Brokering Colonial Rule

A group study of African political agents, this workdevelops the role of the agents as brokers in theBritish colonial administration of northern Nigeria.African political agents bridged the communicationgap between the foreign rulers and the indigenouspeople, a task only they could perform in colonialadministration, owing to their knowledge of the locallanguages and cultures as well as some English andcolonial government conventions. As brokers,political agents controlled communication between thecolonial authorities and the indigenous rulers.Agents assisted government diplomacy and helped toestablish and maintain relations between the colonialgovernment and the native rulers. Agentsgathered information that was needed forpolicy-making in administration, and many of themwould perform administrative duties. In essence, therole of political agents reflects the dynamics ofinterdependence and power relations in colonialgovernance and administration in northern Nigeria.Knowledge of agents' activities is important for theacademic community including Africanist scholars,graduate and undergraduate students, as well as educated general readers.