Azaghvana E-Book 2003 - Flipbook - Page 114
for making the agricultural terraces, especially of Ghwa'a, into registered world heritage sites.
Unfortunately his efforts were not successful and the drama of Ghwa'a started to unfold.
The failure of the 1950s resettlement scheme
The official planning of the resettlement scheme finally begins in 1950, though discussions
about ongoing spontaneous downhill migration, with the consideration that this might
facilitate administration of the hill population, was mentioned in previous reports. The
scheme seems to be mainly concerned with montagnards who farm on the plains but still live
in the hills, rather than officially resettling those who have already completely moved. At the
same time, the British planning reports of 1950 explicitly point out that the resettlement
process should be developed slowly, and that a failure should not be considered a mistake. It
seems that the main objective was to bring about an organised process of downhill migration,
but not to actively push the populations out of their settlements in the hills. However, it is
mentioned in the planning reports that a more peaceful mode of life was envisaged, due to the
chronic shortage of land in the hills. To achieve this, the development of 'tribal and village
units' were projected, to begin within an area of 200 square miles to the west of the Zelidva
spur. It was planned to set such an area aside for resettlement, and that it should be about
three miles away from the contiguous foothills and plain area, since they were already densely
populated by previous downhill migration. The clearing of bush, the building of roads, the
digging of wells, and other infrastructural planning was estimated in cost, and the whole first
phase of the resettlement scheme was projected to be completed within a couple of years7.
While spontaneous downhill migration continued, the planned activities to bring about more
orderly resettlement did not happen. The migrants from the hills could not be directed, but
continued to settle spontaneously. There was also the question of whether or not any person
coming down to settle in the plains needed the permission of the district head of Gwoza. It
seems that none of these questions could be answered to anyone's satisfaction, and in 1951 the
fear was expressed by the British that the realisation of the planned resettlement project might
still be a long time off. The proposal continued to remain on the local discussion level only,
and the fear increased that ongoing conflict in the hill areas, due to overpopulation resulting
in the shortage of land, could not be channeled into an organised resettlement scheme in the
projected area to the west of the Zelidva spur. It is difficult to ascertain from the reports what
the problems were, whether they were simply of a logistical or a financial matter, or whether
they had to do with the fact that the montagnards just did not like to be reorganised in the way
the British had hoped.
The situation had not changed in 1952 when Mr Stapleton, the chairman of the 'Northern
Regional Production Development Board' (N.R.P.D.B.) visited Gwoza, and made another
preliminary plan, only the area had now been reduced from the projected 200 to 140 square
miles, to firstly develop a 'Pilot Scheme'. Mr Stapleton found that some of the originally
projected bushlands were not suitable for agriculture, as they were waterlogged during the
rainy season and had a serious lack of water in the dry season. He also pointed out that the
montagnards did not like to be told where to build their houses, and that the scheme would
have to be much less rigid in this respect. Mr Stapleton then recommended that instead of
encouraging families from the hills, the pilot project should at first concentrate on families
who were already settled in the vicinity, and encourage them to participate.
In mid-1952 it was finally acknowledged by the project planners that 'reluctance of the pagans
to leave the hills' was an important reason why an orderly resettlement process could not be
achieved, and that many of them would like to keep their hill farms, and considered a farm in
the plain only as an 'outpost farm'. One particular reason given was the fact that the
montagnards did not like to move so far out in the plains because they still had a sense of the
hills being their main place of safety.
7
See Kaduna National Archives, reference: GwozaDistrict-176, vol. I
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