The first Africa to be ordained bishop by the Christian missionary school in addition to consecration as bishop of the Niger territory is ___________

Answer Details

The first African to be ordained bishop by the Christian missionary school and consecrated as bishop of the Niger territory is Ajayi Crowther. Ajayi Crowther was a Yoruba man from western Nigeria who was captured as a slave when he was a child and taken to Sierra Leone. There, he was rescued by Christian missionaries and educated at the Fourah Bay College in Freetown, where he became a teacher and a Christian missionary. In 1843, Crowther was selected to be part of the Niger expedition, which aimed to explore and open up the River Niger for trade and missionary work. Crowther played a key role in the expedition, acting as an interpreter and mediator between the expedition members and the local communities they encountered. After the expedition, Crowther continued his work as a missionary and was ordained as a deacon in 1847 and later as a priest in 1852. In 1864, he was consecrated as the first African bishop of the Niger territory, which covered the area now known as Nigeria. Crowther is recognized as a pioneer in the spread of Christianity in Nigeria and played a key role in the translation of the Bible into Yoruba and other Nigerian languages. He is also remembered as a symbol of the resilience and determination of Africans in the face of slavery and colonialism.