Hazrat Sahibzada Mirza Nasir Ahmad (rta) after having been elected as Khalifatul-Masih III, the supreme head of the Ahmadiyya Movement in Islam, visited six countries of West Africa—Nigeria, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Gambia and Sierra Leone—in 1970. On his return to Pakistan he delivered a Friday Khutba (sermon) on June 12, 1970. In this Khutba he gave an account of this tour of his. He expressed his gratitude to Allah for the way he was received by the heads of the States, chiefs of Africa and people of these countries—Ahmadis, Christians, Pagans—and the love that he gave them, and the love that he received from them in return. In the beginning of the sermon he said that the situation he found himself in ‘is well nigh impossible to describe’, only those who saw and experienced it could appreciate it.
He was the first Khalifatul-Masih to visit Africa, his objectives were to have the first-hand knowledge of his Community and the people there and to give them the assurance that the good work which Khalifatul-Masih II, Mirza Bashir-ud-Deen Mahmood Ahmad al-Musleh Mau‘ud, started and continued throughout his Khilafat would continue under his Khilafat, too. Summing this up, he says:
‘I said to them: We have now come to you with the message of love, we have been serving you—your different countries—for the last fifty years. Each one of you, old and young, the ruler and the ruled, the official and the public know that during this fifty-year period we did not involve ourselves in your politics and had no axes to grind and did not even cast an avaricious glance in the direction of your wealth. You know well that whatever we made we ploughed back in your countries, and what you had not earned but others had earned in another country, we brought here and invested in your service.’
Allah indeed blessed his visit in more than one ways. The most gracious blessing of Allah was that He revealed to him to launch Nusrat Jahan Scheme (otherwise called Africa Leap Forward) while he was in Gambia. The object of the scheme was and is to serve African nations by the Ahmadiyya contributions to open schools and hospitals etc. What he tried to impress on the mind of African governments and people was that Ahmadiyya Community, as in the past, would continue to achieve its humanitarian work in Africa, by spending from its own coffers built up by monetary sacrifices of Ahmadis all over the world and every thing would be spent by the Movement for their benefit and not a single penny would be taken out from their country; the profits accrued form the hospitals and schools would be reinvested for building up more schools and hospitals in Africa.
In this long sermon he talked about other relevant matters concerning Africa and African governments. West Africa (weekly) London, summed up his African tour in its issue number 2763 dated May 23, 1970 thus:
‘Of all the millions of Muslims in West Africa, relatively few follow the Ahmadiyya Movement, the reformist sect started in India 80 years ago; … But few Muslim Communities in West Africa are so much in the news as the Ahmadiyya, especially during the recent tour by the Head of the Movement, this is surely because of the energy with which the Movement follows its … [two objectives] … reforming the practice of Islam, and of converting others to it. [The Community is] noted for the number of their schools which provide all round education. … Several new Ahmadiyya Installations including a new mosque at Accra, were inaugurated by the Head of the Movement, Hazrat Mirza Nasir Ahmad, during his recent tour. This white-bearded Pakistani, a Balliol graduate, happens to be a descendant of the founder of the Movement, Ghulam Ahmad: the succession is not hereditary, however, Ghulam Ahmad preached that he was the Messiah whose coming the Prophet [of Islam] foretold, and the title of his present successor is Khalifatul-Masih (Messiah) III. One of the main points of Ghulam Ahmad has been its rejection of "HOLY WARS" and forcible conversion; the Ahmadiyyas revere Dan Fodio as a reformer. … Because of a prophecy by Ghulam Ahmad, the Ahmadiyya reserved a special blessing, to be conferred by their founder’s garments, for the first Head of State to follow their Movement. This blessing was conferred on Alhaji Sir Farimang Singhateh, who as Governor General of the Gambia, was first to earn it.’