Abstract
The relationship between colonialism and missionary medical services has elicited several scholarly inquiries. In “The Evangelical Uses of Leprosy,” Rita Kipp argued that leprosy served as a ‘keyword’ in the missionary enterprise because the leper became the ultimate sufferer and leprosy work in redeeming the leper epitomized the essence of Christian charity. This paper explores the colonial government’s policy in the treatment of leprosy in Nigeria and investigates why the government strongly supported the missionaries working on the leprosy project in northern Nigeria but could not extend the same gesture to the RCM leprosy project in Ogoja Province, in Eastern Nigeria. The paper seeks to assess the rationale for the colonial government’s neglect of the Roman Catholic Mission in the national leprosy project. From the outset, the largest number of leprosy settlements were founded in the 1920s and 1930s, mainly in Africa and India, with significant involvement of the Church Missionary Society (CMS), the Seventh-day Adventist Mission, and the Church of Scotland Mission in leading the struggle against the leprosy scourge.