African Voices: Letters of Petition from Ordinary People in Colonial Nigeria

Petitions are a critical source for social historians of Africa.  Nigeria’s colonial archives abound with petitions even though the number of people literate in English remained limited during the colonial period.  Employing the skills of ‘letter-writers’, ordinary men and women sent letters of petitions up and down the chain of the colonial bureaucracy.  These petitions expressed their grievances against colonial taxes, court cases and
decisions, as well as restrictions and price controls imposed on traders and peasant
producers during the Second World War. These letters of petitions broaden our understanding of the impact of colonialism on African societies from the
perspective of ordinary Africans.  This paper analyzes several of these letters of petition from men and women, traders and peasants in order to illuminate the ways in which World War II affected their day-to-day experiences.  These petitions will illustrate the extent to which the different phases of the war entered their consciousness and framed their understanding of the grievances against which they petitioned.  Finally, these letters illuminate ordinary Nigerians’ understanding of the colonial state and their ability to negotiate the channels of power.