TABLE OF CONTENTS
Title page:……………………………………………..I
Approval page:…………………………………………………….II
Dedication: …………………………………………………………III
Acknowledgement: ………………………………… IV
Table of Contents: ……………………………V
Abstract: ………………………………………………VI
CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION
1.10 Introduction: …………………………………..1
1.02 Statement of problems: ………………………….4
1.03 Conceptualization of key terms…………….6
1.04 Objectives of the study……………………..9
1.05 Significance of study………………………………..10
1.06: Scope of the study……………………………. 11
1.07: Limitations of the study………………… ……. 9
1.08: Research methodology………………….. ……12
1.09: Hypothesis: ……………….……………………………. 15
References……………………………………. 16
CHAPTER TWO
2.0 Theoretical FrameWork/orientation:……… …..17
2.1 Literature Review………………………………………….20
References: …………………………………….. 35
CHAPTER THREE
3.0 Research Methodology…………………………………37
3.01 Origin of Avuvu……………………………………………37
3.02 The structure ……………………………………………..44
References……………………………………………………55
CHAPTER FOUR
4.0 DATA ANALYSIS …………………………………………56
4.1 Data analysis interpretation: ………………….70
References: ………………………………………74
CHAPTER FIVE
5.0 Recommendations and conclusion: ………. 75
List of questions: ………………………………..81
Bibliography: ……………………………………..83
ABSTRACT
This study attempts to discuss the level of traditional government and Administration in Avuvu Ikeduru Local Government of lmo State.
Research questionnaire was prepared and distributed to some sample population set in each autonomous communities that make up the Local Government. Data collected were analyzed using the mean scores from respondents.
Findings revealed that there existed traditional government and administration in Avuvu Ikeduru L.G.A. The findings equally revealed the use of organizational structures to conduct affairs and welfare of the people. Based on the findings, recommendations on how to improve on the existing government and leadership at the grass root were made.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
One of the most researched subjects among contemporary scholars and researchers recently is the subject of traditional government and politics, local administration and community leadership.
Before independence, that is, during the pre-colonial and colonial periods, scholars, particularly foreign scholars focused attention on comparative politics, thus seeing Nigeria as a nation, within the context of African political system.
Immediately after independence indigenous scholars made spirited efforts to reverse this trend. They started to focus attention on the study of ethic nationalities but on specific areas such as traditional politics and governance leadership and local administration, with a view to exploring the ways people at the grass root conducted their affairs and welfare, using traditionally well established organizational structures that are both historic, self-sustaining and indigenous to achieve social harmony, political stability and economic development. One can say that in the past, various aspects of lgbo Traditional political system have become subject to vigorous intellectual inquiries. For example, Isichei 1976 strenuously studies Igbo history thereby discussing different aspect of Igbo social, political and economic life putting them in their true perspectives, on his part Afigbo 1972, looked into the issue of Warrant chiefs as an element in Igbo traditional system and administration. Nzimiro, 1972 carried out the study of four lgbo communities Onitsha, Aboh, Oguta and Osaimiri in order to see how traditional leadership of a monarchial type of emerged function and how it could be removed. Furthermore Nwachukwu 1993, studied more restricted areas of Umuorji, Awo ldemili, Mgbidi, Ubulu in order to determine the difference between a diffused political system in comparison with a monarchial system of leadership. All these attempts are proven evidence of wide spread interest which contemporary scholar and researchers particularly in the areas of social science have in order to broaden the understanding and only Igbo ethnic nationality but their indigenous political system, leadership and administration and other elements which tend to make these effective. The result of all these efforts has been the publication of various books and literature materials which hitherto were not available for researchers on lgbo traditional political system, thereby limiting the efforts of earlier researchers to carry out different types of inquiries in other areas such as family, marriage, ceremonies, inheritance etc. Fortunately, these efforts in action to opening avenues for further researchers, have debunked the myopic view and conclusion held by earlier scholars particularly pre-colonial and colonial writers who had wrongly believed that the Igbos as a nation did not have an indigenous political system because they were segmented, totally isolated from each other and basically primitive. Thus, this research is undertaken in order to further provide scholarly evidence of how a community is organized and administered through a traditional setup-government.
Avuvu is a sub-clan in Ikeduru. It is part of what is today called Ikeduru Local Government.
Villages in Avuvu includes: Umude, Amaudara, Amato, and Amachara is a large sub-clan spanning to the boundaries of another sub-clan Ikeduru has the following neighbours, Mbaitoli, Mbano, and Mbaise and they share a common culture and markets. Endowed with abundant economic resources, social activities and political organizations at different levels. It is an area noted for numerous and varieties of traditional ceremonies which most of clan neighbours have borrowed. How these activities and elements blend with all other factors to establish a system of traditional government and administration will certainly be examined in this study.
1 .02 STATEMENT OF PROBLEMS
From the beginning of Igbo as a race, through pre-colonial and during colonial era had and has continued to have a well structure indigenous political system and administration traditional political system had powers and authorities to function at various levels of segmentation in which every adult male free from any type of social sanctions had the right to participate in a general decision making process.
Igbo community and helped them to achieve the aim of governmental processes and in ensuring social equality, political freedom and economic development of the individuals according to their occupational capabilities. Unfortunately, this traditional political system of government has been either misconceived, misunderstood or misinterpreted hence labeled with different types of political typologies, democratic republicanism, this has given rise to the interests by scholars and researchers as to how the Igbo organize their society so as to achieve the practical objectives of government within their own environment. Unfortunately, the arrival of the colonialists attempted to adulterate the existing lgbo traditional political structure and government but found out that it was so indigenously solid that what the adulteration could achieve was to assimilate with a view to enhancing the functional and organizational effectiveness of the existing political system and government. Today, one would notice a mixture of the traditional political system with borrowed modern western type of government process. Yet at the traditional level the indigenous system has served and continues to predominate as it is the system that has given the lgbo ethnic legitimacy, social tranquility, political efficacy and effective governmental process.
Furthermore, of interest to scholars and researchers are the issues of what are the structures of traditional government and administration in Avuvu how the leaders of the government are chosen, what are their functions; what are other levels of leadership and what are their functions. These and other pertinent issues or questions must only be provided as a by product of this inquiry. Hence the following questions become pertinent to this study what is the structure; how is the government in Avuvu structured, leaders of different levels selected, their functions and how are the decisions made and implemented in the overall of the entire people of Avuvu for the attendance of the noble objectives of traditional government which include provision of social amenities, social harmony, economic development of individual groups and above all for the peace and tranquility in Avuvu. Finally, is this type of traditional government and administration democratic, republicanism or monarchial diffused or a mixture of all these in total response to the tenets of the Igbo way of life.
1.03 CONCEPTUALIZAT ION OF KEY TERMS
For the purpose of clarity and in an attempt to reduce ambiguity in this study, it will be proper to explain some key concepts and terminologies used in this research. These are:
Tradition: This is what is known amongst lgbo as omenala. It is a collection of beliefs and practices handed over from generation’ to generation. Government: The Dosey Dictionary of American Government and politics defines government as the formal institutions and processes through which building decisions are made for a society; the apparatus of a state, consisting of executive, legislative and judiciary branches. (Shafrits, 1988. 249) it can also be seen as the agency or machinery, through which the will of the state is formulated, expressed and realized (Appadorai, 1975 p.4). The traditional government and administration embodies the corpin of attitudes, beliefs, customs, opinions, orientations and values handed down from generation to n generation to the present and which the people have come to accepts as Valid and positive about how the will of their society or community is formulated and about how the affairs of the society or community are managed and decisions reached and implemented. The changing pattern of tradition audits consistent sensitivity to the absorption of external influences and incursions has changed today. Today, there exists not one we can refer to all modern tradition and what we can refer to as all primitive. That is to say that both primitive tradition and modern tradition have blended within the context of lgbo ethnic nationality. Thus, the traditional government and administration in Avuvu cannot be absolved from this mixture of primitivity and modernity because it is not static. It is dynamic and therefore has been and will continue to be moving along with the changing time. Therefore the discussion in this survey research must be seen as a mixture of both as it is seen and practiced today in Avuvu just to compliment the state or local government.
Autonomous Community: This means a group of villages brought together by common land, dialect, market and ancestral attributes common to them all and recognized by the state government as such with a traditional ruler as the custodian of the people tradition (Osuji, l987, p.11).
Amala/Aladinma: This is a village assembly to which every adult male is free to attend and participate in the deliberations.
Ofo: This is an ancestral symbol of authority with which covenants are made and legitimized and decisions respected.
Eze: This is a traditional ruler or an autonomous community who is regarded as the custodian of the people’s tradition and culture.
Nze na Ozo: This is a rank of a titled man. One may be Nze or Ozo title holder or one may hold both simultaneously.
Consultation: A process of conferring amongst selected elders before a decision can be taken in a village meeting Aladinma.
1.04 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
This research is aimed at examining the traditional government and administration of Avuvu with a view to examine in its entirely the leadership structure, and various elements therein contained in the traditional government and administration in the area. It is aimed at acquainting the entire communities in Avuvu, scholars and other researchers with the nature, organization and structure as well as the level of traditional government.
The study will in addition examine the roles of various institutions in Avuvu, such as Amala, Aladinma (council of village heads and assembly), town-union development and their executives, the traditional rulers and their councils in furthering the course of traditional government and administration in Avuvu.
1.05 SIGNIFICANCE OF STUDY
With increased intellectual interests in the study of the Igbo traditional political system, this study on traditional government and administration of Avuvu will be an added effort to the overall attempt to the understanding of overall studies of Igbo traditional government and politics and that of Avuvu in particular. It can be said that this study cannot overlooked by scholars in the field of social sciences and humanities because it will serve as an important research materials for the future resource materials to all and sundry interested in the study of macro Igbo world view and political philosophy and on micro elements comprising those whole.
The general and specific approaches to the study will certainly serve as a rewarding knowledge to Igbo scholars and for those who wants to study more on this subject or on Igbo political system as a whole.
1.06 SCOPE OF STUDY
This study will concentrate on the contemporary traditional government administration of Avuvu. However, in order to provide a sequential correlation between the past and the present, a cursory look will be made at the origin and post colonial traditional government and administration in Avuvu. This will serve two purposes. It will enable the reader to know where the people started their traditional practices and secondly how they got here they are today. Thus the study will casually of recommendation predict the future.
1.07 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY
Many factors contributed immensely to the limitations of this inquiry. These included limited financial resources to the researcher, scarcity of research materials both primary and secondary on the subject. Added to this was various disappointments suffered in the hands of individuals who would provide relevant information. What is more, the area under study is a rural community far removed from the location of the University where the researcher is a student. Thus, communication and transportation involved a lot of financial expenses to the difficulties encountered by the researcher. All these put together certainly limited the study.
However, they did not constitute a major factor which would have affected the validity of this inquiry.
1.08 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
1.08.1 Research Design
This research is concerned with traditional government and administration in Avuvu sub-clan. The main objective is to identify the level components and structures of traditional government and administration. Similarly, to identify the elements and characteristics of the traditional government and administration in Avuvu. In View of this, this study is not a survey study but purely descriptive. It will be concerned with presenting a clear picture of and portraying accurately the characteristics of traditional government and administrative of Avuvu
1.08.2 SOURCE OF DATA
In most studies there are always two principal source gathering. They are primary and secondary sources. The main sources for this study will include these two:
Secondary Source: On which this research relies on include books, related to the topics. It involved rigorous and extensive liberty research and archival investigations.
Primary Source: It also relied on primary data collected through interviews, observation, essays, addresses, (the constitution of some autonomous communities as in Avuvu, instruments of some meetings of various town unions other unpublished but related literature.
1.08. 3 OBSERVATIONS
The observation method was used in collecting data and information on the study. The researcher through non participant observation approach observed some meetings of town unions in two communities of Umude and Amaudara as to learn the processes of decision making, case adjudication methods and the composition of various leaders at various levels.
1 .08.4 DISCUSSION
In the course of this study in certain issues which appear too traditionally complex to the researcher, contacts were made with those in the clan particularly in the community concerned for clarifications and explanations. Such people included some presidents of some town unions, traditional rulers, some traditional prime ministers and the like. This method proved very useful and reliable particularly in studying the traditional government and administration of Avuvu sub-clan.
1 .08.5 INTERVIEW
In order to obtain the proper and reliable information for the study, interview technique was adopted. Selection of those to be interviewed was done and they included those who posses the reliable knowledge and information on the specific subject matter.
1 .08.6 DATA ANALYSIS TECHNIQUE
This research as already observed is not a sample survey and the data analysis technique used does not involve statistical method. The research is purely descriptive, and therefore the non statistical method of analysis employed in it historical analysis through careful scrutinizing of information and logical deduction will be used in analyzing the data.
1.09 HYPOTHESIS
In View of this study, the following hypothesis are relevant and therefore adopted as guide to the study.
- That there existed a system of traditional government and administration in Avuvu.
- That the existence of traditional government and administration is necessary for the achievements of social harmony, political stability and economic development in Avuvu.
- That the traditional government and administration in Avuvu
is well structured and administered at different level of leadership. - That the family, kindred, village, town union executives and traditional rulers play important roles in the traditional government and administration of Avuvu sub-clan.
REFERENCES
Afigbo, A.E. (1972) the warrant chiefs: indirect Rule in south Nigeria l891-1929, London: Longman.
Appadorai, A. (1975) the substance of polities, Owerri: kosoko press.
lsichca,E. (1976) A History of igbo people, London: Macmillan press.
Nwachukwu, CB. (1993) universal properties of political system. The code of the Igbo; in Anyanwwu U. and Ajuwa J.C.U. 1993.
Nzimiro,1. (l972)Studies in Ibo Political Systems Chieflency and politics in four Nigerian State, London.
Osuji. (1987) Principle of Community Leadership and Rural Development, Owerri Opinion Research and Communication, Owerri.
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