The People’s Republic: How they rule

CONTINUED FROM LAST WEEK

NIGERIA LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL

Official Members – 21 in all:

(1) The Governor who was President, with original and casting votes;

(2) Chief Secretary to the Government;

(3) 3 Chief Commissioners;

(4) 3 Senior Residents, one each from the three groups of Provinces;

(5) Attorney-General;

(6) Financial Secretary;

(7) Development Secretary;

(8) Director of Education;

(9) Director of Agriculture;

(10) Director of Medical Services;

(1I) Director of Public Works;

(12) Commissioner of Labour;

(13) Director of Marine;

(14) Comptroller of Customs and Excise;

(15) General Manager of the Railway;

(16) Commissioner of Police;

(17) Commissioner of Lagos and Colony.

Unofficial Members – 28 in all:

(I)  4 Chiefs selected by the Northern House of Chiefs from its members;

(2) 2 Chiefs from the Western Provinces, nominated by the Governor from among the three Chiefs who were members of the Western House of Assembly;

(3) 5 Members from the Northern Provinces selected by the unofficial members of the Northern House of Assembly from their own numbers;

(4) 4 Members from the Western Provinces, selected in the like manner;

(5) 5 Members from the Eastern Provinces similarly selected;

(6) 1 Member for Calabar, elected as under the 1922 Order-in-Council to represent Calabar township;

(7) 3 Members for Lagos elected as under the 1922 Order-in-Council to represent the Municipality of Lagos;

(8) 1 Member for the Colony, nominated by the Governor after consultation with the Native Authorities in the area;

(9) 3 members nominated by the Governor because of their expert knowledge in certain aspects of life not adequately represented in the council.

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This constitution did not affect the composition and powers of the Executive Council which was constituted by Letters Patent in 1922, save that the ratio of two to one between the expatriate and indigenous members of the Council was reversed. We have seen that of the total members of the Northern, Western, and Eastern Houses of Assembly, 14, 7, and 9, respectively, were selected by Native Authorities from among their members. A word or two about the composition of a Native Authority at the time of the selections is, therefore, essential to a proper understanding and appreciation of the representatives of these selected members.

It has been pointed out that at the time of Lugard, a Native Authority was for all practical purposes the Natural Ruler advised by a body of subordinate chiefs. The position remained more or less the same in 1946, and indeed up till the early fifties, in the North and West.

As a result of persistent agitation on the part of Nigerian nationalists and of criticism by a few British political observers, Sir Donald Cameroon (himself a progressive Colonial Administrator) had, in 1933, initiated reforms in Native Administration which had since been gradually improved upon.

The advisory composition of the Native Authority in the West had been enlarged by the inclusion of a number of members other than subordinate traditional chiefs. These members were in a very small minority, and their appointment was, by law, vested in the resident acting in his own discretion.

In practice, however, the appointment was usually made in two stages. In the first stage, a whole town, district, village, or quarter was asked to recommend the name of one person for appointment to the Native Authority. The subordinate chiefs and elders of the area concerned would then assemble at a meeting to agree on name for submission to the resident. The second stage was that when the latter had received the name, he would then decide, in his discretion, whether to accept or reject it. In the one case, he would appoint the person named as a member of the Native Authority; in the other, the chiefs and elders concerned would have to meet again and consider another candidate.

In the North, however, it was the Natural Ruler who, in practice and in his sole discretion, nominated, for appointment by the Resident, those persons other than subordinate traditional chiefs who would sit as advisers in the Native Authority. Invariably, the persons nominated were employees of the Native Authority.

In the Eastern Provinces, the office of Warrant Chief having been abolished in 1933, the first stage in the appointment of a member of Native Authority was conducted by an assemblage of Clan Heads and taxpayers in a village, quarter, or ward. The second stage consisted, as in the West and North, in the resident giving his confirmation to the choice of the village, quarter, or ward meeting.

Thus, in effect, a Native Authority in 1946 consisted (in the North and West) of the natural ruler, his subordinate traditional chiefs, and a small minority of selected members; and (in the East) of persons wholly selected.

It must be pointed out that, in practice, the resident almost invariably appointed the nominees (in the case of the West) of the subordinate chiefs and elders and (in the case of the North) of the traditional ruler. But this was because the Natural Ruler, both in the West and in the North, always saw to it that only a person who was likely to be acceptable to the resident was nominated in the first instance. The Paramount Chiefs and the British officials always kept up-to-date lists of Nigerian ‘agitators’ and ‘self-styled leaders’; and the Paramount Chiefs, as the residents’ loyal agents, were always vigilant to ensure that only ‘good’ Nigerians were recommended to the residents. There were, however, a few urban areas in the Western Provinces where the taxpayers, under the leadership of some ‘agitators’, forced their way into the nomination meetings, voted for some candidates from among themselves, and sheer weight of public opinion, compelled the Residents to appoint those candidates. In the case of the East, the Resident had to accept the choice of the village, quarter, or ward meeting.

CONTINUES NEXT WEEK