Observation

This was a fairly popular question and was attempted by many candidates. A number of the candidates were able to answer and score good marks while few of them advanced irrelevant points. In order to get good grade, candidates were expected to mention the following points:

(i)         Hostility of the people, particularly the traditional rulers.
(ii)        Hostility of the traditional worshippers.
(iii)       The inter-ethnic and inter-kingdom conflicts.
(iv)       The activities of the trans-Atlantic slave trade.
(v)        The tropical climate was uncondusive for the missionaries.
(vi)       Tropical diseases had heavy death toll on the missionaries.
(vii)      Inadequate number of European priests to do the pioneering works.
(viii)     The problem of communication hindered their progress.
(ix)       Transportation was a problem. There was no means of effective transportation that could make them travel far and wide to spread the gospel.
(x)        Delay in supply of essential goods to the missionaries such as medicine, food, water, etc.
(xi)       The mistrust the indigenous people had for the Christian missionaries.
(xii)      Competition posed by Islam.
(xiii)     Lack of initial basic infrastructure e.g. houses.
(xiv)     Unhealthy rivalry among the early missionaries.
(xv)      Inadequate funds.