indirect rule Flashcards
who became the Governor-General of the Northern and Southern Nigeria in 1906
Sir Frederick (later Lord) Lugard became the Governor-General of the Northern and Southern Nigeria in 1906 and he ruled the two Protectorates (the Colony and Protectorate of Southern Nigeria and the Protectorate of Northern Nigeria) separately until 1914 when they were amalgamated by him (Post, Kenneth and Vickers, Michael 1973:1). Before he assumed office, Lord Lugard had introduced the Indirect Rule Policy in the Northern Protectorate which was to be, later extended to the Western and Eastern parts of the country.
what is indirect rule
. Indirect Rule was a colonial administrative system in which the local Chiefs were used by the colonial officers to control the colonized people. Under the system, it appeared the native Chiefs/Obas/Emirs were ruling their people, but in the actual sense, it was the colonial masters who were actually ruling. Lord Lugard defines Indirect Rule thus: Rule through the native Chiefs who are regarded as integral part of the machinery of Government, with well- defined powers and functions recognized by the government and by Law, and not dependent on the caprices of an Executive Officer (Kirk-Greene 1918:68).
reasons for introduction of indirect rule
a) Administrative Convenience
Economic factor
Language barrier
Sustenance of African culture
a) Administrative Convenience
a) Administrative Convenience The size of the country was too large and diverse with a large and scattered population about which the Colonial ruler had little knowledge. Lord Lugard met well-established traditional institutions, with a system of government in the Northern and Western parts of the country which made the decision to introduce the Indirect Rule more attractive. He created Warrant Chiefs in the Eastern part of the country where the people were republican in nature and therefore had no traditional institution of leadership.
Economic factor
b) Economic Factor Another reason for the introduction of the Indirect Rule was the fact that direct administration would have cost the British Government a large sum of human and material resources. This system came about the time Britain herself was facing acute shortage of skilled personnel at home. Both money and manpower needed for her development at home would have had to be deployed to rule directly in Nigeria if the direct rule option was chosen.
Language barrier
c) Language Barrier By the time Lord Lugard came there was language problem because only a few Africans could understand and speak English Language.
Conversely, the British colonial masters could not speak African languages which made communication with the people very difficult. Therefore, the best option opened to the colonialist was to rule the people through their native rulers.
Sustenance of African culture
d) Sustenance of African Culture The need to sustain African culture by the British was another factor for the introduction of Indirect Rule. Unlike the French colonial policy of assimilation of her African subjects, the intention of the British s policy of association was to sustain and preserve African culture in her colonial territories. Lastly, Laggard s past experience in the East and Central Africa where he had successfully established Indirect Rule also informed his decision to repeat the same in Nigeria.
Indirect rule in the north south east west
The Indirect Rule was successful in the North and partially successful in the West but was a failure in the East. The reason for the policy failure in the East was largely due to lack of a central authority or recognized traditional institutions in that part of the Country. The policy recorded a huge success in the North because of the existence of a centralized traditional system of government headed by the Emirs who enjoyed absolute and unquestionable loyalty from the people. This was in contrast to the West where although, there was a centralized traditional system of government headed by the Obas, however the powers and authority of the Obas could be challenged by another traditional institution or directly by the people.
Merits of indirect rule
Merits and Demerits of Indirect Rule
Although the Indirect Rule was a colonial invention which was criticized as an undue interruption of the African native traditional administrative system that had existed many centuries before the coming of the colonial masters, it was not without some advantages as-well-as some drawbacks worth mentioning in this regard.
1. The introduction of the system brought about physical development hitherto alien to the people who engaged their energies in inter and intra-tribal wars.
2. Through the taxes collected from the people, the British officials used part of the proceeds to provide and spread western education, roads, pipe-borne water and hospitals.
3. It opened up many rural communities to economic activities resulting in the production of farm produce for export and local consumption.
4. The system also taught the traditional rulers the arts of modern administration and accountability of public fund. For the first time, the native rulers accounted for the taxes and royalties collected from the people and explained how the public funds were used. This minimized cases of corruption and embezzlement of public treasury.
5. This period could be regarded as the zenith of relevance of the traditional institution because monarchs were made to play the roles of politicians and thus, became the pivot around which the decision-making processes revolved.
6. Indirect Rule system gave quasi-autonomy to the people in the art of self-government and made Africans to be alive to their civic obligations and also to be conscious of their civic rights by introducing a modern judicial system for adjudication and arbitration of disputes between individuals, communities and traditional institutions.
7. It preserved the native customs, laws and traditions which made the British subjects think, talk and behave like Nigerians unlike their neighbouring Francophone Africans that had their culture subsumed by the French Policy of Assimilation.
demerits of indirect rule
- It was argued that the system was shrouded in deceit and pretence by the British for making it appear that the native rulers were ruling but in the actual fact they took instructions from the colonial masters from the Governor-General through the Residents to the District Officers who, in most cases, turned the traditional rulers to puppets and stooges because they were stark illiterates. The native rulers could not use their position to get what they thought was good for their people but were rather used by the British officials to implement their colonial policies.
- The deliberate alienation of African elites from the Indirect Rule system was another sour point against the system. The educated elites who were better placed to run the judicial system, the public service and manage the public treasury were excluded to the advantage of the illiterate native rulers who were susceptible to taking instructions from the colonial masters hook, line and sinker to the detriment of their people.
- The Indirect Rule was also criticized for giving too much powers to traditional rulers beyond what their communities accorded them thus, the new status led to unhealthy rivalry among communities over supremacy and territorial jurisdiction to augment their aggregate revenue and consequently, their aggregate salaries.
- There were cases of arbitrary use of powers by the traditional rulers against their opponents either over wives, land or chieftaincy titles in their domain.
- It is also argued that the system had a negative toll on the myths and sacredness surrounding the traditional rulers in the context of African society. For instance, in the Yorubaland Obas were rarely seen in public except when occasionally, they sat in judgment or had to perform traditional rites or declare annual festivals open. Most of an Obas functions were performed by the Chiefs. In Ghana, the traditional rulers do not speak directly to the people but through a Palace interpreter. With the Indirect Rule these traditional conventions became a thing of the past as Obas, Emirs, Obis became ubiquitous in the sense that they were seen everywhere in the community.
why was nigeria amalgamated
The amalgamation of 1914 became imperative against the background that the North could not find sufficient funds to maintain its own administration in spite of the annual grants from the Imperial Treasury and also from the Southern administration. The financial situation of the Southern administration was buoyant because of the rapid development of trade. Therefore, Ojiako (1981) posits that: amalgamation was aimed at relieving the Imperial Treasury of its annual contribution towards the upkeep of the North.
what did lord lugard do
For the purpose of achieving that objective, Lord Lugard amalgamated the Lagos Colony and the Southern Protectorate and the Northern Protectorate in 1914 and he created a Central Legislature which he called The Nigerian Council as an advisory and deliberative body. The Council was a creation of three Constitutional instruments: Order-in- Council (1912), the Letters Patent (1913), and the Nigerian Protectorate Order-in-Council (1913) (Report of constitutional conference 1995:43). The composition of the Council was as follows:
i) Official members 23
ii) Unofficial (European) members 7
iii) Unofficial (African) members 6
TOTAL 36
The constitutional instruments provided for six unofficial African members who were to be nominated by the Governor and the composition was as follows: Two Emirs from the North; the Alafin of Oyo; One member from Lagos to represent business interests; one from Calabar and one represented the Warri-Benin Area (Olawale 1980:44). The official members were made up of the following officials: the Governor-General, the Executive Council members, Residents and Commissioners, the Secretaries for the Central Government and the Northern and Southern Provinces respectively, the Political Secretary to the Governor-General (if any), and any other official whom the British Government might appoint.
features of the council
the Constitution created the Legislative Council, only the Governor, who was also a member, possessed both Executive and Legislative powers which could only be checked by the Secretary to the Colony. Another feature of the Council was that the Governor who stood for the whole territory maintained two different policies and concepts of administration for both the North and the South. This is because while the Legislative Council could legislate on issues affecting the Southern part, the North was ruled directly by proclamation. Also, the fact that Nigerians were neither consulted before the constitution of the Council nor were they involved in the governance coupled with the isolationist policy maintained against the Northern part made the Constitutional instruments a subject of criticism by the nationalists.
why did it fail
However, the Nigerian Council created by Lord Lugard fell short of his expectations. Members (especially the nominated Africans) showed little or no interest about it as they hardly attended its meetings. Lugard regarded the nominated Africans as not capable of or effective in representing their people. There was also lack of interest on the part of the people themselves about the relevance of such Legislative Council with such limited influence and power under the colonial administration. This led to the agitation for constitutional representation by the African educated elite in the coastal areas, especially Lagos and Calabar who were later to find their voice in the National Congress of British West Africa (NCBWA) jointly formed by Messrs Caseley Hayford and Dr. Akinwande Savage - a Nigerian medical doctor practising in the Gold Coast (Okafor 1981:74).
criticism against amalgalmaton
The unification policy introduced by Lord Lugard in 1914 was received by Africans in the North and South with mixed feelings. Both sides seemed to have concluded that it would bring about a fundamental change in the official outlook which some believed would not be a pleasant one (Okafor 1981:51).
The Lagos Press and a section of the educated elite were vocal in their criticisms of the new administrative structure introduced by Lugard. In its editorial comment, The Lagos Standard had this to say: For the purpose of administration this vast territory of Nigeria is now divided into three areas, which are the Colony and the Northern and Southern Provinces. This would be an excellent arrangement if the principle was also laid down that each division shall be autonomous. Each area shall have within it a perfect machine for effective government, subject nevertheless to a central control. This central authority should have the power of dealing with matters peculiar to each. They would thereby become a federated State in which the Governor-General would be as it were a Foreman of works, but not the fountain from which all authority and power should emanate for them (see Lagos Standard).
The amalgamation of a diverse people who were at different levels of social, educational and economic development into a unified, powerful, and centralized authority was seen as lopsided and unthinkable by the educated elite. They also condemned the over-concentration of powers in the Governor-General over a vast territory, over which he had little knowledge. It is inconceivable how much authority can be effectively exercised by him, at any moment, in every part of the country. The system was also criticized for alienating the progressive public opinion from the political processes of the country. But in a tacit response to the criticisms, Lugard, in a write-up a year after the amalgamation, stated that he did not consider it as a geographical, political or more especially as a financial expression, rather a means whereby each part of Nigeria might be raised to the level of the highest plane attained by any particular part (See Confidential Letter from F. D. Lugard).
As regards the isolation of the North in Lugard s Nigerian Council, Sir Hugh Clifford who succeeded him saw, while on tour in the Northern Provinces, how the policy had kept that area (North) backward. He made the observation while travelling from the North to Onitsha, in the South. He submits: The presence of a detachment of Boy Scouts and a number of children from the neighbouring mission schools emphasized the fact that we had passed from the Northern to the Southern Provinces of Nigeria. Until I reached Idah, which I have said, has only recently been transferred to the Northern Provinces, during my whole stay in the latter, I had not seen a body of school children drawn up in order, singing God save the King and other patriotic songs, which is an ubiquitous feature of all public occasions in most parts of West Africa In a fashion, these contrasted results of the British occupation epitomized the rival systems and ideas prevailing in the two sets of Provinces (Okafor 1981:86).
