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Participation in North-Western Nigeria—District Councils in Action

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 November 2008

Willard B. Stouffer Jr
Willard B. Stouffer Jr
Affiliation:
Political Science Department, Southwest Texas State University, San Marcos1
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Extract

In the past decade Africa has experienced a dramatic decrease in the number of national democratic institutions. Parliaments have not met, parties have declined or been outlawed, and elections have not been held in many states. The situation appears to be similar at the local level. Commenting on this state of affairs, Fred G. Burke observed in 1969: ‘One wonders whether there is to be any future for democratic local government in Africa. One might also wonder whether there should be any future.’2

Type
Africana
Information
The Journal of Modern African Studies , Volume 12 , Issue 1 , March 1974 , pp. 117 - 125
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1974

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References

Page 117 note 1 The author wishes to thank the Shell Foundation for a research grant during 1967–8, and the Inter-University Consortium for Legislative Studies for their follow-up support.

Page 117 note 2 Burke, Fred G., ‘Research in African Local Government: past trends and an emerging approach’, in Miller, Norman (ed.), Research in Rural Africa (East Lansing, 1969), p. 78.Google Scholar

Page 117 note 3 The classic work on Hausa society is still Smith, M. G., The Economy of Hausa Communities in Zaria (London, 1955),Google Scholar followed by his study of the Hausa–Fulani political system in Government in Zazsau: 1800–1950 (London, 1960).Google Scholar An excellent recent book is Hill, Polly, Rural Hausa: a village and a setting (Cambridge, 1972).CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Page 117 note 4 See Hiskett, Mervyn, The Sword of Truth: the life and times of the Shehu Usuman dan Fodio (New York and London, 1973).Google Scholar

Page 118 note 1 For two valuable histories, see Last, D. M., The Sokoto Caliphate (London, 1967),Google Scholar and Johnston, H. A. S., The Fulani Empire of Sokoto (Oxford, 1969).Google Scholar Unfortunately, some praiseworthy research by Goddard, A. D., Fine, J. C. and Norman, D. W., ‘A Socio-Economic Study of Three Villages in the Sokoto Close Settled Zone’, Zaria, 1971,Google Scholar is not yet widely available.

Page 118 note 2 Notably by Whitaker, C. S. Jr, The Politics of Tradition: continuity and change in Northern Nigeria, 1946–1966 (Princeton, 1970),Google Scholar especially Pt. 2, ‘The Local System in Action’.

Page 118 note 3 It was not until 1962 that Sokoto acquired its first elected members on the Native Authority Council, and then only indirectly via the votes of district heads. For a discussion of the limited impact of these elected councillors, see ibid. pp. 200–1.

Page 119 note 1 Sokoto Provincial Papers, 6319 B, Sokoto Divisional Report, 1945 National Archives, Kaduna.

Page 119 note 2 Elections to district councils were supposed to take place every three years; see Campbell, M. J., The Law and Practice of Local Government in Northern Nigeria (Lagos, 1963).Google Scholar

Page 119 note 3 Native Authority Law Edict, 1966, and Circulars Nos. 33 and 37 by Ministry for Local Government of Northern Nigeria, 1966.

Page 119 note 4 Field notes in Anka District, Sokoto Native Authority, February 1968.

Page 123 note 1 Cf. Almond, Gabriel A. and Powell, G. Bingham Jr, Comparative Politics: a developmental approach (Boston, 1966), especially pp. 10–13.Google Scholar