Annual report on the social and economic progress of the people of Nigeria.

Date:
[1937]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Annual report on the social and economic progress of the people of Nigeria. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    10/106 (page 4)
    tlie immediate control of a Resident. The Colony is administered by the Governor through the Commissioner of the Colony. COLONY. 12. The Colony, that is the area round Lagos, is administered under the system known as “ direct ” rule under which, in theory at least, the functions of Government are carried out by British Officers. In practice, however, much assistance is given by village chiefs and elders, particularly in the settlement of petty cases, which might otherwise be brought before the Supreme Court. 13. Administratively the Colony is divided into four units: Lagos Township and the Districts of Badagri, Epe and Ikeja, with a total estimated population of 324,444. 14. The affairs of Lagos Township are controlled by a Town Council consisting of four elected members, and seven members appointed by the Governor, with the Commissioner of the Colony as President ex officio. Three of the appointed members are officials. The Council derives the bulk of its revenue from a water and general rate and from licence fees, market dues, etc., and expends it mainly upon health measures. During the financial year 1937-38 the Government made a grant-in-aid of £20,000 to the Council, but negotiations have now been completed whereby instead of a grant Government will pay a sum in lieu of rates on all Government property within the Township and it is anticipated that next year the Council will for the first time in its history be financially independent. Purely political affairs are not in the sphere of the Council, but are in the hands of the Commissioner of the Colony. 15. There is also in Lagos a body of traditional Chiefs, of whom the “ Oba ” (or crowned head) is the principal; although they have no part in the administrative machinery of the Town¬ ship, they exercise influence in the community and provide the Commissioner of the Colony with valuable points of contact with the people. 16. The feasibility of introducing in the Districts outside Lagos Township a form of local government on the lines of the system in force in the rest of Nigeria has been under consideration for some years. Early in 1937 instructions were issued for the matter to be pursued further and by the end of August study of the subject had gone far enough to justify a decision as to general policy. Enquiries showed that the bulk of the population, lacking machinery for the expression of public opinion or for regular contact with the Government officials, were apathetic about politics and that the problem was rather to devise a form of local