Ecology, Identity, Developmentalism and Displacement in Northern Nigeria

Abstract

While the Nigerian state, in association with multilateral institutions, seized the opportunity of the 1972-1974 drought and the resulting famine to introduce large scale mechanized irrigation schemes as "development" projects, the repercussions of such projects on the people so affected has been largely ignored. As the projects in Bakolori and Kano demonstrate, however, state intervention has had a negative impact and has led to massive displacement of communities. As a result, rural-urban migration has intensified with the consequence of increased social conflict, including the Maitatsine rising of the 1980s.