The Igbo Factor In The Development Of Dutsin-ma Town, 1976-2015

The Igbo Factor In The Development Of Dutsin-ma Town, 1976-2015

Abstract

This study attempts to reconstruct the history of Igbo settlers in Dutsin- ma Local Government from 1976- 2015. The substance is to interrogate and explain the form and dynamics ofinter-group relations between the Igbo emigrant group and the host community. The study employed a literal methodology in probing the forms of intergroup relations in the study area. It discovered that the relationship between Igbo settlers and the host community has been largely cordial. More so, the Igbo people have contributed appreciatively in areas of frugality, educational and socio-artistic development ofDutsin- mama city. The study recommends thatinter-ethnic cooperation is a strategic necessity for development, thus,inter-ethnic admixture should be encouraged. It’s hoped that policy makers will find this study useful.

Chapter One

Preface

The history of Nigerian societies has been characterized with different forms of migration andinter-group relations since thepre-colonial period. Hence, the miracle of migration and intergroup relations has remained ineluctable overtime.1 This is because no community or society lives in insulation, and no community is tone- sufficient in both product and consumption of goods and services by necessity of luxury.2 In like manner, the Nigerian societies, indeed before social period, were considered as neighbors as a result of migration andinter-group relations.3 In other words, colorful scholars who studied migration give different explanations on the conception. Abdulwahab, 4 Amin, 5 Crisp, 6 Russell, 7 Ahmed, 8 Bako, 9 and so numerous others have made reference and relate it to the movement of people of different orders and lineage similar as workers, sloggers, merchandisers, scholars,etc. from one vill, city, megacity, area, geographical zone, state, country and mainland to another.

For centuries, several groups of settlers have been migrating to Katsina megalopolis for colorful reasons that depend on either drive or pull factors. A significant point that characterized the appearance of these migratory groups is the creation ofinter-group relations, a point that was accelerated in the colonizer andpost-colonial period; especially with the social subjection of Katsina in 1903, the 1914 admixture, the independence of Nigeria in 1960, thepost-civil war period( 1970) and the creation of the state in 1981. These settlers are from both within and outside Nigeria. therefore over the times the settlers have form sizable communities and have been displaying visible impact on the different aspects of the Katsina profitable and social life through relations with the host community.10

In the contemporary Nigerian society, it’s generally accepted that the Igbo are synonymous with business. A scholar of the Igbo birth has indeed nominated the Igbo “ a migration race ” a miracle he asserted has an profitable undertone. still, studies have revealed that the trend of economically motivated migration came common among the Igbo at the morning of the 20th century and has remained their trade. The trend developed throughout the social period and led to the emergence of migratory Igbo in Katsina megalopolis whose profitable conditioning has had goods on the socio- profitable development of Katsina during the period of our study( 1987- 2015). In suchlike manner, Igbo presence in numerous part of the country has come so pronounced that in some cases, they dominate profitable conditioning in the societies they live and work. There’s also a popular assertion in Nigeria that any society in Nigeria that doesn’t have Igbo presence finds it delicate to make profitable progress.