NORTHERN NIGERIA PRIOR TO THE BRITISH OCCUPATION
The political events of which Northern Nigeria was the scene last
century are well known, but a brief recapitulation of them is necessary
by way of introduction to the study of its present conditions, the life
of its people, and the accomplishments and problems of the British
Administration.
In the opening years of the nineteenth century, what is now Northern
Nigeria consisted of the shattered remnants of the once famous Bornu
Empire; of seven independent states more or less (generally less)
controlled by chieftains of the remarkable so-called “Hausa” race,
invaders of a thousand years before “out of the East,” and of the
aboriginal inhabitants whose origin is lost in the mists of antiquity.
Scattered throughout the region and constantly shifting their habitat
in response to the necessities of their calling, were tribes of
light-coloured straight-haired people, Fulani, nomadic herdsmen and
shepherds. From the ranks of these people, spread over West Africa
from the Senegal to the Chad, had sprung from time to time political
leaders, divines and men of letters who had played a conspicuous part
in the history of the old Niger civilizations. The Hausa Chieftains had
established a nominal authority over a wide expanse of territory and
were constantly at war with the aborigines on their borders. It was not,
however, for warlike feats, but for their commerce, farming, cotton and
leather industry; for the spread of their language; for the great centres
of human activity they had formed and for the fertility and prosperity
of the land which they had made their home, that the Hausas were justly
renowned all over Western and Northern Africa. They had evolved no great
imperial dominion whose various parts acknowledged a central Head, such,
alternately, as Melle, Ghanata, Kanem and Bornu; but they had leavened
with their intelligence and fertilised with their industrial achievements
some of the naturally richest areas of tropical West Africa, and they had
earned for themselves in these respects a widespread fame.
It was at this period that a learned Fulani, Othman Fodio, fell foul
of the chieftain ruling over the most ancient and aristocratic of the
Hausa States, Gober. The latter, fearing for his authority, ordered
all the Fulani in his country to be slaughtered, with the result that
Othman found himself at the head of a numerous following. Emerging
successfully from the struggle, Othman preached a _jihad_, confided
sacred standards to his worthiest captains and despatched them far and
wide. The Hausa Chieftains were successively overthrown and replaced by
Fulani, and regions unassimilated previously by the Hausas were occupied.
Othman’s warriors even crossed the Niger and invaded Yorubaland, a large
part of which they conquered and retained (Ilorin), the forest belt,
Yoruba resistance within it, and, probably, the tsetse fly proving an
insurmountable barrier to further progress southwards. Down the Niger
they advanced no further than the neighbourhood of Lokoja. Othman adopted
the title of _Sarikin mussulmi_, and during his life and that of his son
Bello, Hausaland experienced for the first time the grip of a central,
directing power. It is doubtful, however, if this change in their rulers
had much effect upon the mass of the population, to whom dynastic
convulsions mean very little, and it is noteworthy that the Fulani
conquerors possessed sufficient statecraft to interfere but slightly
with the complicated and efficient system of administration and of
taxation which the Hausas had introduced. They took over the government
of the towns from the Hausas, the people in many instances assisting and
welcoming them. The general condition of the country remained pretty much
what it had been. Moreover—and this fact is significant in connection
with the arguments I shall presently adduce as regards the inspiring
motive of the Fulani uprising—such of the old Hausa families who by their
learning and piety had become invested with a special public sanctity
were not generally molested by the conquering Fulani. Thus the Kauru,
Kajura and Fatika families of Zaria, which had given birth to a long line
of Mallams, were preserved in all their authority and dignity by Othman
and his successors.
A period of comparative political quiet ensued. Othman issued
regulations, and caused them to be strictly enforced, inflicting
the severest punishments upon robbers and evil-doers generally. A
recrudescence of spiritual influence and of letters everywhere manifested
itself. Learned men flocked to Sokoto, where Othman had built his
capital, from West and North Africa. The trans-desert trade revived.
Security was so well established that Clapperton, who visited the country
during Bello’s reign, records the common saying of the time that a woman
could pass unmolested through the land, even if she carried a casket
of gold upon her head. With the death of Bello the influence of the
central power, enormously difficult to maintain in any case owing to the
greatness of the area and the absence of ways of communication, declined.
Administrative decay gradually set in and extended with the years. Little
by little the authority of the Emir of Sokoto was openly questioned,
in all save spiritual matters. Allegiance slackened. Emirs quarrelled
amongst themselves. This or that chief acted on his own responsibility
in political affairs affecting the general weal, or entirely broke away
from control. The roads became infested with bands of highwaymen whose
proceedings differed in no way from the banditti of feudal Europe.
Rebellious chieftains formed robber strongholds. Military operations
degenerated into mere raiding for the capture and sale of prisoners of
war to replenish revenues from ordinary taxation which the disturbed
state of the country was causing to decrease.
There has probably been a natural tendency in recent years to exaggerate
the aggregate effect for evil upon the country which accompanied the
weakening of the Fulani dynasty. There is no proof that the state of
affairs was worse than what had obtained previous to Othman’s _jihad_.
It could hardly have been worse than the condition of Western Europe
at sundry stages in its history, when the weakness of the paramount
authority and the foraging and strife of rival Barons combined to
desolate the homesteads of the people and lay waste the country side.
Some notion of parallels in approaching the events of West African
history is very desirable, but not often conspicuous. But there can be
no doubt—the evidence of one’s own eyes in ruined villages and once
cultivated areas “gone to bush” is conclusive—that when the alien
Britisher arrived upon the scene as a reforming political force, Northern
Nigeria was once more urgently in need of a power sufficiently strong
to restore order. Such was the condition of the Hausa States. In Bornu
matters had gone from disorder to chaos, culminating in the final tragedy
of Rabeh’s incursion, the slaughter of the _Shehu_ and the sack of Kuka,
the capital.
There is no need here to describe the events which led to the British
occupation, or to narrate the circumstances attending it. We have
replaced the Fulani in supreme control of the destinies of Northern
Nigeria. We are there to stay. How are we carrying out our self-imposed
mission? What are the problems with which we have to grapple? These are
the questions to examine. But before doing so, let us first see what
manner of people they are over whom we rule henceforth as over-lords.
What is their mode of life, their principal occupation, their character,
and the material and spiritual influences which direct their outlook and
mould their existence?