At a Residents’ Conference in 1928, the term Yan Doka was accepted as a suitable nomenclature for the reorganised local policing forces. It was decided to delineate the Dogarai from the Yan Doka. The Dogarai were reverting to their original duties as Emirs’
bodyguards and messengers and the Yan Doka as a local police force, to be strengthened and trained towards handling policing responsibilities more competently. The colonial government in Northern Nigeria considered specific measures that would raise the competence and prestige of the Native Authority Police force. In regards to competence, the government acknowledged the need of developing the Native Authority Police into an efficient local police force, with the required skill and training to achieve the purpose of colonial policing.437 On the question of prestige, the government considered measures that would aid in raising the status and prestige of the N.A. police within their communities
435 NAK. JosProf 1/1/6451 Lowland Division, Plateau Province Annual Report, 1950.
436 NAK. JosProf 1/1/6451 Lowland Division, Plateau Province Annual Report, 1955.
437 JosProf. 141/1928,N.A Police Force, Recruitment and Training
139 throughout the Northern Provinces. The government had also acknowledged that the methods of achieving these objectives would vary from one Province to another. For instance, the policy of appointing a member of the royal family as the head of the NAPF enhanced the prestige of the force within the Northern emirates and encouraged a spirit of loyalty to the Emir even in times of crisis.438 For a Province like Plateau, where several groups did not have a long history of paramount rule, such a policy was unlikely to achieve the same outcome. In sum, the important point to note here is that within the context of the Plateau Province, the early decades of the NAPF (1920s-1930s) were characterised by inefficiency and incompetence. For example, a reading of several pages of archival documents of written communications between the Resident of Plateau Province and the District Officers of the five divisions through the 1930s is replete with the lamentations of the poor conditions of the Yan Doka. In response to this, the Resident suggested handing over the responsibility for police duties in the Native Administration area to the NPF, consequently relegating the Yan Doka to the position of village guards.439 Though repeatedly complaining of NAPF incompetence the DOs were nevertheless not suggesting the dismantling of the NAPF; they rather tried to emphasis the advantages NAPF had over the NPF. For instance, the DO of Pankshin, L.H.
Goble in a 1937 response to the Resident pointed out the advantages that the Yan Doka had over the NPF; he stated, “The existing system of local Yan Doka forces has certain advantages over the Nigeria Police. On the whole Yan Doka are recruited locally and have advantage of knowledge of local languages and customs, apart from closer contact with the population among whom their duties take them.”440 The DO of the Southern Division S.H.V.
White, in his response to the Resident, reiterates on the preferred status of the NAPF for the specific duties of local policing. He however equally provided what may be considered as the way forward, raising the status and improving the conditions of Yan Doka.441 Here, his point was not just about raising efficiency of Yan Doka; also critical was the need to improve their conditions of service: salaries, uniforms, and accommodation.
438 Rotimi, “Ennobling the Police”, 163‐164.
439 Jos Prof: No.468/211 Conference of Residents Northern Provinces, 1937, Subject Yan Doka, Resident to DOs,
23.08.1937.
440 Jos Prof: Residents Conference 1937, Subject:‐Yandoka, DO Pankshin to Resident, 31st.08.1937.
441 Jos Prof: Conference of Residents, Northern Provinces, 1937, Subject:‐Yandoka, DO Wamba to Resident,
30th.08.1937.
140 5.5.1 Recruitment Guidelines and Training
In collaboration with the Nigeria Police, the Colonial government at the Provincial levels came up with a general recruitment eligibility guideline for NAPF in the Provinces; this was adopted at the Northern Residents’ Conference in 1942.442 For the purposes of this chapter I will highlight three eligibility criteria, first regards the classification: what sort of man was required; the second point was the individual’s age; and third was in regards to literacy, which was also important. First, the government was keen to have men who were believed to be from a “good family.” It would be instructive to elaborate from which lens the colonial government understood the notion of a “good family” in 1942. There are the obvious requirements of not having a record of delinquency, breaking the law or having and not having a relative who had such a record. Recruits were drawn from families of Native Authority officials, ranging from clerks and messengers to more important representatives of the system like village and district heads.443 Moreover, the “good family” was not just prioritised for current recruitments; the government was equally planning. The memorandum, among other things, encouraged Divisional Officers to ensure “…free education should be given…for all sons of N.A. Police entering the Elementary Schools, as an encouragement to literacy amongst the next generation of recruits.”444 Under this process, the traditional rulers primarily initiated the job of recruitment; after all, the NAPF when fully trained would be working within a Native Authority structure and answerable to a traditional ruler. In respect to age of recruitment, the colonial government regarded the best age set as 18-21, and not to exceed 30, unless for a special reason.445 In regards to literacy, the memorandum encouraged that literates should be encouraged and singled out by the award of shoulder straps, which would be uniform throughout the Native Administration: dark yellow for a literate in Hausa (or the local vernacular) and dark green for a literate in English.446 English literacy or levels of Western education here should be qualified; from 1940, Standard II was the required level
442 Memorandum, Resident. I/c Plateau to Divisional Officers –Native Administration Police Forces, 21st. 11.
1942.
443 Chief Selcan Miner, Interviewed by Jimam Lar, Jos‐Nigeria, 9th. 01.2014
444 Opcit, Memorandum, Resident. I/c Plateau to Divisional Officers –Native Administration Police Forces, 21st.
11. 1942.
445 Ibid.
446 Ibid
141 in the north.447 By the mid-1950s, the recruitment levels were revised to Middle level, with examples like Tanglar’s cohort joining in 1957 with Middle level education.
There was another interesting process that was unfolding in late 1942 in Plateau Province.
The Superintendent of Police (SP) A.T.G. Trumble,448 in charge of the NPF in a memorandum to the Resident had brought forward several suggestions aimed at improving the standards of the NAPF in Plateau Province. Of all he suggested, three points are relevant for our present discussion on training of the NAPF. His first suggestion was to unify the NAPF of the Province as units of the same force, rather than forces within a division. His idea was to place all the men on the same list, and conduct promotions centrally from Jos and not leave it to the divisions. Second point, he was critical and disappointed with some of the Sarkin Yan Doka across the Province. In this letter, he particularly mentions those of Pankshin, Southern Division, and Kafanchan. His impression of some of the divisional NAPF chiefs is damning “…not one of these men is capable of imparting any instruction and they exercise very little control. They have ceased to have, if indeed they ever had, any interest in police work; generally speaking they regard themselves in the light of pensioners entitled to be kept for the rest of their lives because of past services.”449 Finally, he recommended a pre-promotion course at Province headquarters, Jos, for all NAPF, assuring the Resident of the willingness of the NPF officers to assist in training, supervision and advice.
In his response, the Resident E.S. Pembleton was quite appreciative and supportive of what he described as “improvement by amalgamation of the various Native Administration police forces in the Plateau Province.”450 He felt the proposals would not interfere with the NAs' control of the forces; he expressed and hoped the proposals would encourage the recruitment of ‘local tribesmen’ – a major emerging theme that was to take centre stage after the Second World War. However, before the proposals came into practice he desired the views of the Native Authorities. In 1942, there were five divisions in the Province; the federated system of having several NAs within a division with one main NA was still the case. The divisions at the time were Jos, Jema’a, Pankshin, Shendam, and the Southern division. The DOs of the Southern, Jos, and Jema’a divisions favoured the proposals to amalgamate the NAPF of the
447 Rotimi, “The Police in a Federal State”, 180.
448 Jos Prof: 468, No.516/96 ASP Jos to Resident, Jos, 21st.11.1942.
449 Ibid.
450 Jos Prof: No. 168/382 The Resident, Plateau Prov. to The SP, Jos, 25.11.1942.
142 Province; the DOs equally reported the support of the traditional rulers.451 The Pankshin division was also willing to give the new proposals a trial; the DO however equally expressed some disagreement and mild protest on the charge of incompetence levelled against the Sarkin Yan Doka of the division.452 Interestingly, of all the responses from the DOs the one that particularly stood out was that of Shendam division. The first important point was that the traditional rulers in the division, particularly the Long Goemai, were not enthusiastic about the new proposals. This was largely informed by a reluctance to accept proposals and policies they considered as being formulated at headquarters and of more befitting use for the Jos division. This reservation is expressed in points raised by the DO in his response. Having noted the concerns of the chiefs, he states that:
Consideration of the course syllabus indicates that a fair proportion of it is designed for the constable serving in a populous urban area, while a review of the four subjects in which examinations are held (squad drill, commanding squad, turn out, and criminal law and evidence) discloses that three of them are not really good criteria of an individual’s ability to perform police duties…While appreciating the potential benefits of the proposals under consideration, I feel that a great many of the N.C.Os of the bush forces perform the police duties required by the area in which they serve adequately enough and hardly deserve to be supplanted for the small steps in promotion open to them, by strangers possessing greater sophistication in variety of service and, possibly, environment.453
In supporting his NA, the DO summed up his own reservations in questions that required elaboration, specifically concerning the suitability of the proposed system of promotion. He desired to know who would decide upon promotion. What steps would be taken to ensure that the bush Yan Doka will be given as good a chance of getting on as the product of metropolitan Jos from whose force it is stated that the accelerated promotions, as it were, will at first, in any event, be largely made.454 The Residents of the Plateau Province with the active support of the regional government in Kaduna therefore employed certain measures, which in their thinking would improve the competence, efficiency and prestige of the NAPF in the Province.
451 Jos Prof: Native Administration Police Force: 300/194 DO Wamba to Resident, 14.12.1942; 87/258 DO
Kafachan to Resident, 4.12.1942; 1098/99A DO Jos to Resident, 10.12.1942.
452 Jos Prof: Native Administration Police Force, No.3/11/290 DO Pankshin to Resident, 14.12.1942.
453 Jos Prof: Native Administration Police Forces, No.198/38 DO Shendam to Resident, 7.12.1942.
454 Ibid.
143 Figure 7: Map of Plateau Province showing the five Divisions.
The idea of the government was to develop training schemes that would provide specific training in the particular branch of work the selected NAPF would be involved in, as was the case with the Forestry, Agriculture, Medical and Educational Departments. Training programmes for Yan Doka included drills and paramilitary training to instil discipline, training on the rudiments of police work and training in traffic control for those posted to towns. The schedule of the course of instruction for NAPF training included amongst other things: elementary squad drill; care of uniform – washing, starching, ironing, etc.; laws and powers of police- the powers they can legally exercise in the matter of arrests, searches, confessions, evidence, and on police work – patrol, watch and escort duties; motor traffic control- this included the learning of block letters and numerals; elementary knowledge of the traffic liquor and firearms ordinance; court procedure and evidence; use of batons; and the use of firearms (this was eventually expunged).455
455 Ibid.
144 Recounting his experience in Kaduna when he was on Police training, Danladi Tanglar Wuyep states that the course covered how and when to effect arrest of a suspect, record keeping (criminal records), procedures on prosecuting duties in court, how and when to give evidence, traffic duties, unarmed combat, drill, first aid, and basic police regulations.456
“The norms of behaviour” Rotimi notes, that were “…desired by the colonialist were codified in a plethora of laws, ordinances and regulations, some of which were adopted as bye laws and regulations by the native authorities. The police were presumably socialised into the norms through their training programmes. They were expected, thereafter, to use their position as agents of the state to bring the citizenry into similar awareness.”457
5.5.2. Arming the NAPF
There were other attempts to reform the Yan Doka institutions and provide better training for the men. In the late 1920s, the colonial administration of the Northern Provinces desired to arm the Yan Doka (Native Authority Police). The idea emerged from the office of the Lieutenant Governor of the then Northern Provinces, with input from his Residents and strong support from the Commissioner of Police, Northern Provinces. The Lieutenant Governor had in fact already recommended the importation of the first batch of weapons for the use of the Kano, Sokoto, and Ilorin NAPFs. The belief was that arming such Native Authority police might be useful in cases of emergency and for the arrest of dangerous criminals.458 In a letter to the Secretary of State in charge of the Colonies, the Officer Administering the Government (OAG)459 at the time, having expressed his support for the policy then went on to discourage it in the same letter. It is worth quoting him at length. He wrote:
The policy of Government, however, with regards to the maintenance of armed forces by Native Rulers is set out on page 304 of Political Memoranda (1918 edition), and on page 325 it is expressly stated that Native Administration police may not carry firearms. If the Native Administration police are armed, it may easily happen, as the system
456 Danladi Tanglar Wuyep, interviewed by Jimam Lar, Jos, 12.01.2015.
457 Rotimi, The Police in a Federal State, 179.
458 Officer Administering the Government (O.A.G) to the Secretary of State for Colonies (S.O.S), 10 April 1929,
TNA: PRO, CO583, 8.
459 This was usually a temporary appointment for periods when the Governor of the Colony is outside the
territory or indisposed and unable to perform his duties – Interview with Mr. John Smith, Cheltenham, UK, 17 August 2013.
145 develops, that within a measurable period of time there would be a large
body of armed men, directly under the control of native chiefs, the potential danger of this (sic) cannot be overlooked….460
Therefore, at this time the Native Authority Police were not given arms. The situation was however continuously revisited by succeeding Commissioners of Police but without the required support from London and Lagos, it was not achieved. In the report of the 1929 Residents’ Conference, the sub-committee on Yan Doka virtually brought the matter to a nullifying closure. The first paragraph, from appendix C of this report, did not leave any doubts. It stated, “…the question of arming has now been authoritatively decided, and as the Secretary of State is unable to agree that members of the Native Administration Police should be allowed to carry firearms, much of the correspondence contained in the memorandum on this subject is automatically nullified.”461 This was eventually changed six years after independence. In October 1966 Tanglar Wuyep, a former NAPF Corporal, was amongst 54 NAPF men chosen from across the Northern Region to be trained in firearms.462 Squad 36 was at the Police College for six months, Tanglar had already served for nine years as a NAPF in Shendam and Langtang. When they returned after the course in August 1967, the Nigerian Civil War had just broken out in July. Having just finished firearms training, amidst the mobilisation for the war effort the option was given to join the army and proceed to the war front, and several NAPF men took the option and joined the army.463 Selcan Miner emphatically insists that the Native Authority System and its policing arm were not necessarily disbanded; rather it was phased out. He argues that the process should be seen as a transition from “law and order to development administration.”464