Proclamation of the Niger Districts Protectorate

By a notification published in the London Gazette of 5 June 1885, the Ibo, Ibibio, Ijo and Ogoja peoples were included in the Protectorate of the 'Niger Districts', defined as the territories on the coast between the British Protectorate of Lagos and the right bank of the Rio del Rey, and the territories on both banks of the Niger from its confluence with the Benue at Lokoja to the sea. This was the first formal British imperial claim over the peoples of southeastern Nigeria. The protectorate was described as 'a vague and paper province of the British empire'.