CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 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.
1.2 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.
1.3 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.
1.4
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.