Academic literature on the topic 'Historical Society of Nigeria'

The thesis is a study of oral tradition preserved in the Ogoni district of Eastern Nigeria. The Ogoni, who occupy the mainland coast of south-eastern Nigeria, between the Imo and the Bonny rivers, are culturally and linguistically distinct. Their ancestors arrived in the area by sea in canoes many centuries before their present neighbours came to settle. Their social organization was based on class distinctions, with success in agriculture as the chief means of social mobility. Yams and plantains, which, they claim, were domesticated by their ancestors, constitute the main crops. Their religious-cum-military system included the award of titles, the highest of which is the basis of ancestral spirit-possession among the Ogoni. Contrary to long-held opinions, the thesis reveals that the Ogoni controlled the long-distance trade of the Eastern Niger Delta in pre-European times. Trade routes linked the hinterland to market towns on the coast of Ogoni. The main items of trade consisted of salt, slaves and sea foods, and the medium of exchange was an iron currency. The study showed that the ancient Ogoni regarded the acquisition of domestic slaves as a mark of social distinction. Furthermore, the thesis clarifies several issues concerning the early Portuguese contacts in this region and identifies the trading places described in the early Portuguese writings. The thesis is based entirely on primary material collected from selected informants during my fieldwork in the area from June till October 1981, and from November 1983 till March 1984. The type of informants included traditional rulers and chiefs, priests, spirit-mediums of founding ancestors who were currently possessing living descendants, recognized hunters, heads of traditional institutions, leaders of occupational guilds, heads of secret societies, etc. Interviews were recorded on tapes, transcribed and translated into English. The thesis is an analysis of this final material.

Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited<br>Nigeria has experienced high economic growth over the last 15 years. Hailed as the Giant of Africa, the Economist confirmed in 2014 that Nigeria had the largest gross domestic product in the continent. Yet, after more than a decade of sustained growth using international metrics of measurement, the country has exhibited dismal performance across multiple measures of development, security, and democratic governance due to the mismanagement of its economic resources. The majority of Nigerians attest to this in successive Afrobarometer Network and Transparency International surveys conducted between 2008 and 2014. This thesis acknowledges these facts but draws the reader into an equally important exploration of the role of the masses and civil society in engendering democratic governance. The underlying premise is that civil society can play a role in facilitating representative governance, especially as it relates to service delivery and the Nigerian populace’s security. The thesis posits that civil society has been handicapped in its ability to fulfill this charter for three distinct reasons: weakened traditional institutions; lack of social capital and trust between the masses, civil society, and the state; and the detrimental impact of a primarily oil- and mineral-based economic model. These factors all hinder the government’s willingness to work toward the best interest of the society as a whole.

What does the idea of civil society suggest in Nigeria? What does actually existing civil society look like. How do the notion(s) and reality of civil society in Nigeria relate to postulations in both global and indigenous literatures. These are the three critical problems that this thesis investigates. While the global literature variously denies, misunderstands, and ultimately misrepresents the reality of civil society in Nigeria, the Nigerian literature tends to perpetuate the same misrepresentation by uncritically apotheosising it. This study corrects the misapprehension in the two categories of analysis by attempting to show civil society in Nigeria in all its conceptual and actual complexity. In the process, significant insights into the nature of civil society, the state, and the market in Nigeria are generated. At the core of the thesis are two in-depth case studies which seek to exemplify the moral and thematic ambivalence of the idea of civil society in Nigeria. While one case study, an analysis of citizens' mass boycott of mobile phone services, shows up the 'civil' dimension of civil society, the other, an investigation of the protest spawned by the Miss World 2002 beauty pageant, exposes its 'uncivil' aspect. Drawing on these scenarios, the thesis rejects the existing hegemonic location of civil society in the associative spectrum and instead canvasses an understanding which integrates ordinary citizens into the heart of civil society discourse. The thesis also examines the implications of this definitional shift for predominant understandings of the idea of civil society, most especially its relationship with coercion/violence. While suggesting that coercion might be an inevitable property of actually existing civil society everywhere, it problematises notions of 'civility' and 'incivility' and appropriates the latter as a necessary logic of ordinary citizens' action.

There have been two key difficulties concerning the study of indigenous rituals, religious conversion and change among the Igbo of South-eastern Nigeria, both before and after the missionary upsurge of the mid-nineteenth Century. First is the inadequate awareness or lack of reflexivity by some scholars regarding the resilience of the Igbo indigenous religions. Second is the neglect of oral sources and the overdependence on missionary archives. This thesis draws on field research on the Presbyterian Church of Nigeria (PCN) and the Ogo society in Amasiri. The research method follows a triangulation research design which incorporates an ethnographic methodology. This involves participant observation and interviews, thus allowing for a set of guidelines that connect theoretical paradigms to strategies of inquiry and methods for collecting empirical data. Within the Amasiri clan it is expected that every male will be initiated into the Ogo society as a means of attaining manhood as well as incorporation into the adult group. Refusal to be initiated into the society amounts to ostracisation and a loss of social relevance. The thesis examines the establishment, growth and impact of Christianity among the Amasiri clan in its different phases (colonial and post-colonial eras) - 1927-2008. It demonstrates the interaction between Amasiri indigenous religions and Christianity, in order to show how and to what extent the Ogo society has endured over time. The thesis analyses specific beliefs and ritual practices of the Ogo society and Christianity, paying close attention to the resultant tensions as well as the dynamic of acquired and lived religious identities. In view of the complex patterns of interaction between Christianity and the Ogo society, the thesis explores the following questions: What makes the Ogo society an integral part of the socio-religious life of Amasiri and what powers and identity does it confer on initiates? How are these predominantly indigenous cultural features, expressed within Christian spirituality? What effect does the construction and negotiation of religious identities have on the interaction and co-existence of Christians and members of the Ogo society? Furthermore, three themes were central to this research: the first is the gender dynamic of initiation processes into the Ogo society. The second is the pattern of religious change, identity and politics of Christianity and indigenous cultures. The third is analysing the need for and limits on effective dialogue between Christians and members of the Ogo society. The thesis raises a crucial question, whether religious conversion is partial or total repudiation of indigenous cultures. These analyses propose a viable means of negotiation between Christianity and the Ogo society in Amasiri. It sets the stage for a dialogue between Christianity and the Ogo society, a dialogue that takes the indigenous context seriously.

The purpose of this study is to describe the historical development of secondary education in Eastern Nigeria, taking into consideration the following periods: (1). before the coming of the British, (2) from 1842 to 1960 when Nigeria received her independence from Britain, and (3) from 1960 to 1986. The period between 1960 and 1986 is further subdivided into (a) 1960 to 1967 when the civil war began, (b) 1967 to 1970 when the civil war ended, and (c) the post-civil war era—1970 to 1986.