Public health reform in colonial Southern Nigeria has been read either as imperial modernisation or as an instrument of social control. This  study argued that most readings neglect how reform was carried out, which was by replicating metropolitan and imperial templates in places where they could not be fully implemented. Using Homi Bhabha’s concept of mimicry, and drawing on records from the National Archives in Ibadan and Enugu, Colonial Reports, and oral information collected in Lagos, Yenegoa and Uyo, between August and October 2025, the study examined the Leper Ordinance of 1908, 1916, and 1929, the Public Health Ordinance of 1917 and its extension by Orders in Council in the year 1936, the Quarantine Act of 1926, and the Colonial Development Act of 1929 and 1940 respectively. The study found that the resemblance to British medical practice conferred legitimacy and made Southern Nigerians seen, while the divide between form and provision, preserved racial hierarchy. Also, sanitary inspectors, mission nurses, patients and press critics occupied the delicate space that this divide created. The study concluded that colonial public health in Southern Nigeria was almost British in form and rarely so in provision.     

Colonial public health, Mimicry, Southern Nigeria, Leprosy

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Interviews were conducted by the author in September and October 2025. Informants are identified by name, occupation and town only.

Adebayo, S. B. Retired administrative pastor, Obadore Town, Alimosho, Lagos. Interview, August 14, 2025.

Akeredolu, J. A. F. Retired clergyman, Alaba Rago, Ojo, Lagos. Interview, October 3, 2025.

Flora. Retired nurse, Yenagoa, Bayelsa. Interview, October 7, 2025.

Nworgu. Retired army warrant officer, Tedi Town, Ojo, Lagos. Interview, September 21, 2025.

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