Migration, Occupation and Settlement of the Alago People From 1960-2001
Chapter One of Migration, Occupation and Settlement of the Alago People From 1960-2001
INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study
Alago ethnic group are a people with common linguistic and cultural identities. The people are of Benue-Congo speaking group found around the defunct Lafia Native Authority in the present day Nasarawa State with their settlements at Keana, Doma, Obi, Assakio and Agwatashi among others. The population of the people according to the National Population Census of 2006 estimated figure was that the Alago population is above seven hundred thousand (700,000) people.
Today, Alago people are found predominantly in the following Local Government Areas of what is now Nasarawa State Doma, Keana, Obi, Lafia-East, Azara, Giza and Nasarawa. They can be found in the settlement areas of Doma, Keana, Obi, Ribi (Ibi), Agaza, Alagye, Aloshi (Ole’shi), Agwatashi (Olosoho), Assakio (Owusakyo), Kadaerkop, Owena, ankani, Ajkpanaja, Okpata, Ediya among other small settlements including Amaku (Olonya) in Nasarawa Local Government Area.
By all standards the Alago group is one of the largest if not the leading group of the whole of present day Nasarawa State with their population of about 712712. This is the status the people enjoyed even before the split of the former Plateau State which gave birth to the new Nasarawa State on the 1st October, 1996. Indeed, there can be no denying the fact that the choice of this subject for study for both remotely and directly an attempt to satisfy an interest that is not only personal but also collective and ethnic in nature.
From another perspective Benedelto Crole opined that all history is contemporary since no matter how remote in time the events being reconstructed appear to be the history in reality refers to present needs and situations where those events vibrate. Certainly 3, these needs are represented by the desire to have a more beneficial exposition of the past of the people whose generations after generations have continually been bombarded with conflicting records and reports on the actions of their progenitor. This is because Alago people in the post colonial period (1960-2001), keep migrating from one place to another in search of socio-economic opportunities and facilities rather than religious reasons.
Aim and Objectives
In spite of the increasing wide range of knowledge, works and attentions by scholars on the Alago, their traditions still remain speculative, uncoordinated as well as superficial in nature. However, the objectives of this research work becomes imperative and it includes among other things:
To understand the nature, origin and character of the movement and settlement patterns of the Alago people of Nasarawa State, and examine the causes of their migration to their present settlement.
To examine the socio-political and economic contribution of the ethnic group to the making of Nasarawa State.
To put in proper perspective the exact position and place the various Alago people (settlements) in history, within Nasarawa society, as well as to understand the socio-economic relations of the people with their neigbours as a roadmap for national development.
Moreover, the work is aimed at providing reference material in the history of the people, giving the discordant nature of their growth and development. This is so because the present generation of Alago scholars as well as elites need an up-to-date and a thorough (comprehensive) analysis of the history of their past.
Statement of the Problem/Justification of the Study
History is repleted with movement of people and this movement can either be individually or in mass. Migration being part of human behaviour (Alago inclusive) often occasion by some natural or manmade forces. The need to move from one location to the other became imperative because of craving need to interest, search for food (farmland and trading) and a conducive environment in which to live.
The post colonial migration among the Alago people from 1960 has impringed or contributed to the development of the people under study. Few earlier settlements were forced to move or relocate to new settlements of the same Alago people in Nasarawa State and these resulted to the development and or development of the people but in this case, development is mush counted, hence educational, social, economic and political developments were achieved among the Alago people in Nasarawa State from 1960-2001.
Scope and Limitation
This study however is confined to an examination of the Alago post colonial migration and settlements from when the colonialists terminate their rule in Nigeria by 1960. This is to say that the study is only on Alago people and as well as some of their settlements in Nasarawa State.
The limitation was however faced with some circumstances beyond the ability of the researcher. Thus, the scope in area of settlements could not be adequately satisfied. Hence the researcher decided to limit his search due to lack of relevant data to some selected Alago settlemts such as Ibi, Alagye, Keana, Doma, Obi, Assakio and Agwatashi since they all have identical traditions, customs and reasons for the post colonial migration.
As mentioned earlier, one among the limitations was the issue of terrain of the settlements that were to be visited. The roads were bad and were not motorable and this brought delayance for the researcher to carry out his research work at the appropriate period of. There was also non-availability of many written sources on Alago ethnic group as a result of making the reference materials very little. Non-access to archival materials was also experienced by the researcher during the course of study of the people under consideration.
Research Methodology
In search for knowledge of the past, the historian relies on various sources. Historians, most especially those of the advanced societies used written documents such as records of government activities that were left behind by actual participants or observers of early events. These were tenable only in areas where the art of writing and documentation were available and in use. However, for most of African societies, the search for knowledge of the past was based mainly on oral accounts referred to as oral traditions.
For the purpose of this research, giving that oral tradition arising from preserved memories has remained one of the major sources in African historiography. One is often irked by the seeming continuous disappearance of past records of most societies. It is on this note that a Ugandan professor of history, Kiwanuka has often been quoted as saying:
……. The minds of our fore-fathers are libraries
Waiting to be tapped and the death of an old man
In Africa is the death of a whole library…
Certainly, there can be nothing more correct in the relevance on, and significance of oral tradition as a historical source in African historiography. Hence the memories of our fore-fathers over time shall be relied upon mostly. However, in historical documentation, irrespective of the form and nature of these sources as may be available to the historian, they in themselves do not constitute history. Hence the historian has to engaged in a careful selection process to bring out the historical facts from the lost of materials available to him. (E.H. Carr).
For the purpose of this work therefore, a number of these sources have particularly been used for the attainment of the desired goal. Earlier works by scholars in the form of project or thesis have been consulted and made use of. Indeed, I embarked on the collection and harnessing of source materials through personal interviews, readings and comparative analysis of the available materials.
It must however be stressed that in the course of doing this, the paucity of in-depth and reconcilable materials on the issue under consideration without doubt posed serious problems. This is why more often than not, most African method of reconstructing the past through the use of oral traditions formed the dominant and central source which that was depended heavily for this study. Here too, the problem of distortions has created drawbacks in the attempt to achieve a near perfect reconstruction of the past of the Alago people in Nasarawa State.
In handling these problems therefore, a careful, comparative analysis was carried out on the scores of materials available and selection was based on a more concrete evidence of the past of the people as contained in their traditions. Nevertheless, for the source, materials upon materials were gathered, collated and served or analyzed in line with the thinking of H.P.L Fisher who said:
To write or even to read it is to be
Endlessly engaged in a process of selection.
Many facts are called but few are chosen, on
Implicit and rational criteria of factual significance6.
The study dependent on two broad source types: primary and secondary sources. For primary sources, oral accounts of eye-witnesses and participants as passed from generations to generations have been collected and collated to provide significant base. This was done through personal interviews and direct visits. In the case of the secondary source, the numerous works of earlier researchers and historians were also consulted to provide some historical insight into the past of the people in question. By and large, the writings of scholars have served as reference points and guides on the general approach to the study, in essence, maximum use of available materials has been applied to supplement and also complement the primary sources.
It must be asserted that, in carrying out a research work of this nature, a broad methodological approach must be used. By so doing oral interview and personal visits or contacts were carried out. These were resulted to the problems of Bias narration or hidden of information by the local people, problem of language interpretation either by the interpreters or the researcher himself.