Annual report on the social and economic progress of the people of Nigeria.

Date:
[1936]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Annual report on the social and economic progress of the people of Nigeria. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    12/110 (page 6)
    18. In the Benue Province, further reorganisations have been carried out during the year, and improvements are being achieved both in the administrative and judicial functions of the clan and kindred councils. 19. The Awtun District of Ilorin Province was transferred to the Ekiti Division of Ondo Province in April. The people of Awtun are Ekitis, and the transfer was in accordance with their expressed wish to unite with their kinsmen of the Southern Provinces. The Central Council at Ilorin has been reorganised, and two educated members have been appointed. The development of village councils has continued in the Province, and every effort has been made to impress upon the Native Authorities that such councils are a most necessary and important part of the machinery of Government. 20. The Council of the Emir of Agaie in the Niger Province was reconstituted to consist of three members, and it has worked satisfactorily during the year. The reorganisation of the Gwari- Kamuku Federation into two separate federations, referred to in the eighteenth paragraph of the Report for 1935, was effected on the 1st of April, and results have fully justified the step; an interesting feature of the new organisation is the successful working of the Minna Town Council. In Kontagora Division the Districts of Rijau and Kumbashi have been reorganised on a tribal basis, the village heads dealing with the Emir through an Emir’s representative. 21. The reorganisations carried out in the Plateau Province in 1935 have proved successful and further changes are to be made. In Achakka District the personal Native Authority is to be replaced by a priest-chief and council for each of the Rukuba village groups, and a tribal council, comprising the village councils, is to be established with advisory functions only. The personal Native Authorities are to be replaced in the Jere and Buji Districts by federal councils, and in Amo District by the traditional chief and council; alterations to the constitution of the native courts in these areas are also to be made, and the future federation of all four districts is contemplated. An interesting feature of reorganisation in the Jere and Buji Districts is that the semi-nomad Fulani have asked to be represented on the councils, and will thus combine with the pagan peoples for administrative and judicial purposes. 22. In the Zaria Province, three small districts have been combined and three redundant native courts abolished; non-Moslem groups, encouraged by the acquisition of their own judicial machinery and tribal councils, are showing signs of initiative and political development.