Ethnicity and the Development of the Toto Area of North Central Nigeria, 1980-2000
Maiyaki M. Mejida (PhD)
Department of History
Nasarawa State University, Keffi, Nigeria
E-mail: maiyaki2006nsuk@gmail.com
ABSTRACT
One of the challenges of independent Nigeria is the issue of inter-ethnic integration. Nigeria is a country with over three hundred and fifty ethnic nationalities whose post independent relation is characterised by endemic inter-ethnic conflicts, making intergroup relation difficult. North Central Nigeria is home to two-third of different nationalities making inter-ethnic challenge centred on mutual distrust and intense antagonism rife. In Toto area, Nasarawa State, relation between ethnic groups such as the Bassa, Gbagyi, Gade and Egbura has produced persistent violent agitations. The main agitation inherent among the majority of the peoples of the area is agitation for more political space in the traditional administration and in the modern political arrangements of the area. As consequence of this, institutional arrangements which appear to have functioned smoothly in maintaining unity and peaceful co-existence among different groups that constituted the area in the pre-colonial period are increasingly being called into question.This, for instance, continues to aggravate inter-ethnic animosity between the Bassa and their Egbura neighbours. The current growing clamour for self-determination and demand for the right to greater participation in governance is therefore a reaction to the marginalisation problem. This paper using multi-disciplinary approach shows that ethnicity and its attendant problems in Africa, as shown in the Toto Local Government Area, Nasarawa State and as in many other parts of the North Central Nigeria, which is defining inter-group relations have been constructed and not in any way, natural. Its recourse to discrimination and violence is therefore a product of its nature. And this has panned out prominently as part of the national question of the area. The paper shows that as ethnicity has become a central theme in the analysis of Toto politics, political behaviour is driven by ethnic solidarity and this is antithetical to both human and non-human development. The paper concludes that unless ethnic groups in the area appreciate their history, redefine their socio-economic and political relations, and develop a sense of nationality to resolve conflict through non-violent means; the problem will continue to undermine peaceful co-existence and development in the area.
Keywords: Development, Ethnicity, Toto, North Central Nigeria
