The Functioning of the indirect rule system in colonial Nigeria in the view of current research

Abstract

One of the key issues in the operation of the colonial regime in Africa was the British system of indirect rule. In its assumptions, it was intended to allow colonial authorities to control vast areas through indigenous political and social institutions. However, its main assumptions were not always covered by reality, and its stated goals were not always realized. Nigeria's extremely complex ethno-religious structure became a real challenge to British amalgamation policy, whose main tool was the system of indirect rule. An analysis of the internal contradictions of the functioning of indirect rule in the realities of 20th-century Nigeria allows us to understand the sources of the divisions present in contemporary Nigerian society. This article aims to introduce the Polish reader, in the form of a synthesis, to the results of research conducted so far by Nigerian, British and Polish historians.