ROOTS OF RURAL POVERTY IN YIL NGAS OF PLATEAU STATE, AD 1902-1952: A POLITICAL ECONOMY OF COLONIAL EXPLOITATION AND SOCIAL DEPRIVATION

ROOTS OF RURAL POVERTY IN YIL NGAS OF PLATEAU STATE, AD 1902-1952: A POLITICAL ECONOMY OF COLONIAL EXPLOITATION AND SOCIAL DEPRIVATION

Abstract:

This is a study of the origins of rural poverty in Yil Ngas. This is an area situated on the south-eastern escarpment of the Jos Plateau, Nigeria. Employing the Marxist methodology of political economy, the study is an attempt to investigate the historical colonial reality of the origins or roots of rural poverty in the area, and the processes which facilitated their development, as a way of educating NGOs and individuals who are interested about tracing the causes of poverty as well as bringing ‘development’ in the area. The period 1902-1952 is examined. In the process, the assumptions (or hypotheses) that the Yil Ngas is poverty-ridden now because of its difficult and rocky terrain (held by some elites) and, that, poverty has always been a cardinal part of social life in that area (held by some colonialists) are examined and dismissed. Colonial and anthropological views and positions, which are tantamount to distortion of Ngas pre-colonial and/or colonial history, to an extent, are broached and placed where they rightfully belong. Rural poverty in Yil Ngas is viewed in the final analysis, in its changing dimensions, as a corollary of the colonial oppression and exploitation of the area, especially, its rural areas, during the stated period. The area and the people were both underdeveloped on the altar of serving and protecting colonial interests. The study finally, maintains that unless this unfortunate basis, of the development of rural poverty in Yil Ngas is reckoned with, no meaningful strategy of development would evolve or be successful, for quite some time to come.

ROOTS OF RURAL POVERTY IN YIL NGAS OF PLATEAU STATE, AD 1902-1952: A POLITICAL ECONOMY OF COLONIAL EXPLOITATION AND SOCIAL DEPRIVATION