ENSAYO EN MUESTRA REAL

25. J.S. Furnival Colonial Policy and Practice (London: Cambridge University Press, 1948), p . 19.

3:2:4 Direct Political Control

As soon as the Royal Niger Company was relieved of its administrative and political control of Nigeria, the British Government changed its laissez-faire attitude towards the country and enthusiastically assumed full political

leadership. On January 1, 1900 the country was divided into two administrative units - the Northern and Southern

Protectorates. Each of these Protectorates was to be administered by a High Commissioner appointed from the Imperial Capital, London; and in all matters they were required to exercise separate and distinct political

control. One of the first two British High Commissioners sent to Nigeria was Sir (later Lord) F.D. Lugard who was initially kept in charge of Northern Nigeria but later became the Governor-General of the entire country. Of all the British administrators he was the most outstanding.26

On assuming office as the first British High

Commissioner in Northern Nigeria, Colonel Lugard, a one-time commander of the Royal Niger Company's army (the Royal Niger Constabulary) decided to retain the Fulani system of Native Administration that he met after subduing the Fulani

potentates to submission through military invasion. He introduced "Indirect Rule" - a system of governing the native through the instrumentality of their traditional rulers. He divided the Northern Protectorate into

provinces, each being headed by a British administrator,

26. See DiKe, Kenneth 0. One Hundred Years of British Rule in Nigeria. 1851-1951 (Lagos: Federal Information

called Resident. The provinces were in turn subdivided into administrative Divisions, manned by District Officers.

Whilst the District Officers were answerable to the

Residents, the latter were directly responsible to the High Commissioner (Lugard). The actual day-to-day running of the local administrations was entrusted to the Emirs who were assisted by native chiefs and councillors. These Emirs combined legislative, executive as well as judicial

functions subject, of course, to the overall supervision of the Residents and District Officers. Native laws and

customs were allowed to be applied provided they were not repugnant to natural justice equity and good conscience, nor incompatible either directly or indirectly with any written law; nor contrary to public policy.27

A number of factors dictated Lugard's indirect rule policy. The size of Northern Nigeria, coupled with the difficulty of communications and means of transportation, presented formidable administrative problems. Direct

administration would have involved the British Government in extremely heavy expenditure, especially if qualified

personnel were to be recruited from Britain. It was even not possible to attract British staff of the right calibre to the Nigerian service because the country was then

regarded as the 'white man's grave' due to the prevalence of malaria disease which killed many Europeans. Furthermore, any move to enforce direct British Rule would have

This provision was incorporated into the Northern Nigeria High Court Laws 1955, s.34.

53

implacably antagonised and embittered the pre-existing Fulani administration which had already established foot­ hold in the North before the coming of the British. To avoid such a conflict particularly in the face of

competition from other European poweis Sir Frederick Lugard permitted the existing Hausa-Fulani ruling class to continue with the status q u o , using the medium of the Indirect

Rule.28

It is to be noted that while Lugard was busy subduing and pacifying the North with astonishing efficiency, other servants of the British Crown were equally strengthening British sovereignty over the Southern Protectorate. Among L u g a r d 1s contemporaries were Sirs W. McGregor, R.D.R. Moor and W. Egerton. These men were responsible for the creation of Southern Protectorate as a single unit in 1906 by

incorporating the Colony of Lagos.

In 1906, Lugard was transferred from Northern Nigeria to take up the post of governorship of Hong Kong. He came back in 1912 and became the country's Governor-General. In 1914, he amalgamated Northern and Southern Nigeria. His main aim was the unification of the country. The merger was the first major attempt to integrate the Nigerian

communities nation-wide. The preceding years (1900-1914) witnessed a period of separate development between the Northern and Southern Protectorates; each came under British sphere of influence at different times, ruled by

See Awolowo, Obafemi The People's Republic (Ibadan: OUP, 1968), p . 19.

different High Commissioners.29 But what were the nature, structure and effect of Lugard's amalgamation?

3:2:5 Lugard's Amalgamation Scheme

The idea of amalgamation was conceived as early as June 1910 when the Secretary of State for the Colonies, Sir Lewis Harcourt, made a proposal to the House of Commons at

Westminster in London for the merger of the northern and southern provinces of Nigeria. By this time it was argued that the division of the country into two could lead to duality in administration, accompanied by inevitable but unprofitable political rivalries. An arbitrary partition of a country like Nigeria was considered rather incongrous and absurd as that could retard the development of a general principle of government for the entire country. It was also discovered that administering North and South as separate and distinct units would aggravate the relative poverty of the former since all the custom duties imposed on trade accrued to the latter which alone owned all the sea-ports. This in turn would have made the impoverished North to be dependent on the British treasury for financial support. Such financial burden was considered an economic liability to the British Government. Furthermore, the railway systems in the North and South differed in gauge and this could

introduce unhealthy competition. A merger of the two Protectorates, it was argued, would bring about the

advantages of (i) better financial management and optimal

See Nwabueze, B.O. A Constitutional History of Nigeria (London:Longman, 1982), p . 36.

utilisation of the available resources; (ii) better administration especially at the higher level of civil service; (iii) more sensible and rational division of the country into provinces on geographical and ethnic basis; and

(iv) a comprehensive work programme.30

Lewis Harcourt's proposal was accepted by the House of Commons whereupon Lugard was mandated to implement the

scheme. Lugard submitted a Report in favour of amalgamation to Colonial Office, London in March 1913. The Report was later approved and on January 1, 1914 Lugard amalgamated the Northern and Southern Protectorates into one country, called Nigeria, with himself as the first Governor-General.31

Lugard pursued his assignment with vigour and determination using traditional rulers to run his

administration. The amalgamated Northern and Southern Protectorates were redesignated as Northern and Southern Groups of Provinces. He allowed them to retain their individual identities. In the North where he had

experimented his "Indirect Rule" system with astonishing success as High Commissioner between 1900 and 1906, he retained and strengthened the existing governmental

organisations that had been built up by the Fulani feudal autocratic class (the Emirs) who wielded enormous political authority and power. The British officials were purely policy makers with supervisory role whilst the Emirs and

30. See Morel, E.D. Nigeria: Its Peoples and its Problems (London: Murray, 1912), p p . 190-207.