ETHNICITY and NATIONALISM NIGERIA Before and After Colonial

Ahmed Draia University – Adrar Faculty of Letters and Languages Department of English Letters and Language A Research Paper Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for a Master’s Degree in Literature and Civilization Presented by: Supervised by: Bodemaa Okbaoui Mr. Tahar Abbou Academic Year: 2015 – 2016 DEDICATION This work is dedicated with gratitude and love to my beloved parents, and to my eldest brother, who has always believed in my abilities. Acknowledgement Above all, thanks to God for providing me with material and mental capacity whereby I could conduct this research. Then I would like to thank Mr Tahar Abbou for allotting time to this work to be properly accomplished, and for his supervision throughout the academic year. I am also honoured to address special thanks to Dr Aziz Mostefaoui for his generosity by providing me with valuable sources and allowing me to keep using them until I have my work done. Finally, grateful thanks are presented to each one to whom this work owes some of its accomplishment, including teachers and students of the Department of English. Abstract The thesis of this dissertation is that the aspects of relations among the various ethnic groups in modern Nigeria thwart the resurgence of nationalism. Ethnic relations in Nigeria had been deteriorated by virtue of the subjection of the British colonial power to the region of present-day Nigeria, and on account of the introduction of new social and political systems into Nigerian societies. Thereafter, ethnicity and nationalism have become a focus of interest in Nigerian and in many African social and political studies, for they lay much emphasis on the legacies of colonialism in African societies. The aim of this study is to find out whether the ethnic composition impedes the unification of national interests. The work relies on some existing literature on Nigerian history to provide historical events that conclude Nigerians‟ abilities to integrate and possess common cultural identities. Hence, the work is an attempt to analyse the interrelation between ethnicity and nationalism in Nigeria from a historical standpoint. It concludes that ethnicity does not impede the acquisition of common cultural and national identity, for pre-colonial Nigerians showed the abilities of possessing common national identities notwithstanding ethnic diversity. The study also concludes that the advent of the British marked a watershed in the history of the country as it interrupted the normal formation of common identities. Key Words: ethnic relations, nationalism, colonial power, ethnicity, national identities. List of Maps Map 1 Nigeria Map 2 Major Cities and Ethnic Groups in Present-Day Nigeria Map 3 Nigeria Administrative Boundaries in 1960 List of Abbreviations AG: Action Group CDW: Colonial Development and Welfare LAAAPS Lagos Auxiliary of the Anti-Slavery and Aborigines Protection Society NCNC: National Council for Nigeria and the Cameroons NNA: Nigerian National Alliance NNDP: Nigerian National Democratic Party NPC: Northern People‟s Congress NYM: Nigerian Youth Movement UPGA: United Progressive Grand Alien Table of Content Dedication...…………………………………………………….……………………...…ii Acknowledgement …………………………………………………………………..…...iii Abstract………………………………………………………………….………….....…iv List of Maps…... ……… ……………………………………………………...………....v List of Abbreviations……………………..…………………………………….….…….vi Table of Contents…………………………………………………………………..........vii General Introduction……………...………………………………………………..……..1 Chapter One: Factors of Ethnic Relations and Ethnicity Formation in Pre-Colonial Nigeria Introduction…………………………………………………………….……...4 1.1. Hausa-Fulani Ethnicity…………………………………………….……...4 1.1.1 The Socio-Economic Factor……………………………….………5 1.1.2 The Cultural Factors…………………………………………….…7 1.1.2.1 The Myth of Common Origin……………………………...6 1.1.2.2 The Spread of Islam………………………………………..7 1.2. The Yoruba Ethnicity……………………………………………………...8 1.2.1. The Economic Factor……………………………………………..…8 1.2.2. The Cultural Factors……………………………………….…….…..9 1.2.2.1 The Linguistic Factor…………………….……………..…….9 1.2.2.2 The Myth of Oduduwa…………………..…………….……10 1.2.3. The Political Factor………………………………..………….…….11 1.2.4. Migration………………………………………..…………….…….11 1.2.5. Wars and Conflicts……………………………..…………….……..12 1.3. Igbo Ethnicity…………………………………………..……………….….13 1.3.1. The Socio-Economic Factor…………………………..…….…….….14 Conclusion…………………………………………………………….…...….....15 Chapter Two: Colonial Nigeria: The Advent of the British and the Rise of Nationalism 1851- 1960 Introduction…………………………………………………….…………..16 2.1. The Colonization Proces1851-1914…………………….....….………...16 2.1.1. The Establishment of the Southern Protectorate…...……..……..17 2.1.2. The Establishment of the Northern Protectorate……...……..…..18 2.1.3. The Amalgamation of Nigeria………………………...………..19 2.2. The Socio-Economic Changes……………….……………………..….21 2.3. The Rise of Nationalism in Nigeria…………………......………….…..23 2.3.1. Early Thoughts of Nationalism…………………...………….……25 2.3.2. Early Nigerian Nationalist Movements…………..……………….26 2.3.3. The Impact of the Second World War…………………...……….29 2.3.4. The External Influences on the British Policies………….…...…...30 2.3.5. The Political and the Nationalist Development…….………....…..31 2.3.6. Regional Conflicts and Political Independence….…….………….33 Conclusion………………………………………………….………………....36 Chapter Three: Challenges of Nation-Building in Post-Colonial Nigeria 1960-1970 Introduction………………………………….…………………………....37 3.1. Nation-Building………………………….……….…………...….…...37 3.1.1. State Creation………………………...……………….…………39 3.2. Challenges of Nation-Building……………...…………..……………41 3.2.1. Ethnic Resentments……………………...………………….……41 3.2.2. The Political Crises of the First Republic...…………….………...43 3.2.3. Ethnic Conflicts……………………….….…………….………...47 3.2.3.1. Nigerian Civil War 1967-1970………………………..…..49 Conclusion………………………………………………..……….……….…52 General Conclusion…………………………………………….………………...………...53 Works Cited………………………………………………….………………………….. ..55 Appendix General Introduction In times that predated colonialism, diverse communities inhabited the area known nowadays as Nigeria. These communities developed integrative mechanisms and common cultural traits which brought about the formation of homogenous groups labelled in modern terms „ethnic groups‟. They established systems and maintained relations that tended to link individuals with one another, and to establish culturally homogenous and economically complementary societies. However, this trend was interrupted by the advent of the British power to the area, introducing new economic and social systems and meanwhile raising awareness of cultural and ethnic diversity. Such awareness affected relations among ethnic groups, particularly when Nigeria gained its political independence in 1960. Once the British handed power to indigenous people, ethnic affiliation expressed itself explicitly in the politics of the country by virtue of suspicious and mistrustful relations the ethnic groups came to inherit from colonial powers. Thereafter, on account of the aspects of relations between ethnic groups, Nigerian nationalism could not be revived in post-colonial epoch. In this sense, ethnicity came to be defined as aspects of “relations among” ethnic groups, whereas nationalism is conceptualized as a common political interest among the ruling elite of a country. Thomas Hylland Eriksen argues that ethnicity is basically an aspect of relationship between communities, be it aspects of gain or aspects of loss, as he argues that these aspects of relations are functional in the formation of identities (17) Therefore, ethnic relations could be political and social as well as symbolic (Eriksen 17). On this standard, the first chapter of this work tackles the various factors of interconnection that led to the formation of the three dominant ethnic groups in Nigeria –the Hausa-Fulani, the Yoruba and the Igbo. The chapter illustrates how communities developed integrative and complementary mechanisms notwithstanding cultural differentiation. In fact, in the chapter it is argued that culture in pre-colonial Nigeria was developed by virtue of people‟s struggle to adopt their environments. Moreover, it is noteworthy to state that the formation of ethnic identities in Nigeria and elsewhere in Africa is not only a pre-colonial phenomenon. Anikpo states that ethnicity is a historical process that is developed by virtue of “historical transformations” which makes it an “enduring phenomenon” (21). Further, Anikpo notes that ethnicity exceeds the historical socio-economic and political factors that brought about its formation to become an identity (21). Therefore, ethnicity involves an attachment to formerly formed communities. Modern Nigeria is ethnically subdivided into three major ethnic groups which are Hausa-Fulani in the northern region, Igbo in the south-east, and Yoruba in the south-west (see map 2). These groups have inhabited the territory of Nigeria centuries before the advent of the British. Besides economic and social relations, these groups developed cultural features that reflected their ideals on unification. Thus, the myth of common origin that each of the Yoruba and the Hausa-Fulani peoples created had a symbolic meaning in strengthening relations among individuals. In addition, the spread of Islam beyond Hausa land also tended to unify the various states in the region so as to be ruled by a single dynasty. Furthermore, there were other manifestations of identities formation and ethnic relations such as migration, trade and even wars.

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