JAMB Past Questions and Answers - Page 1757

The first primary school in Nigeria was founded in 1843 in the town of Badagry. The school was named the Nursery of Infant Church which was later renamed as St. Thomas Anglican Nursery and primary school by Rev. Golmer of the Church Missionary Society (CMS).

The spread of Islam in Nigeria dates back to the eleventh century when it first appeared in Borno in the northeast of the country. Later Islam emerged in Hausaland in the northwest and its influence was evident in Kano and Katsina.

Christianity was first introduced in Sierra Leone in 1792, however, Sierra Leone is a predominately Muslim country today. Seventy-eight percent of the population are Muslim, and the country's two largest ethnic groups, the Mende and Temne, are Muslim majority.

The 1962 population census put the total population of the country at 45 million, out of which the south had 24 million and the north 21 million. This was the first time the population of the south would exceed that of the north. The population count created a big political problem for the Balewa government, which had to cancel it and order a re-count.

Britain finally abolished the trans-Atlantic slave trade in 1807, and the United States implemented its ban a year later in 1808. Despite these legal bans, and subsequent acts to suppress the trade in the United States and elsewhere, the illegal trans-Atlantic slave trade continued into the 1860s.