Chapter XIII as I observed it in being.

I hope this part of the subject is not dwelt on unduly—it seems to me an intensely interesting study—by explaining how taxes are assessed, collected and allocated. The matter is stated pithily in the last annual report by the Governor of the Protectorate, then Sir Hesketh Bell, and his words, which cannot be bettered, are quoted. Possibly the statement does not make quite clear that the British official who fixes the assessment does so in conjunction with a representative of the Emir of the Province.

“In Sokoto Province each village is assessed, after careful inquiries made on the spot by a British official as to the resources of the inhabitants, at a lump sum, and the apportionment of the amount payable by the individual is left to the village Head and his Council. They are directed to assess the individual in accordance with his wealth from whatever source it may be obtained. In Bassa the individual is assessed at a fixed and universal rate _per capita_.”

These two systems represent the extremes of divergence which occur in methods of assessment and are each suited to the conditions existing in the Provinces where applied, which differ in a corresponding manner. In Bassa the village Heads could not apportion the tax proportionately amongst the individuals, whilst in Sokoto the native would disapprove of a system which compelled the poor to pay as much as the rich.

“The total amount of the taxes paid by a native unit are divided into four parts. Two of these form the Government share and are paid into the general revenue. The other two are paid into the Beit-el-Mal (native treasury). One is earmarked for the payment of fixed emoluments individually to the Emir, his councillors, his police, his official messengers, the officials told off by him to look after roads, buildings, sanitation, and public works generally, and to the payment of the native Judges (Alkalis). Also to defray the cost of public works such as markets, gaols, etc., road-making, well-making, of education, and of the subsistence of persons who according to Moslem tenets should receive State aid. Also towards establishing a reserve fund, in case at any time, owing to the failure of crops, it should be necessary to remit a portion of the taxes.

“The remaining fourth share is divided among the district and village Heads in proportion to the amounts of rents and taxes for the collection of which each is responsible. In some Provinces the district Heads have been placed on fixed salaries, notably Bornu, but it has not yet been decided as to whether this system should be adopted generally.

“The organisation described in the preceding paragraphs has not been entirely elaborated in the Pagan districts, but in every case efforts are being made, and in many with considerable success, to establish a common fund, administered on the lines described.

“Generally speaking, it has been found expedient to pay the native officials on a generous scale, and it must be said in justice to them that a marked improvement in his work has followed in every case where an official has been granted an assured income. The funds administered by the Beit-el-Mal throughout the Protectorate amounted to over £200,000 during the year under review.”

TYPICAL DISTRIBUTION OF FUNDS ALLOCATED TO NATIVE TREASURIES, TAKING KANO AS AN EXAMPLE, A TERRITORY OF 28,600 SQUARE MILES AND WITH A POPULATION OF 3,500,000.

£

Salaries, Central Administrations 6556 Salaries, District Administrations 20910 Salaries, Village Administrations 13940 Judicial 2760 Police 1769 Prisons 1438 Public Works Department 4836 Treasury 540 Education 1240 Land Survey 600 Hospitals and Sanitation 1024 Special Grants for Economic Development 500 Charity and Entertaining 500 Miscellaneous Contingencies 1000 Balances and Reserves 12027 ------ £69640 ------

From the same source I also take the constitution of the native law Courts:

“The effect of the payment of the native Judges deserves special notice. The improved position and growing efficiency of the native Judiciary has now been established. In former days the Judges had no fixed stipends and depended for their livelihood on the generosity of the reigning Emir, or on the fees collected through orders from their own Courts. In such circumstances it could hardly be expected that the Courts would be efficient or free from bribery and corruption. It is now generally conceded that the former weakness of the native Courts was caused rather by a radically bad system than by any real lack of men who could, if properly supported, efficiently administer justice.

“In Kano and Katsena a measure has been adopted which it is hoped it will be found possible to extend elsewhere. In these two Emirates the Courts do not execute their own judgments. The Court informs the Head of the district in which it is situated that an order has been given, and should this entail the payment of a judgment debt, the Beit-el-Mal is also informed by the Court. The district Head is responsible for the execution of the order, for the collection of any amount due and for its payment into the Beit-el-Mal. By this means a complete check on both the Judiciary and the Executive is established.

“At the present time in the Northern Provinces almost every district has a salaried Alkali’s Court with considerable but limited powers. Minutes of every case tried in the district Courts are submitted monthly to the chief native Judges at the various Capitals of the Province. Serious cases are referred to the Courts in the Capitals of the Emirates.... Crimes of violence and robbery, which in the early years of the Protectorate were so regrettably numerous, have almost disappeared since the native Courts, with their corollary, native police (dogari), have been given a free hand.”

In Kano Province last year the Alkalis’ Courts tried 20,740 cases, of which 1,267 were criminal indictments and 19,473 civil actions. I grieve to think that the last category includes no less than 9,020 instances of the disturbance of connubial bliss under the heading of “Matrimonial.” It is pleasant to learn that few of the assault cases were of a serious kind and still more gratifying to know that violence to women forms a small proportion.

An analysis shows that only ·07 of the population committed acts which brought the perpetrators within the law, whilst grave crime is so small in quantity that there is not a European nation which would gain by comparison with Kano Province, Northern Nigeria.