Hausaland Divided: Colonialism and Independence in Nigeria and Niger 0801428556

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THE WILDER HOUSE SERIES IN POLITICS, HISTORY, AND CULTURE The Wilder House Series is published in association with the Wilder House Board of Editors and the University of Chicago. David Laitin, Editor Leora Auslander, Asnt Editor George Steinmetz, As Editor A list of titles in the series appears at the end of the book.

ALso BY WILLIAM F. S. MILES:

Elections and Ethnicity in French Martinique: A Paradox in Paradise Elections in Nigeria: A Gmsts Perspective De la politique a la Martinique: Paradoxe au Paradis Imperial Burdens: Countenolonialism in Former French India

HAUSALAND DIVIDED

HAUSALAND DIVIDED ColoniaJism and Independence in Nigeria and Niger WILLIAM F. S. MILES

Cornell University Press Ithaca and London

Copyright ©

1994 by Cornell University

Al rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or

parts thereof, must not be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher. For information, address Cornell University Press, Sage House, First published

512 East State Street, Ithaca, New York 14850.

1994 by Cornell University Press.

The following materials are reproduced by permission: Figure 2 and data for Tables s and 6 and the accompanying text first appeared as "Nationalism versus Ethnic Identity in Sub­ Saharan Africa," by William F. S. Miles and David A. Rochefort, inAmericmJ Political S&ien«Rniew 85, no. 2 (1991). Map 7, based onA.friamBoundarie, by Ian Brownlie (copyright © 1979 by the Royal Institute of International Afairs), and Map 8, fromA.f of DtiUra: History tmd Change in a Hausa State, 1800-1958, by Michael Smith (copyright © 1978 by The Regents of the University of California), appear by courtesy of University of California Press. "The Tale of Alhaji Mallam H." first appeared as "Islam and Development in the Western Sahel: Engine or Brake," by Wilam F. S. Miles, in Journal ofthe Institute of Muslim Minority Af 7, no. 2 (1986). Al translations of archival materials and all photographs are the author's. Printed in the United States of America

@ The paper in this bok meets the minimum requirements

of the American National Standard for Information Sciences­ Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI z39.48-19s+.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Miles, William F. S. Hausaland divided: colonialism and independence in Nigeria and Niger I William F. S. Miles. p. cm. - (The Wilder House series in politics, history, and culture) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-8014-2855-6 1. Hausa (African people)-Ethnic identity. 2. Hausa (African people)-Govemment relations. 3. Niger-Colonial influence. 4. Nigeria-Colonial influence. s. Assimilation (Sociology)-Niger. 6. Assimilation (Sociology)-Nigeria. I. Title. II. Series. DT515.45.H38M55 1994 93-31669 966.26' 004937-dC20

This book is dedicated to two Samuel Mileses: to the father who

came

to Hausa.land and

to the son whom I yearn to bring

Contents

Illustrations, Maps, Tables, and Figures Preface A Note on Hausa Orthography

Xl Xlll xvm

I. Introduction: Rehabilitating the Borderline 2. T he Setting

20

3 . Ethnic Identity and National Consciousness: Who Are the Hausa?

42

4. Boundary Considerations

60

5. Colonizing the Hausa: British and French

9I

6. According to the Archives ...

1 17

7. Chieftaincy in Yardaji and Yekuwa

I45

8. Arziki vs. Talauci: The Economic Comparison

I75

9. Educating the Hausa

227

IO. Islam: T he Religious Difference II. Vilage Cultures Compared

274

I2. Transcending the Tangaraho

3 04

Appendix A. Fieldwork Strategy: The Choice of a Site lX

3I9

x

Contents Appendix B. Administration of Self-Identity Survey s

322

Appendix C. Selected Characteristics, Daura Local Government and Magaria Arrondissement,

1978 1985

324

Appendix D. Extracts from Anglo-French Treaties Delimiting the Nigeria-Niger Boundary,

1906 1910

325

Appendix E. Communique of the Nigeria-Niger Transborder Cooperation Workshop, Kano, July

2 8, 1989

328

Appendix F.Glossary

333

Bibliography

343

Index

363

Illustrations, Maps, Tables, and Figures

Illustrations On the borderline

Frontispiece

The medical dispensary in Yardaji The medical dispensary in Yekuwa Sarkin Harou, chief of Magaria, with palace guard Chief Alhaji Harou, Sarkin Fulani of Yardaji Chief Alhaji Adamu Danjuma of Yekuwa-Kofai Chief Sule of Yekuwa-Hamada Yardaji's primary school teachers Teachers in Yekuwa's primary school The marketplace in Yardaji Yekuwa's weekly market Showing off in Yekuwa Showing off in Yardaji The schoolday in Yekuwa begins with flag-raising In Yardaji the schoolday begins with prayers Bridal procession in Yekuwa The emir of Daura with the sultan of Zinder The military governor of Sokoto State with the prefect of Zinder

26 27 107 150 152 155 1b4 165 209 209 221 222 23 6 23 7 .259 3 14 3 15

Maps 1 . Hausaland 2. Niger and Nigeria in Africa

2 4

xii

3. +· 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.

Illustrations, Maps, Tables, and Figures Local government areas of Daura and Magaria The Niger-Nigeria border region Yekuwa Yardaji Niger-Nigeria boundary demarcations The chiefdom of Daura, c.

1800

Yardaji market

IO. Yekuwa market

23 28 33 36 66 71 20+ 208

Tables 1. Populations of Yardaji and Yekuwa, by status in household, 1986 2. Number and size of Yardaji and Yekuwa households 3. Number of Yardaji and Yekuwa husbands and wives born outside village of residence

+. Number of handicapped persons in Yardaji and Yekuwa 5. Afty choices for non-Hausa cocitizens vs. "foreign" Hausa 6. Cumulative s umary of afty choices 7.

Nurber of stalls offering goods and services at weekly

markets of Yardaji and Yekuwa, 1986 8. Occupations of heads of household, Yardaji and Yekuwa, 1986 9. Secondary occupations of heads of household in Yekuwa, 1986

IO. Heads of Yardaji and Yekuwa households who have and

have not made the pilgrimage to Mecca

11. Married women kept in seclusion in Yardaji and Yekuwa

24-

25

29 29 5+ 56 206 21+ 216 257 260

Figures 1. The places of Yardaji and Yekuwa in the administrative structures of Nigeria and Niger, 1986 2. Rank-ordering of seven attributes of social identity by respondents in Yardaji and Yekuwa

3. Black-market currency exchange rate, naira vs. CFA franc, 1957 1989

22 52 196

Preface

This book began with a theft. In 1979, as my two-year stint as a

Peace Corps high school teacher in south-central Niger was drawing to a close, my home was broken into and my precious JVC shortwave radio/cas­ sette recorder-player-a

gift from my father-was stolen.

Although there

was a suspect, the prospects of recovering the radio were, according to the

town's police chief, virtually nil: the suspect's movements immediately after

the break-in were traced to a village across the border in Nigeria. Presum­

ably the radio had been hidden or sold there, in Nigerian territory. Even if

the radio could be traced, the police chief went on, its recovery would ne­

cessitate foreign diplomacy and the invocation of international law: Nige­

rien authorities in Niamey (Niger's capital) would have to contact their

counterparts in Lagos, who would then need to follow the administrative chain of command down to the small, rather insignificant border village. I

was made to understand that even in the unlikely event that the appropriate government officials were to take an interest in my pilfered radio-hardly a matter of consequence in the larger scheme of Nigerien-Nigerian rela­

tions-the process would be inordinately time-consuming and that in al

probability I would be long gone from the country by the time the affair was resolved.

As it turned out, I did get my radio back, though its recovery had little

to do with Nigerien-Nigerian diplomatic intervention at the national level.

My radio was returned thanks to the successful invocation of local Hausa

norms. The chief of the Nigerien district where I resided sent messengers to the nearby Nigerian village to inform the chief there of the problem.

The village chief sumoned the fishmonger who had bought my purloined radio and prevailed upon him to sell it back to my chief's messengers. In the end, then, though it had been smuggled across an international boundary, I was able to buy back and retrieve my property from a foreign country.

The theft of my radio and the circumstances of its return whetted my

curiosity about the partition of the Hausa into Niger and Nigeria and the

xiv

Preface

consequences of that partition for frontier life in Hausaland today. It also

planted the seeds for a research agenda that entailed four subsequent trips

to Hausaland (of seventeen months' cumulative duration) and culminated

in my participation in the Nigeria-Niger Transborder Cooperation Work­

shop, held under the auspices of the National Boundary Commission of Nigeria in July 1989.

I initiated my fieldwork with a null hypothesis: that the partition made

little difference in the lives of Hausa who lived in villages along the bound­

ary. I assumed that, as independent-minded as African agriculturalists gen­

erally are, they would prefer to have as little to do with government as

possible and would tend to ignore external impositions upon their conduct and lifestyle. I expected to enhance my understanding of Hausa culture,

language, and society during my nine sponsored months in the border­

lands, but in the end to emerge from the bush without· much to report

in the way of political transformation or development. In fact, I was so

smitten by the impact of the colonial boundary (and other invisible lines of separation) that I not only prolonged my research in Hausaland but have extended this line of inquiry to South Asia (Pondicherry) and the South

Seas (Vanuatu) .

But to return to the

causa causans:

though

kumya

(discretion) prevents

me from naming the radio fikher, let it be known that we have long since

been reconciled and that I now accept his attribution of his proprietary

lapse to involuntary bori-a possession trance.

My initial fieldwork was accomplished between February 1983 and Janu­

ary 1984. My surveys, alas, were lost in the diplomatic pouch, and I returned during the sumer of 1986 to redo them, thanks to the intercession of Sena­

tor Edward Kennedy and the commiseration of the Fulbright Program.

Unless I specify otherwise, the ethnographic present is 1983-1986.

Whether fieldwork is a science or an art is an ongoing debate in anthro­

pological and sociological circles. My colleagues in political science are

usually removed from such controversies. But here the issue cannot be avoided. In this book I have tried to integrate the two approaches, ap­

plying strict random sampling techniques in surveys on self-identity and

ethnic affinity (Chapter 3) and extracting research insights while avoid­

ing arrest as I stumbled upon a government investiture ceremony during

a chance horseback ride along the border (Chapter 7). In like manner,

I gleaned oral testimony both from scheduled formal interviews (during

which I took written notes) and from spontaneous utterances during long

marches and cold-season bonfire chats (which I noted in my field diaries as

soon as circumstances allowed) . To be honest, I am not sure which method

Preface

xv

is the more reliable: the standardized note-taking and tape-recorded sit­ down interview-which academic colleagues abjure--or the spontaneous, uncontrived causerie-a more culturally appropriate means· of information exchange. Since

I have gathered information by both methods, I must exercise

more caution than usual in identifying informants by name: circumstances did not always lend themselves to determining whether comments were for attribution. Political sensitivity, moreover, prevents me from identifying the source of each quotation, even when anonymity was not explicitly re­ quested: in expressing criticism of government or authority, village friends placed in me a trust that still weighs heavily. At the risk of failure to adhere to strict canons of methodological disclosure, I have chosen to err on the side of discretion. Gaining acceptance within an African village requires one to fashion a new persona. Achieving credibility within the society of scholars demands another kind of projection altogether. Despite the inherent contradiction, I have tried in these pages to be faithful to both of these profiles. To

the extent that I have succeeded in bringing together the communities of scholarship and borderline life, I am satisfied that my efforts have been worthwhile. May both groups forgive whatever errors they detect. My inquiry into life along the Niger-Nigeria boundary has been im­ mensely facilitated by those first-generation scholars �ho built an early foundation for Hausa studies, as well as those who subsequently reconnoi­ tered the border in doctoral quest. In the first category I pay homage to Polly Hill, Guy Nicolas, the late M. G. Smith, and C. S. Whitaker, Jr.; in the second I salute John Collins and Derrick Thom. Scholars whose vast ex­ perience and knowledge have contributed enormously, through both pub­ lication and conversation, to my own understanding of Hausaland include Barbara Callaway, Bob Charlick, Michael Horowitz, Michael Mortimore, John Paden, and Pearl Robinson. Development practitioners-cultural as

well as economic-whom I acknowledge for the same reasons are Andy

Cook (with special thanks for currency and cattle bailouts}, Jeff Metzel, and Connie Stephens. I especially acknowledge Professor Horace Miner for providing me with my first fieldwork research opportunity in Hausaland. Some scholars who are not Hausa specialists have nevertheless had a considerable influence on my Africanist thinking and writing. A. I. Asi­ waju, the dean of partitioned Africans, has imparted a new respectability to the rest of us "borderline scholars." Naomi Chazan,grande dame of Afri­ can politics, stuck up for my "grassroots perspective" on Nigerian Hausa

xvi

Preface

elections and launched me on my way. Larry Diamond, my patron scholar­ saint, rescued me in Kano and has kept at it ever since. Lenny Markovitz,

tsllk for generations of sumer (and lifetime!) senior students of Africa,

volunteered to read my draft and patiently nudged me to whip it into shape. And to APSR-collaborator Dave Rochefort, who never dreamed of

being included within the family of Africanists,

I

can only cite a Hausa

proverb: "Duniya mace da ciki ce": The world is a pregnant woman (one never knows what it will produce next). Other scholar-friends based in Kano fortified me for my longer stints in the bush. They include Abdel Muta'al zein el Abdin Ahmed, M. K. Bashir, Momodou Darboe ("Not again, Malam

Bil!"), Ali Farbood, Martin

Fisher, Shahina Ghazanfar, and Gerry Kleis. Also in Kano, Jeffrey Lite acted as cultural afairs attache par excellence.

For sustenance in Magaria-spiritual as well as physical-I thank Mallam

Souleymane Abdou · �ts ,- - - - - -1 Tr�e!s_ Mattress • Used Li-!�- L " Lealher WELL , : 'i; B�[S_ . T�a Horse Shoe• • Clothes Working Jewel�- • � ---ide -/• Equip. . Repairs •Water & oons• . . Rfa • Tailor ,• Pilows Mangoes . Jewelry Sewing of Hats Nati yl! curs • candy Grains : I Snver Red · ,Medicine/. Metal : Trinkets Seling Cloth' Barbers Coins Trade Peppers ', Spoons i I Sauce Hats, Glass, • Prav.er Beads, ewing · Plast·IC _,. !J!'.inkets . Locks §ags • Traders Af'. . • FlipFlops Goat peppers Flashlights Shoes .. • • Red • "'" • ·Sifters Sheets Blankets z Shoes ,- - , • Calabash ! s t Bread • & Hats Perfume - , 1 .c' Per I urne 1 Cloth Kolanuts 1 Cassette Cloth :c1,oth l • . Trader Local • : Milk -'- _ ..! Re ir nn kets c Medicines • Sugar • i _1 Nuts Watch • Trader Plastici - - -cloth - - - - : Mangoes �t!i - \lia1e] • . Detergen � _Kola • _ _ ,- _ _ , Repair BagsL - - - - - - - - - J Food FlipFlops :9!9!t'_ .!,1 l ..1Perlume Goat e Goat • • Barber • Basins Sewing s!! & Candy .!Tr�er Trader.- -,OM _ Kerosene l:!