MIGRATION,OCCUPATION & SETTLEMENT OF THE ALAGBO PEOPLE OF NASARAWA STATE

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1      Background of the Study

Alago ethnic group are a people with common linguistic and cultural identities. The people are of Benue-Congo speaking group found around the defunct Lafia Native Authority in the present day Nasarawa State with their settlements at Keana, Doma, Obi, Assakio and Agwatashi among others. The population of the people according to the National Population Census of 2006 estimated figure was that the Alago population is above seven hundred thousand (700,000) people. Today, Alago people are found predominantly in the following Local Government Areas of what is now Nasarawa State Doma, Keana, Obi, Lafia-East, Azara, Giza and Nasarawa. They can be found in the settlement areas of Doma, Keana, Obi, Ribi (Ibi), Agaza, Alagye, Aloshi (Ole’shi), Agwatashi (Olosoho), Assakio (Owusakyo), Kadaerkop, Owena, ankani, Ajkpanaja, Okpata, Ediya among other small settlements including Amaku (Olonya) in Nasarawa Local Government Area. By all standards the Alago group is one of the largest if not the leading group of the whole of present day Nasarawa State with their population of about 712712. This is the status the people enjoyed even before the split of the former Plateau State which gave birth to the new Nasarawa State on the 1st October, 1996. Indeed, there can be no denying the fact that the choice of this subject for study for both remotely and directly an attempt to satisfy an interest that is not only personal but also collective and ethnic in nature.From another perspective Benedelto Crole opined that all history is contemporary since no matter how remote in time the events being reconstructed appear to be the history in reality refers to present needs and situations where those events vibrate. Certainly 3, these needs are represented by the desire to have a more beneficial exposition of the past of the people whose generations after generations have continually been bombarded with conflicting records and reports on the actions of their progenitor. This is because Alago people in the post colonial period (1960-2001), keep migrating from one place to another in search of socio-economic opportunities and facilities rather than religious reasons.

1.2       Aim and Objectives

In spite of the increasing wide range of knowledge, works and attentions by scholars on the Alago, their traditions still remain speculative, uncoordinated as well as superficial in nature. However, the objectives of this research work becomes imperative and it includes among other things:

i.         To understand the nature, origin and character of the movement and settlement patterns of the Alago people of Nasarawa State, and examine the causes of their migration to their present settlement.

ii.       To examine the socio-political and economic contribution of the ethnic group to the making of Nasarawa State.

iii.    To put in proper perspective the exact position and place the various Alago people (settlements) in history, within Nasarawa society, as well as to understand the socio-economic relations of the people with their neigbours as a roadmap for national development.

Moreover, the work is aimed at providing reference material in the history of the people, giving the discordant nature of their growth and development. This is so because the present generation of Alago scholars as well as elites need an up-to-date and a thorough (comprehensive) analysis of the history of their past.

1.3    Statement of the Problem/Justification of the Study

History is repleted with movement of people and this movement can either be individually or in mass. Migration being part of human behaviour (Alago inclusive) often occasion by some natural or manmade forces. The need to move from one location to the other became imperative because of craving need to interest, search for food (farmland and trading) and a conducive environment in which to live. The post colonial migration among the Alago people from 1960 has impringed or contributed to the development of the people under study. Few earlier settlements were forced to move or relocate to new settlements of  the same Alago people in Nasarawa State and these resulted to the development and or development of the people but in this case, development is mush counted, hence educational, social, economic and political developments were achieved among the Alago people in Nasarawa State from 1960-2001.

1.4      Scope and Limitation    

This study however is confined to an examination of the Alago post colonial migration and settlements from when the colonialists terminate their rule in Nigeria by 1960. This is to say that the study is only on Alago people and as well as some of their settlements in Nasarawa State.

The limitation was however faced with some circumstances beyond the ability of the researcher. Thus, the scope in area of settlements could not be adequately satisfied. Hence the researcher decided to limit his search due to lack of relevant data to some selected Alago settlemts such as Ibi, Alagye, Keana, Doma, Obi, Assakio and Agwatashi since they all have identical traditions, customs and reasons for the post colonial migration.

As mentioned earlier, one among the limitations was the issue of terrain of the settlements that were to be visited. The roads were bad and were not motorable and this brought delayance for the researcher to carry out his research work at the appropriate period of. There was also non-availability of many written sources on Alago ethnic group as a result of making the reference materials very little. Non-access to archival materials was also experienced by the researcher during the course of study of the people under consideration.