Colonial Taxation in the Capital Emirate of Northern Nigeria

Abstract

The colonial policy of generating revenue based on a theory of land tenure encouraged the British to impose taxation in Sokoto, the capital emirate of the Sokoto Caliphate. This not only raised the much needed revenue for colonial rule in the emirate, where no one had paid land or poll tax under Caliphate rule, but indeed entrenched British supremacy over the Caliphate. The legitimacy of the new taxation was seriously questioned by both local officials and commoners in Sokoto, because they knew about the promise of noninterference in their religion which the imperial power had made after the Caliphate's collapse.' There are a few studies that have shed light on precolonial taxation and the introduction of British fiscal policy in Northern Nigeria. Tibenderana has examined colonial fiscal policy and the British attempt to control the Native Administration through the introduction of taxes and a revenue infrastructure (treasury).2 Tukur has demonstrated the extent of the involvement of local officials in the assessment and collection of taxes.3 Garba has provided an overview of the evolution of precolonial taxation and the effect on it of British rule in selected emirates.4 In a recent work, Lovejoy and Hogendorn have shown how the British used taxation to reform the institution of slavery.5 Shenton and Lennihan have argued that, in order to reinforce its taxation policy and appropriate the surplus produced by the peasants, the colonial state abolished the collection of taxes in kind and local currencies, and insisted on the use of the new British introduced currency.6 This paper examines the unfolding of colonial revenue policy in Sokoto, where everyone had been exempted from poll and land taxes in the precolonial period. The paper is divided into five sections: the first provides an overview of the reasons for tax exemption and the sources of revenue under Caliphate rule, while the second focuses on the introduction and evolution of colonial taxation. Subsequent sections highlight the relationship between land and taxation, as well as the role of the local officials and responses of the Sokoto people to the new taxation.