4 - Indirect Rule and Making Headway, 1920–35

Summary

The 1920s and 1930s were the era when indirect rule, as it was theorized to function in Northern Nigeria, was touted as something of a wonder drug in terms of colonial administration and applied by colonial governments in as many situations as they could find to apply it. Meanwhile, in Northern Nigeria itself, during the years 1925–35 indirect rule as it was actually practiced underwent an ordeal from which it emerged alive but in some essential ways changed. The ordeal was administered from the governor's office in Lagos. There is a substantial literature on the administrative contests triggered by the amalgamation of Nigeria. This chapter seeks both to build on that literature and to add to it. The literature has been focused on questions of political gain and loss in the battles between the bureaucrats based in Lagos versus those based in Kaduna. The question posed here is how did the administrative battles between Lagos and Kaduna affect the cultural program being implemented by the Northern government. The case made below will be that the battles as they occurred during Thomson's tenure affected the cultural program in one way, while the battles as they occurred during Cameron's tenure affected the program in another. Thomson set out not to destroy but to reform the Northern system. Cameron, in contrast, set out to destroy the Northern system. Although he did not succeed, Cameron's assault, in combination with Thomson's reforms, pushed the Northern system in some important new directions.

Sir Graeme Thomson and the Reform of Indirect Rule, 1926–30

The governorship of Sir Graeme Thomson has generally received low marks by historians of colonial administration. To the minds of these historians, Thomson proved to be lacking in the political skills needed to make Nigeria's colonial bureaucracy work. Particularly harsh have been the assessments of Thomson's handling of the administrative conflicts between the Southern and Northern Provinces. Thomson is pictured as having been beaten at every turn by Sir H. Richmond Palmer, then serving as lieutenant governor of the North. Thomson's administration, however, deserves to be reassessed. His achievements have suffered in the shadows of the events of the administration of his successor, Cameron.