Bureaucrats and Indigenes: Producing and Bypassing Certificates of Origin in Nigeria

Abstract

In the last three decades, the politics of indigeneity have led to discrimination against and marginalization of non-indigenes as well as numerous violent conflicts between indigenes and non-indigenes in Nigeria. This discrimination, which is based on a localized place of belonging, has today become bureaucratized: local governments produce ‘certificates of indigene’ to identify the origin of their holders. This article looks at the bureaucratic machinery of issuing certificates of origin in two local governments of Oyo State (in the south-west) and the everyday encounters between users and bureaucrats that cannot be reduced to practices of corruption. It looks at the complicated and ambivalent process of identifying a ‘true indigene’; this process is supposed to strengthen local citizenship but it also contributes to the daily functioning of the state and is largely accepted by the majority as part of the state's ‘insidious gentleness’. The article also seeks to understand why official discrimination against non-indigenes is poorly contested locally by assessing the role of these documents in accessing public employment, university places and basic services, and examining whether areas inhabited by non-indigenes are perceived as being neglected or abandoned by the state. Currently, discrimination policies are implemented unequally and in many instances client–patron relationships help sidestep these policies.

Nigeria’s Federal Character Commission (FCC): a critical appraisal

“…The first issue concerns the indigene-settler dichotomy, which distinguishes between natives of a particular locality and migrants (e.g. Fourchard, 2015;Mustapha, Higazi, Lar, & Chromy, 2018;Ostien, 2009). Indigenes can receive certain entitlements such as access to public service jobs and scholarships that are not accessible to migrants as they can, in principle, receive those benefits in their locality of origin, regardless of how long they and their predecessors have resided in the area.…”

“…Indigene certificates issued at the local government level are hence simply followed by the FCC, regardless of local implementations and controversies (e.g. Ehrhardt, 2017;Fourchard, 2015;Mustapha, 2009, pp. 571-572;Mustapha et al, 2018;Ostien, 2009).…”

The Emergence and Development of Ethnic Strongholds and Frontiers of Collective Violence in Jos, Nigeria

“…Issued by LGA authorities to differentiate between indigenes and migrants or settlers, the certificate allows individuals to qualify for scholarships, school admissions, employment quotas, and tenured positions as heads of government ministries and agencies. The indigene certificate has been an infamous source of discrimination and conflict in Jos and elsewhere in Nigeria (Abdullahi & Saka 2007; Sayne 2012; Fourchard 2015; Ehrhardt 2017). It has been noted that in refusing to grant indigene certificates to members of the Hausa community, the Chairman of Jos North LGA had the backing of the governor at the time, Joshua Chibi Dariye.…”

From neighbours to deadly enemies: excavating landscapes of territoriality and ethnic violence in Jos, Nigeria

“…Apart from being a citizen, every Nigerian is supposed to register as a certified member of a specific patrilocal community. Indigene certificates are issued by LGA authorities to differentiate between the indigenes -also referred to as 'sons of the soil' -and the migrants or settlers (Fourchard 2015). Although the practice has its roots in colonial policy, identification has assumed more importance in post-colonial Nigeria.…”

“…In Nigeria, different groups define indigeneity in frequently contradictory terms (Fourchard 2015). Some interpret its basis as an autochthonous or very old connection to an ancestral land.…”