Africa Called: Scientists and Development in Nigeria

Africa was wide-open territory for expatriate scientists, engineers and technicians during much of the 20th century. British Colonial Africa was considered ripe for commercial and economic progress and 'Development' was the watchword and basis of government policy, as is clear from the Colonial Development and Welfare Acts.
Alan Hayward came from a family of technicians and engineers - his father was an inventor and his brother worked on decoding operations at Bletchley Park - and after his degree in chemistry and a career in food science, he was recruited by the Colonial Service to work in Nigeria in 1948. He and his team researched ways of improving the quality of subsistence foodstuffs and export crops comprising cocoa, groundnuts and palm oil - all vital for the nascent colonial economy and export trade.
African Colonial life provided expatriates with an immense and fascinating challenge. Hayward sets his development work in an exciting and vibrant context of exotic travel, sport - a huge expatriate enthusiasm - and a rich social life. Africa Called brings Africa and its peoples, especially Nigeria, to life and paints a picture of an optimistic Africa approaching decolonisation and far from later disillusionment.

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Africa Called: Scientists and Development in Nigeria

Africa was wide-open territory for expatriate scientists, engineers and technicians during much of the 20th century. British Colonial Africa was considered ripe for commercial and economic progress and 'Development' was the watchword and basis of government policy, as is clear from the Colonial Development and Welfare Acts.
Alan Hayward came from a family of technicians and engineers - his father was an inventor and his brother worked on decoding operations at Bletchley Park - and after his degree in chemistry and a career in food science, he was recruited by the Colonial Service to work in Nigeria in 1948. He and his team researched ways of improving the quality of subsistence foodstuffs and export crops comprising cocoa, groundnuts and palm oil - all vital for the nascent colonial economy and export trade.
African Colonial life provided expatriates with an immense and fascinating challenge. Hayward sets his development work in an exciting and vibrant context of exotic travel, sport - a huge expatriate enthusiasm - and a rich social life. Africa Called brings Africa and its peoples, especially Nigeria, to life and paints a picture of an optimistic Africa approaching decolonisation and far from later disillusionment.

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Africa Called: Scientists and Development in Nigeria

Africa Called: Scientists and Development in Nigeria

by Alan Hayward
Africa Called: Scientists and Development in Nigeria

Africa Called: Scientists and Development in Nigeria

by Alan Hayward

Hardcover

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Overview

Africa was wide-open territory for expatriate scientists, engineers and technicians during much of the 20th century. British Colonial Africa was considered ripe for commercial and economic progress and 'Development' was the watchword and basis of government policy, as is clear from the Colonial Development and Welfare Acts.
Alan Hayward came from a family of technicians and engineers - his father was an inventor and his brother worked on decoding operations at Bletchley Park - and after his degree in chemistry and a career in food science, he was recruited by the Colonial Service to work in Nigeria in 1948. He and his team researched ways of improving the quality of subsistence foodstuffs and export crops comprising cocoa, groundnuts and palm oil - all vital for the nascent colonial economy and export trade.
African Colonial life provided expatriates with an immense and fascinating challenge. Hayward sets his development work in an exciting and vibrant context of exotic travel, sport - a huge expatriate enthusiasm - and a rich social life. Africa Called brings Africa and its peoples, especially Nigeria, to life and paints a picture of an optimistic Africa approaching decolonisation and far from later disillusionment.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781845114947
Publisher: Radcliffe Press, The
Publication date: 07/08/2008
Pages: 288
Product dimensions: 5.64(w) x 8.79(h) x 1.04(d)

About the Author

Alan Hayward was born in 1916, in London. During the Second World War he was retained by the British Government as a food chemist, to assist with the production of food substitutes. In 1948 he left the UK for Nigeria, as part of a four man Colonial survey, where he stayed for fourteen years. Since leaving Nigeria he has worked in other tropical countries worldwide and undertaken assignments both privately and with the United Nations in connection with crop protection and conservation. Alan now lives in Senegal.

Table of Contents

Dedication
• Acknowledgements
• Foreword by Maurice Fenn
• Author's Note
• Incubation
• To Nigeria
• UK to Nigeria 1948: Initiation
• UK to Nigeria 1952: Lagos or bust
• Early days
• The Kano scene
• Lost in the bush with two unique encounters
• Shooting
• Peanut problems
• Kano pyramids
• Down the Niger
• Near Misses
• A very near miss
• Skating in Nigeria
• A dangerous camel
• A fallen Dove
• A long drive: - Nigeria to the UK
• Getting ready
• French follies
• To Tamenrasset
• Tamenrasset to Algiers
• Two Flashman-like episodes
• A fishy business
• To the Ténéré with compliments
• Aviantics
• No brakes
• Not my last flight?
• Kano or be damned
• Bogged down and arrested in Agades
• The desert bus
• Across the pond
• Our skipper
• Rendezvous
• Charm 111
• Our Trip
• The Ganges to Singapore and Mogadiscio.
• A glimpse of Senegal
• Epilogue
• A divided Nigeria
• A disrupted society
• The myth of colonial exploitation in Nigeria
• References

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