PHD-Department of History, Archaeology and Political Studies

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Browsing PHD-Department of History, Archaeology and Political Studies by Author "Ajiji, David Nyam"

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    The politics of boundary formations in the Afizere region of colonial and post independent Nigeria 1900 – 2018
    (Kenyatta University, 2024-09) Ajiji, David Nyam
    Boundary formations in Nigeria have been politicized since colonization, with long term effects on state-society relations, as well as intergroup relations across the country. Building on the salient features of the Nigerian state, this study interrogates the politics of boundary formations in the Afizere region of Jos, Nigeria 1900 - 2018. The case selection of the Afizere region is informed by the fact that it is probably the only locality on the Jos Plateau which has had large portions of its original territory demarcated to states, local governments and districts since the end of colonialism. This work adopts a combined theoretical scheme and relies on the Lockean and Hobbesian social contract theories to explain the politics of boundary formation in the Afizere region, and its aftermath. The study builds on a body of existing literatures which although have tackled issues on the state and the politics of boundary formations in Nigeria, but have not discussed how and why such politics has diffused into or affected state–society relations in terms of political participation, patronage, segregation and distribution of infrastructural development. It also assesses how local people, groups or socio-cultural configurations in the Afizere region within the administrative division of Jos Plateau, Nigeria have related arising from the boundary formations. In addition to secondary sources, the study also relies on primary sources of data such as archival and oral interviews in its methodology. Archival sources include documents from government establishments and ministries, official government gazettes and pronouncements. Most of the informants were former and serving governors of the Plateau state, former and serving government officials in charge of boundaries, traditional rulers, community and religious leaders, cultural organizations, boundary communities, geographers, and the political class. The study argues that the exercise of boundary fixing in Nigeria is a direct outcome of the interest of the state. It further submits that multiple spurred boundary fixing in Afizere region has fundamentally disrupted the life of the people living there. It has been established that Nigeria’s processes of boundary formations have been guided by manipulations by the elite that held on to power right from the point of independence. This has complicated relationships of the people and their perceptions on the state as an institution that has applied forced in administering and balkanizing them. The study’s findings have implications on rethinking or restructuring the Nigerian state in ways that will help the Nigerian national boundary commission in resolving most of the lingering boundary issues before it and in reforming or dismantling the structural inbalances in the country so as to achieve fairness for all citizens.