Historical Missionary Activity, Schooling, and the Reversal of Fortunes: Evidence from Nigeria

This paper shows that historical missionary activity has had a persistent effect on schooling outcomes, and contributed to a reversal of fortunes wherein historically richer ethnic groups are poorer today. Combining contemporary individual-level data with a newly constructed dataset on mission stations in Nigeria, we find that individuals whose ancestors were exposed to greater missionary activity have higher levels of schooling. This effect is robust to omitted heterogeneity, ethnicity fixed effects, and reverse causation. We find inter-generational factors and the persistence of early advantages in educational infrastructure to be key channels through which the effect has persisted. Consistent with theory, the effect of missions on current schooling is larger for population subgroups that have historically suffered disadvantages in access to education

The Independent Sharia Panel of Lagos State

In 2002, Muslim activists in Lagos State took it upon themselves to set up what amounts to a private arbitration tribunal\u27the Independent Sharia Panel (\u27ISP\u27) of Lagos State\u27to which Muslims are invited to submit their disputes for adjudication under Islamic law. The primary aim of this Essay is to describe the Lagos ISP itself: who is behind it, what it is, and how it is getting along in the world. The larger setting must remain in the background: Lagos State as part of Nigeria\u27s predominantly Yoruba southwest; how Islamic law was squeezed out of the southwestern courts over many years, despite the large percentages of Muslims among the Yoruba; and the long history of failed attempts by activists to persuade the authorities pro tem to correct this anomaly by establishing Sharia courts for the use of Muslims

The Independent Sharia Panel of Lagos State

In 2002, Muslim activists in Lagos State took it upon themselves to set up what amounts to a private arbitration tribunal\u27the Independent Sharia Panel (\u27ISP\u27) of Lagos State\u27to which Muslims are invited to submit their disputes for adjudication under Islamic law. The primary aim of this Essay is to describe the Lagos ISP itself: who is behind it, what it is, and how it is getting along in the world. The larger setting must remain in the background: Lagos State as part of Nigeria\u27s predominantly Yoruba southwest; how Islamic law was squeezed out of the southwestern courts over many years, despite the large percentages of Muslims among the Yoruba; and the long history of failed attempts by activists to persuade the authorities pro tem to correct this anomaly by establishing Sharia courts for the use of Muslims