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The British Model of Indirect RuleLugard and Nigeria

Historical backgroundBritish Motives

Expansion of British Empire Britain regarded itself as 'ruler of the waves'. The songs 'Rule Britannia' and 'Land of

Hope and Glory' show this. British people thought that they were doing the world a favor by taking the British,

government and Christianity to the rest of the world, ending slavery and barbaric traditions, bringing 'civilisation' and an international 'Pax Britannica', or 'British peace'

Desire to secure sources of raw materials Desire to secure overseas market for their manufactured goods Desire to invest their surplus capital outside Europe – hence the saying ‘ Imperialism is

the highest stage of capitalism Cape to Cairo

Indirect Rule (used by Great Britain)

Local officials were used Limited self-rule Goal to develop future leaders Governments based on European styles, but may have local rulers Local rulers allowed to keep their authority and status in the new colonial setting Made access to region’s natural resources easier Was cheaper because few officials had to be trained Affected the local culture less but some local elites resisted foreign conquest British administrators made all the major decisions while local authorities just carried out

the orders Kept the old African elite in power and provided few opportunities for ambitious and

talented young Africans Sowed the seeds for class and tribal tensions of the 20th century

First implemented by Lord Lugard in Nigeria and used by the British in West Africa, indirect rule consisted of keeping the African power structure and making it part of the colonial administration. If there was no local power structure, then new tribes and chiefs were created. The local leaders had to follow the colonial rules in return for protection, salaries and gifts.

The local leaders were responsible for collecting taxes, providing cheap labor, and reporting back to the governor or the colony. The governor was an official appointed by the British government. The intent of the British was not to destroy the African structure and culture, but to share skills and values.

Why Britain applied Indirect rule Shortage of personnel

British had few official who could not administer the colonies effectively, Chiefs were highly needed to assist the British thus Africans were used in order to avoid European man power who could be even more economically expensive.

to avoid African resistances

It could minimize the number of people who were fighting against the colonial rule because the Africans could think that they were not under the foreign rule as they were not ready to resist their own chiefs and kings.

Inadequate funds

this system minimized the expenditures because the African local chiefs were not paid salaries they depended on praises and receiving of gifts. British Government had no enough fund to pay salaries to the workers.

Communication barriers

African people did not know how to speak English while the British did not know how to speak the African local languages so this influenced the use of indirect rule policy. So Chiefs were seen as officials who could be understood by the local population.

The existence of tropical diseases

in the interior many White's administrators' feared tropical diseases such as malaria, small pox and other tropical diseases found in the interior of South Africa so they used local African chiefs who were familiar with the environment with body immunity against tropical diseases.

Physical difficulties of the colonies

colonialism could not be able to go to the interior areas which had a thick forest, wild animal, they decided to leave the chiefs to work to lead on their behalf.

Lack of efficient infrastructure

in the colonies there was the problem of poor infrastructures such as accommodation, medical facilities, clean water and transportation due to the presence of thick forest, valleys, and mountains that made difficult for the transportation to the interior areas.

High production

the system facilitated colonial production since the local chief was supervising at the grassroots of production and ensured a constant supply of labor so cash crops were highly produced.

Impacts of Indirect Rule

Created Tribalism – Chiefs who were given the power regarded themselves as superior to the others so they disagree to unite with other societies to form a national unity. For example in Uganda Kabaka Edward wanted independence for the Buganda Kingdom only in 1960

Led to unbalanced development in the colonies- Areas which had chiefs developed in term of social services like school, hospitals and roads networks so this caused conflicts between people especially after independence.

Turned African chiefs to be puppets- They were used by the British to colonize African societies, so chiefs were no longer worked for the interest of their fellow Africans.

Created social stratification- Some tribes became the ruling class while other were the supplier of cheap labor also chiefs and the royal class was favored in education hence made the differences among the people.

Led to the intensive exploitation- Indirect rule led to the exploitation of many African resources such as human labor, natural resources such as minerals and other things through the use of local chefs who worked at the grass roots.

Lugard and Nigeria

The British began their colonization of the area by slowly moving around the area and defeating different power heads in order to obtain more trading goods. The British government gained control over the Royal Niger Company’s territories, and added on lower regions near the river to create the Protectorate of Northern Nigeria and Protectorate of Southern Nigeria. The British kept their control over Nigeria via indirect rule, which meant that local leaders would govern the area under orders of the British. This way, the British could profit from the economy of Nigeria that, because of their intervention, was based primarily on the export of different crops including palm oil, cacao, and peanuts, while also not getting in the way of ethnic tensions. After the British banned the slave trade in the early nineteenth century, they switched their trade to palm oil. In fact, this trade became so important that the area became known as the Oil Rivers. Oils were needed as lubricants for the new industrial engines back in Europe and it was also used to make soap.

In order to deal with the diversity of groups of the area they had essentially created and defined as a colony, the British created a “divide and rule policy” that could keep different Nigerian groups as far away from one another as possible. Further divisions among the country came about from the fact that “traditional authorities” led the north, and subsequently Islam resisted the spread of Christianity. The south, however, was home of a “political hierarchy” in which the British “ruled through those who were most malleable.” Here Christianity spread quickly, adding further tensions to the area by separating people in both religion and politics.

It was not until 1861 that Britain formally occupied their first Nigerian territory, Lagos, in a bid to protect Christian converts and trading interests, and to further their anti-slavery campaign. In 1884, the British occupied what would later become the Southern Protectorate and the Northern Protectorate piecemeal from 1900 to 1903. By 1903, the British controlled the territory that comprises modern-day Nigeria, but as three separate administrative blocks.

As early as 1898, the British considered combining the then-three protectorates to reduce the administrative burden on the British and allow the rich south to effectively subsidize the much less economically prosperous north. This is what Lord Lugard was referring to in his infamous speech of how a marriage between the “rich wife of substance and means” (the south) and the “poor husband” (the north) would lead to a happy life for both. Some have suspected that Lugard was also referring to the political supremacy of the north over the south. The name “Nigeria,” was coined by the future Lady Lugard in an 1897 London Times article. 

“What we often call the Northern Protectorate of Nigeria today can be better described as the poor husband whilst its southern counterpart can be fairly described as the rich wife or the

woman of substance and means. A forced union of marriage between the two will undoubtedly result in peace, prosperity and marital bliss for both husband and wife for many years to come. It is my prayer that that union will last forever”.

From this contribution, it is clear that this was a “forced” union. It is also clear that Lugard saw northern Nigeria as a “poor husband” that needed constant attention and support whilst he saw southern Nigeria as nothing more than a “rich wife” or a “woman of substance and means” whose plight was to be constantly pillaged and ravished.

This was his vision: a northern Nigeria that was essentially the “head of the household” and that would remain in control of all the power and resources of the state, and a southern Nigeria that would play the role of a passive and subservient wife whose destiny it was to remain in perpetual subjugation and bondage.

With Lord Lugard’s arbitrary conception of Nigeria in mind, one can begin to see the many and varied problems colonialism created in Nigeria, across West Africa, and around the world. Not least among these problems, for Nigeria in particular, was the problem of a unifying national identity. It is no wonder that diverse peoples, forcibly united into single states, sometimes turn to separatism. Contemporary examples range from Biafra (Nigeria), to Ambazonia (Cameroon), to Somaliland (Somalia), and to Azawad (Mali). 

A British colonial administrator Frederick D. Lugard was the driving force behind the doctrine of indirect rule, which the British employed in many of its African colonies. Lugard wrote The Dual Mandate in British Tropical Africa. In this he stressed the moral and financial advantages of exercising control over subject populations through indigenous (native) institutions.

Lugard thought that by using tribal and customary laws Europeans could establish a strong foundation for colonial rule. Forms of indirect rule worked in regions where Africans had already established strong and highly organized states. Often this plan was not effective, especially in the regions that were not well organized under the control of its colonial leaders.

From the beginnings of colonization in Nigeria, Lord Lugard put indirect rule in place. With indirect rule there was a central government and a local administration. The central government consisted of a governor, executive, and a legislative council. The local administration consisted of traditional rulers and institutions. Nigeria was run by indirect rule (according to reports from colonial administrators in Nigeria) because of a staff shortage, the cheapness of the administration system, and the sustainability of the administration system. However the real

reasons behind indirect rule had more to do with the personal and group interests of the British colonizers. By presenting goals as humanitarian issues, it was easier to legitimize colonization.

Indirect rule was the solution to the British colonists issue of insufficient staffing and communication. When Sokoto and Kano were under British control there were over seven million northern Nigerians and only two hundred thirty one Europeans.

With indirect rule there was “a single Government in which the native chiefs have well-defined duties and an acknowledged status equally with British officials.”  Lugard wrote that the British presence in the government was strictly to support native rule.

Each chief oversaw a “Native Administration” and his village.  A village headman collected taxes in each area for the “Native Treasury” which funded schools and prisons.  A district headman was in charge of village headmen. British staff oversaw the heads of the districts and villages. Legislation was in the hands of the native Central Government as long as legislation was “not repugnant to humanity, or in opposition to any ordinance”.

In 1916, Lugard passed an Ordinance that proclaimed the colonial government as the most powerful entity in Nigeria in regards to education, promoted structural unification of Nigeria’s system of education, and through its creation of School Committees, promoted the importance of Western Education.

“In character and temperament, the typical African of this race-type is a happy, thriftless, excitable person, lacking in self control, discipline, and foresight. Naturally courageous, and naturally courteous and polite, full of personal vanity, with little sense of veracity, fond of music and loving weapons as an oriental loves jewelry. His thoughts are concentrated on the events and feelings of the moment, and he suffers little from the apprehension for the future or grief for the past. His mind is far nearer to the animal world than that of the European or Asiatic, and exhibits something of the animals’ placidity and want of desire to rise beyond the state he has reached. Through the ages the African appears to have evolved no organised religious creed, and though some  tribes appear to believe in a deity, the religious sense seldom rises above pantheistic animalism and seems more often to take the form of a vague dread of the supernatural.  He lacks the power of organisation, and is conspicuously deficient in the management and control alike of men or business. He loves the display of power, but fails to realise its responsibility….  He will work hard with a less incentive than most races.  He has the courage of the fighting animal – an instinct rather than a moral virtue….  In brief, the virtues and defects of this race-type are those of attractive children, whose confidence when it is won is given ungrudgingly as to an older and wiser superior and without envy….  Perhaps the two traits which have impressed me as those most characteristic of the African native are his lack of apprehension and his ability to visualize the future”.

How did Lugard believe the British should rule their colonies

in tropical Africa? [4]

the British should support native states and chieftainships native laws and courts should be supported Lugard banned slavery and cruel punishments He exercised control centrally through the native rulers created an African Regiment with British officers Lugard believed the British would gain control of colonies through co-operation with

local rulers His system was to prove economically beneficial to Britain and the native rulers It was a system of indirect rule

Describe how the British model of indirect rule operated. 49One mark for each relevant point; additional mark for supporting detail

‘This was a system of governance for British non-colonial dependencies.’ ‘It applied to parts of Africa and Asia.’ ‘Day to day government was left to the traditional rulers.’ ‘These rulers gained stability and were given protection by Britain.’ ‘The rulers often had a small number of British advisors.’ ‘Britain took control of external affairs, often taxation and communications.’ ‘It was cheaper and easier than direct rule.’ ‘It did not annoy the ‘locals’ as much as direct rule.’

In how far was the nature of British imperialism different to that of other countries in Africa? [10]

minimum of three explanations (2 on one side; 1 on the other) Britain allowed the establishment of private companies that were granted large

territories to administrate in Africa. One of these was the British East Africa Company. Britain used indirect rule. They used indigenous African rulers within the colonial administration.’

The French used direct rule. The French removed traditional political authorities such as chiefs from power The French stressed policies of assimilation, ‘civilizing’ African societies so that they

would be more like European society.’ Belgians wanted assets

Why did Britain expand its empire in the nineteenth century?

‘The large British Empire was good for the British economy. Colonies could contribute raw materials and food products, many of them unavailable

in Britain, such as bananas, palm oil, rubber and tea. The colonies also provided outlets for manufactured goods, free of import restrictions.’

It was believed that a large empire was a matter of pride.’ ‘It wanted a market for manufactured goods.’ ‘It wanted sources for raw materials.’ ‘It was for strategic reasons.’ ‘They wanted to spread their beliefs about Christianity.’ ‘To increase the country’s wealth.’

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2016/jan/28/cecil-rhodes-statue-will-not-be-removed--oxford-university