment and thereby became acquainted with our message and would assist in spreading it across West and North Africa.²⁶

The appeal of Elder Hyde was favorably considered and a hospital for the NN was approved by the Union Board in London. Elder Hyde did not however stay to witness the construction of the hospital. After spending more than ten years of dedicated service at Jengre, the couple answered the call to lead the mission in Sierra Leone. The Union Board, however, sent Dr. John Ashford Hyde, the son of J. J. Hyde, to look for a suitable site to open a hospital in NN. He arrived at Jengre in June of 1946 and on July 18^th, he wrote an application to the colonial government at Kaduna for permission to establish a hospital at Jengre. With the approval of the government, construction work started in 1947. This was completed and the hospital was officially commissioned by the permanent secretary from Kaduna in 1948 with John Ashford as the first medical director and superintendant of the Adventist Mission in NN.²⁷ The hospital consisted of two wards, one each for males and females with 36 beds. There was a large administrative block, one side of which housed the operation theatre and the medical store; at the center were the reception room and out-patient department, while the consulting rooms and offices for doctors were on the other side. The equipment for the two wards in the hospital was sourced by the Mission Extension Campaign.

Despite the scarcity of statistics, since the official opening of the hospital, the number of in- and outpatients has no doubt been on the increase. For instance, records of the average daily attendance in the out-patient department rose at the beginning from sixty to over eighty in the 1950s. In 1952 it was recounted that “At present, there is no maternity ward to care for mothers and babies. They must be cared for in the same ward with other patients, some of whom are often very ill.” In 1954, Ashford reported that last year, “nearly 450 patients were cared for in beds and on mats on the floor. This was besides the 18,000 out-patient attendances.”²⁸

Over time, the facilities in the hospital proved far too inadequate to serve the ever-increasing high turn-out of patients. In 1960, Dr. Arthur M. Owens, the then-medical director of the hospital wrote a passionate appeal for assistance. He stressed that the rooms in the female and male wards “in use were adequate when the daily attendance was not more than thirty to fifty, but there were almost 35,000 visits to the clinic, and as many as 275 patients have been seen in a single day.” In conclusion, he wrote:

Northern Nigeria is a Moslem country, we cannot point to large numbers of conversions or baptisms among the former patients of Jengre Hospital, but the hospital is widely and in general favorably known. While we have the confidence of the people, they do not have the means to pay for improvements at the hospital, and we are sure that the needs of Jengre Hospital have only to be mentioned to our loyal church members to bring forth a great response.²⁹

The World Church approved the Thirteenth Sabbath Offering and Ingathering for Jengre in response to the appeal of Dr. Owens. In 1965, he stated that “The people served by the hospital are, for the most part, very poor peasant farmers, and they can pay very little for the medical help they receive. The charge for an operation, for example, is only £5 and this covers not only surgery, but also bed, injections, medicines, dressings, and laboratory tests.”³⁰ Though the specific amount was not indicated the additional new construction work went despite the ongoing Nigerian Civil War 1966-1969. By the close of the war, when the director of Medical Health from the Division in England was on a tour of hospitals in the West African Union and passed through Jengre, he reported in parts that:

One day while in Nigeria, I flew up to Jengre Hospital, in the north. This is a smaller institution with 36 beds, soon to expand to 50 beds, as they were fulfilling the building project of a new surgery theatre and 14-bed maternity ward, thanks to your Ingathering and Sabbath school through the year. [A] doctor was managing this hospital by himself with the help of his wife, and one African registered nurse and some helpers which they had instructed.³¹ [Dr. Kenneth C. Kelln was the Medical Director at the time.]

Since the upgrading of the Jengre hospital from 36 to 50 beds in 1970, through the personal efforts of Dr. Akin Obisanya and his wife Dr. Mariana, a surgeon and gynecologist, a private ward with several rooms was built in the 1990s. The hospital is the only Medical Health Services in the Northern Nigeria Union Conference (NNUC). It is at present facing many intractable challenges. It is barely able to survive on account of the acute shortage of Nigerian medical personnel. It is not as if there is a lack of Nigerian medical doctors in the country. Undeniably, the public universities in Nigeria annually graduate dozens of medical doctors. The challenge is that most doctors are not willing to join the Adventist Medical Health Services. This is because the wages of Nigeria Medical Health Services do not attract young medical doctors. Thus, the Jengre hospital is literarily being starved of qualified medical workers. Perhaps more lamentable is the fact that since the establishment of the hospital, the equipment in the operating theatre has never been updated. There is, therefore, a dire need to equip the hospital with modern state-of-the-art equipment. Perhaps, this is possible only if the NNUC will in the future establish a University with a College of Medicine which will use Jengre as a Teaching Hospital.

Jengre SDA Primary School

Up until April 2, 1966, when the cornerstone of SDA Primary School was laid at Laranto in Jos, Jengre Primary School was the only major and highest educational institution in the NN Mission. Initially, it was an adult Bible School built by Hyde in 1932. About three years later, McClements was delighted when on a tour of the north he paid a visit to the school and saw a lesson in progress. He wrote his impression about the effort of the first pupils—fathers and mothers—in their attempt to learn how to read and write.

I wish the reader could make a short visit to that little schoolroom, and see these men and their wives—the first fruit of our work among these primitive people—struggling hard with their lessons. How awkward it seems to them to manipulate a pencil in those hands that have not been accustomed to handling anything smaller than a large hoe or machete… The women have children on their backs in the classroom, and sometimes these babies cry and demand food right in the middle of the lesson, but that does not dampen the enthusiasm of these mothers in their effort to learn how to read the Word of God.³²

The curriculum of the Bible School was the basic rubrics of the “3Rs” that consisted of Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic. As noted earlier, it was the products of the first Bible School that were employed by Hyde to work for the mission. Encouraged by a large number of children in and outside Jengre town, the mission opened the first formal Junior Primary School of Standard Four in 1944.³³

Before the approval of the school, the Local Education Authority ensured that the Mission met certain minimum criteria such as teachers to teach approved government syllabus such as Hausa Language, English Language, Arithmetic, Hygiene, Nature Study, History, Geography, Handwork, and Agriculture. The missions were free to include additional subjects in the scheme of work. The church added subjects such as Scripture, Physical Exercise, Writing, Reading, Singing, Junior Missionary Volunteers (JMM), or Missionary Society with classes such as Busy Bee, Explorer, Companion, Pathfinder, Friend, and Master Guide. On the school timetable, JMV was scheduled on Wednesdays, JMV was the equivalent of Boys Brigade and Girls Guide in other Christian educational institutions.

The Junior Primary School lasted until 1948 when it was upgraded to a Standard Six Senior Primary School. The upgrading of the school to standard six was because of the increasing number of children from Jengre town and other parts of the north. In 1955, Hubbard, the president of Northern Nigeria Mission, described one of the largest investiture programs of JMV children at the Jengre SDA School. He recounted that:

“It seems that whenever an important event is scheduled in Jengre, it rains, and so it was on Sabbath, July 16, 1955, when we had planned to hold an investiture. For fifteen minutes, favorite choruses could be heard coming from the well-packed church, but of course in a very strange language and perhaps a little off-key sometimes! Nevertheless, they were sung from the heart, and it was obvious that all were happy to be present… We felt rewarded as we watched the thirty-three Friends, five Companions, and seven Guides, among them a mother of five children, match out to receive recognition for completing their courses. . . . We are seeing great things in Africa, more and more young people are taking their stand for Jesus as they contact our schools, our medical institutions, and other young people in the faith.”³⁴

The progress reported in 1955 notwithstanding, the growth and expansion of Adventist education in the north was extremely slow. Though the colonial government bore the financial burden of teacher's salaries of all approved missionary schools, the SDA Mission was unable to open more schools. It was largely because of the dependency mentality of church members. They depended solely on the mission to source financial assistance from overseas for any major project involving large financial capital. The major local sources of funds generated from tithes and offerings were far too insufficient to open new schools.

In 1956, the duration of standard six years that children normally spent to complete the Senior Primary School was changed to seven years. In essence, class seven replaced six years of primary school education. Since that time to date, the years of primary school have undergone many changes. Currently, the senior primary school has been reverted to six years again but linked to the secondary school up to university under the 6.3.3.4 system. From 1956, the administration of Jengre SDA School was taken charge of by Mr. and Mrs. Ibezim from Eastern Nigeria. While F. C. Ibezim was the school headmaster, his wife, Eunice Ibezim, was the supervisor of the school.

By the completion of seven years of primary school, the products of Jengre SDA School were employed as pupil teachers. Before that time, the majority of teachers in the school were recruited from the south. To have qualified teachers for the primary school, the Mission sent Onismus Number to the Nigeria Training College, Ihie, in Eastern Nigeria to be trained as Grade Two Teachers while pupil teachers like Peter Gimba, J. Karunga, James Audu, and Mailafiya Koshi were sent to be trained as Grade Three Teachers at the Teachers Training College, Otun, in Western Nigeria. With the return of these trainees in 1959, Jengre primary school was well equipped with qualified teachers. But in 1960, Mr. P. Gimba and J. Karunga left the services of the mission. This ultimately reduced the northern workforce of qualified teachers in the school.

At the beginning of first military coup in January 1966, the condition became intolerable and occasioned the mass exodus of Igbos from all parts of Nigeria back to the east. All the Igbo teachers at Jengre Primary School returned to the Eastern Nigeria. The whole country was overcast by tensions which led to the Nigerian Civil War.

Up to the period of the Nigerian Civil War, the NN Mission did not have a single educational institution higher than the primary school. Before the Civil War, the east had two higher educational institutions at Ihie―the Adventist High School and the Nigerian Training College. The west had a Teacher Training College for Grade Three Teachers at Otun, though the Western Nigerian government shut it down before the war. In general, throughout the Civil War, Nigeria had no higher educational institution except for the Adventist College of West Africa (ACWA) at Ilishan Remo, and the SDA Grammar School at Ede.

During the gloomy period of war, little or no progress in education was attained by the Adventist Church in Nigeria. In the post-civil war era, the oil boom facilitated the quick economic recovery of Nigeria. The oil boom led the federal government to declare “Universal Free Education” throughout the country and the eventual takeover of all missionary schools in 1976. But the oil boom was badly mismanaged and only lasted for a short time. In the 1980s and 90s, the federal government was hardly able to keep pace with the growth and expansion of education in the country. Towards the late 1990s, some of the state governments were hardly able to pay the salary wage bills for teachers in primary and secondary schools. During the present millennium, with the return of democracy in Nigeria, some state governments have returned the schools to the missionaries.

Meanwhile, in the north, in addition to returning the schools to the missionaries, many state governments opened the doors for the establishment and operation of private nursery, primary, and secondary schools. This has provided the opportunity for several local churches and individuals to build and operate infant, primary, and secondary schools. At present, there are three high schools in the north at Jengre, Kujama, and Numan. The first high school was Hyde Memorial at Jengre established in 1992; the next one was at Numan in Adamawa State which started as a primary institution in 1994 and later as a secondary school in 2008; and Kujama Comprehensive College in Kaduna State founded in 2008.

The Recent Progress

The current millennium has witnessed further progress of Adventist work in Jengre. From only two churches―one at Jengre Mission and the other at Jengre Gari―in the twentieth century, today, the town has four large churches, Jengre Hospital Church, Jengre Mission Church, Unguwan Gabas, and Jengre Gari. A new school, Maranatha Primary, was opened at Jengre Gari.

The medical ministry has made notable progress in parts of southern Kaduna and parts of southern Plateau thanks to the dedicated service of the late Sister Yvonne Eurick (Sannu Sister), an expatriate missionary from England who gave her entire life to the work of medical services in NN. She devoted herself to the extension of Adventist Health Services to the rural villages and reinforced the Adventist Health Services in the established rural clinics at Arum Tumara, in southern Kaduna and Kurgwi in southern Plateau, and led in the establishment of additional clinics at Ramin Kura, Warsa, and Maigamo. ³⁵

The most recent medical health service center was established at Nabor (Eto Baba) in Jos, by the Loma Linda University Medical Center in 2017. In the whole of the NNUC, Jengre Hospital has from the inception to date remained the largest Adventist Health Service in the northern territory.

Despite the initial bitter disappointment and seemingly insuperable challenges that confronted the first Adventist pioneer missionaries, before the establishment of the mission station at Jengre town, from a moderate beginning about 86 years ago, the SDA Church not only has grown, but has also exerted profound impacts not only on the immediate locality, but throughout the length and breadth of NN.

Sources

Crozier, D. H., and R. M. Blench, ed. An Index to Nigeria Languages, Summer Institute of Linguistics; Inc. 7500 W. Camp Wisdom Road, Dallas, TX 75236 U.S.A. 1976.

Henriksen, J. D. “Accent on West Africa.” Part Two of Impression on Extended Tour of Mission Hospitals. British Advent Messenger, March 26, 1971.

Hubbard, Lionel. “Greetings from Jengre N. Nigeria.” Missionary Worker, October 28, 1955.

Hyde, A. J. “Medical Needs in Nigeria.” Missionary Worker, March 1953.

Hyde, J. J. “A Door Opening.” Missionary Worker, December 24, 1937.

Hyde, J. J. “An Urgent Plea from Northern Nigeria.” Missionary Worker, June 1, 1934.

Hyde, J. J. “Northern Nigeria.” The Advent Survey, February 1934.

Hyde, J. J. “Our Sick Village in Nigeria.” The Advent Survey, July 1934.

Hyde, J. J. Seventh-day Adventist Mission Nigerian Branch, P.O. Box 19, Ibadan, a letter addressed to: District Officer i/c Emirate Division, Zaria, N.A.K, Kaduna, April 20^th 1931.

Lamp, H. C. “Largest Baptism in Northern Nigeria.” Missionary Worker, June 8, 1956.

McClements, W. Nigerian Union Mission of Seventh-day Adventists, to residents of Zaria, 7/9/31, N.A.K, Kaduna 20^th November 1931.

McClements, W. “The First Fruits Among Pagans of Northern Nigeria.” ARH, January 9, 1936.

Read, W. E. “The Moslem Menace.” Missionary Worker, January 14, 1926.

Smith, F.H.C. “The Islamic Revolution in the 19^th Century.” Journal of the Historical Society of Nigeria, 1961.

Notes

1. J. J. Hyde, Seventh-day Adventist Mission Nigerian Branch, P.O. Box 19, Ibadan, a letter addressed to: District Officer i/c Emirate Division, Zaria, N.A.K, Kaduna, April 20^th 1931.↩

2. Ibid.↩

3. W. McClements, Nigerian Union Mission of Seventh-day Adventists, to residents of Zaria, 7/9/31, N.A.K, Kaduna 20^th November 1931.↩

4. Manooah Danladi Yohanna, “History of Jengre,” a draft paper, and 2017, 1.↩

5. D. H. Crozier and R. M. Blench, ed. An Index to Nigeria Languages, Summer Institute of Linguistics; Inc. 7500 W. Camp Wisdom Road, Dallas, TX 75236 U.S.A. 1976. 60-61, 119.↩

6. Pastor Simon Number Kakwi, (SNK), Amon Bisa, December 1976.↩

7. J. F. Ajayi and Michael Crowder, ed. History of West Africa, vol. ii, Longman, London, 1971, repr. 1977, 1-92, R. A. Adeleye, Power and Diplomacy in Northern Nigeria, The Sokoto Caliphate and its Enemies 1804-1906, Longman London, 1971; Murray Last, The Sokoto Caliphate, Longman London, 1967, 1971; H. F. C. Smith, “The Islamic Revolution in the 19^th Century,” Journal of the Historical Society of Nigeria, 1961, ii.1.↩

8. National Archives Kaduna (NAK), ZARPROF 2824: Kurama Dodo Cult in Amo Tribe, Amo District Affairs 14 July 31, Extract from P.C.J 393 Lere District Affairs, 142.↩

9. Dave M. Nyenkwere, Medical Institutions of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Southern Nigeria: An Instrument of Evangelisation 1940-2000, Natural Prints Lagos, 2014, 91-92, as cited from David T. Agboola, "Seventh-day Adventist in Yorubaland-Nigeria, 1914-1964," Diss. University of Ibadan 1988.↩

10. W. E. Read, “The Moslem Menace,” Missionary Worker, January 14, 1926, 8, NED Library, England.↩

11. Ibid.↩

12. J. J. Hyde, “A Door Opening,” Missionary Worker, December 24, 1937, 3, NED Library, England.↩

13. Manoah Yohanna, History of Jengre, Draft copy, 2.↩

14. J. J. Hyde, “An Urgent Plea from Northern Nigeria,” Missionary Worker, June 1, 1934, 2.↩

15. Manoah Yohanna, Pastor Bulus Mallum Kakwi, draft paper.↩

16. H. C. Lamp, “Largest Baptism in Northern Nigeria,” Missionary Worker, June 8, 1956, 12.↩

17. J. J. Hyde, “Northern Nigeria,” The Advent Survey, February 1934, 6-7.↩

18. Anita Marshall, Sunna Sister. Lincolnshaire, Stanborough Press, 1987, 16. See also Dave M. Nyekwere, “Medical institutions of Seventh-day Church in Southern Nigeria: An Instrument of Evangelisation,” 1940-200, Natural Prints Ltd Lagos 2004, 82.↩

19. J. J. Hyde, “An Urgent Plea from Northern Nigeria,” Missionary Worker, June 1, 1934, 2.↩

20. Ibid.↩

21. Ibid.↩

22. J. J. Hyde, “Our Sick Village in Nigeria,” The Advent Survey, July 1934, 2.↩

23. Ibid.↩

24. Ibid.↩

25. Ibid.↩

26. Hyde, “A Door Opening in Northern Nigeria,” Missionary Worker, December 24, 1937, 3, NED Library, England.↩

27. National Archives Kaduna, Jos Prof Rel/4, The World Wide Adventist Mission 1932-1957.↩

28. Dr. A. J. Hyde, “Medical Needs in Nigeria,” Missionary Worker, March 1953, 2.↩

29. Arthur M. Owens, “Appeal from Jengre Hospital,” British Advent Messenger, March 6, 1966, 8-9.↩

30. Ibid.↩

31. Dr. J. D. Henriksen, M.D. “Accent on West Africa,” Part Two of Impression on Extended Tour of Mission Hospitals, British Advent Messenger, March 26, 1971, 4.↩

32. William McClements, “The First Fruits Among Pagans of Northern Nigeria,” ARH, January 9, 1936, 12-13.↩

33. J. O. Olaniyan was one of the first pioneer pupils admitted in the school. He has a distinct recollection that he was number five on the school register, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Jos, Nov, 1998; Ibrahim B. Maigadi records that the school was established in 1943, see The Adventist Church in Northern Nigeria, A Historical Source Material of Seventh-Day Church in Northern Nigeria, Published by Culture Impression, Zaria Nigeria, 2005.↩

34. Lionel Hubbard, “Greetings from Jengre N. Nigeria,” Missionary Worker, October 28, 1955, 7. Also see Dave M Nyekwere, Medical Institutions of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Southern Nigeria, 1940-2000, Natural Prints, Lagos, 2004, 85,↩

35. Manoah Yohanna, personal communication, June 2017.↩