Collective memory, coloniality and resource ownership questions: the conflict of identities in postcolonial Nigeria

Abstract

The indigenous concepts of ‘public’, ‘identity’ and ‘ownership’ of natural resources in precolonial Nigeria were redefined with the evolution of the Nigerian nation state. In Eastern Nigeria, for example, the ‘public’ and ‘national identity’ revolved around small independent communities. These communities, within the ethnic space, owned the resources within their borders. However, the creation of the Nigerian state by British colonialism reconstituted ‘national identity’ and shifted ‘ownership’ from the community to the nation state. Using the framework of collective memory, the article examines identity constructions and ownership of natural resources. The article argues that while the nation state has become the dominant geospatial basis for individual and collective identity, the dynamics of power relations embedded in the Nigerian state since its creation often rehabilitates primordial identities, where communities find expression in resource control agitation. The article utilises both primary and secondary sources in its analysis. It focuses on perceptions of resource ownership among communities of South-eastern Nigeria.