Tax Revolts in Yorubaland, 1925-1955

Abstract

Most researchers have generally regarded taxation as the main reason for the revolt in colonial Nigeria. There are good reasons to believe that there were other significant tax-related considerations, other than taxation, that were responsible for the revolts that were thrown up in late colonial southwestern Nigeria. Some scholars have also noted a comparative process that is currently unfolding; that it was the need to raise money that forced the hands of the colonial authority into democratization and that the despondency of the indigenous population was a major reason for the crises that enveloped Yorubaland from 1925 up to 1955. These claims have been fully tested. In the article ‘Tax Revolts in Yoruba land, 1925-1955’, questions are asked and arguments explored using archival and oral evidence. The study found that the high-handedness of the Native Authority and other social and economic considerations were genuine reasons for the discontent of the indigenous population. These were significant constraints that morphed into spontaneous violent responses across Yorubaland against British colonialism.