Hanns Vischer

Sir Hanns Vischer, CMG, CBE (1876 -1945) was a Swiss born British national who was an advisor on education to the government of the Northern Nigeria Protectorate. He was appointed the first Director of Education for the Northern Region and developed the first policies of secular education for the region. Upon his retirement from colonial service, he served as a member of the Advisory Committee on Education in the British tropical colonies for sixteen years.

Life Vischer was born to a Rosalie and Adolphe Vischer, his father was a writer and humanitarian while his paternal grandfather, Wilhem Vischer, a Protestant was a professor at University of Basle and was a descendant from a lineage of silk traders.

In 1908, Vischer was seconded to the education department to develop an industrial school in Nasarawa, Kano. He was the only one recommended for the position, partly through his knowledge of Arabic, Hausa, Fulani and Kanuri but also because he had been sympathetic to the cultures of the Kanuris. He resigned his position with the colonial service in 1919.