Political centralization and transformation of Tiv society, 1900-1965

This study examines the factors that account for the transformation of a segmentary society into a centralized one during the period of British colonial administration in Nigerià. We do this by tracing, in detail, the options which the British had in trying to design a system of local administration for the Tiv, within the scope of their overall policy of Indirect Rule. The British instituted a centralized system of decision-making, but did not have their own staff to implement this through direct administration. Pre-colonial Tiv society on the other hand, did not easily produce cadres the British could use.
The British therefore appointed various individuals as district heads, based on their efficiency in keeping order and in the collection of taxes. The climax of these institutional reforms was the creation in 1946, of the office of the Tor Tiv (King of the Tiv). Thus, the resulting centralization transformed the whole of Tiv society economically, socially and politically. Old forms of authority were transformed and new sources of wealth and affluence created. New values, new institutions and new forms of societal contral were introduced.

The research methodology for the thesis involves extensive fieldwork and the collection of archiva! and oral data from various Tiv and non-Tiv communities. Archiva! material was consulted at Kaduna, Ibadan and Zaria. Study trips were also made to Benue, Plateau, Nasarawa and Taraba states. ln addition, archival documents in Keel University Library as well as the Public Records Office, London were consulted.
The study has demonstrated the adverse social consequences of over-concentration of authority at the centre or in the hands of a small group of social and political actors in a hitherto segmentary society. For example, the new leaders tightened their hold on Tiv society by adopting harsh and repressive measures against the population. The study concludes that the antagonistic relations between the various social actors  eiders and youths, big men and common people and political groupings such as the Northern Peoples Congress (NPC) and the United Middle Belt Congress (UMBC) precipitated endemic
violence in Tivland during the immediate post-colonial period.