Nigeria: Edo Commissioner Faults UK's Badenoch Over Opposition to Slavery Apology, Reparations

What the report says

An Edo State commissioner in Nigeria has criticised UK Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch over her rejection of calls for Britain to formally apologise and pay reparations for its role in the transatlantic slave trade. The comments, reported by Premium Times and distributed by AllAfrica, came from Washington Osifo, Edo State Commissioner for Education, in a paper dated 10 November that he sent to the newspaper.

Osifo argued that Badenoch was wrong to suggest that blame for slavery should be shared equally between African kingdoms and European powers. He said some African rulers and merchants were involved, but maintained that European states created and sustained the wider system through shipping, finance, weapons and legal structures. He also disputed Badenoch’s reliance on Britain’s abolitionist record, saying the end of the slave trade did not erase the country’s earlier role in forcing and profiting from the trade.

The commissioner said reparative justice should include more than cash payments, pointing to an apology, the return of looted artefacts, and investments in education and healthcare as possible elements. He also referred to Britain’s 19th-century compensation to slave owners after abolition, arguing that enslaved people received nothing. As background, the report noted that Badenoch has recently drawn attention for comments questioning reparations, which have revived debate over Britain’s historical responsibility for slavery. The article also said she has argued that present-day taxpayers should not be liable for historic wrongdoing.