19th March 1954;

Ibadan: University College, Boys quarters, Children.

“The Boys’ Quarters” is the colloquial name given to the servants’ quarters, a post-colonial hangover and an ever-present feature of modern West African life.

Alien to European culture the idea was imported from America where land owners built separate quarters for their slaves who they considered unfit to occupy even the most uncomfortable places in the main house. As a solution they built “boys'” quarters in the back of their compounds.

Some of the first well constructed Boys Quarters were built at Ikoyi.

On independence, our black brothers who took over from the colonial masters inherited these houses and continued with the trend of building houses with Boys Quarters.