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A Study Of Customary Land Law And Tenure Practices Of Six Communities Of The Lower Benue River Valley Of Nigeria
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The
Tivs, numbering about 2 million people,5 occupy three-fifths of the
land mass of Benue State of Nigeria from north-east; west-wards, the
other two-fifths being occupied by the Idomas to the west6.
Makar7states
that the Tivs originated from Awange who begot Tiv and other children
at unidentified location. According to Makar, Tiv showed warrior-like
traits from youth, and broke away from his brothers to settle at Swem,
some 3,000 feet above sea level, located in the mountainous region in
north-western Cameroon in a district today called Nyievmbashaya.8 Tiv
had two sons, Ipusu and Ichongo. Both sons procreated and gave birth to
the Tiv kingdom.
Ayih9 states that the Tiv people are divided into
various clans and sub-clans and that there are three main clans: Kpave,
Masev and Iharev. Ayi also states that Iharev is the dominant lineage in
Tivland. The Iharev is sub-divided into Ipusu and Ichongo. Ayih10
5 1991 Census figures, Nigerian Population Commission, Zone 7, Wuse, Abuja.
6 Information Pamphlet, Ministry of Information, Benue State, GP, Makurdi, February, 1988.
7
Makar T., The History of Political Change Among the Tiv in the 19th and
20th Centuries, Fourth Dimension Publishing Company Ltd., Enugu, 1994.
8 Ibid.9Ayih, S. O. (Abaga Toni), Nasarwa State: Past and Present, Umbrella Books, Abuja, 2003.
10Ibid.
also states that the position narrated by Makar11 is another version of
the account of the origins of the Tiv. He goes further to list the
children of Ichongo (six in number) which is the heavier of the two
branch clans, as: Iharev, Turan, Ikyurau, Masev, Ugondo, and Nongov.
The
Tiv population left Swem for an unknown reason and fought their way
through hostile lands until they arrived at the fertile plains
of the Katsina-Ala River in present Benue State12.
The
predominant occupation is farming, but the Tivs also do other things
such as blacksmithing, pottery, weaving and brewing of beer
for consumption.13
Ayih
states that the Tivs have no explicit doctrinal principles but vague
ideas about the existence of God and his relation with the people on
earth. The role of Aondo (God) in people’s lives is a 11Op. Cit.12 Ayih
supra.
See also K. Dewar, Handing Over Notes on Southern Area of Tiv Division, 1936 ref. GBODIV.2/1-
552 NAK. and Bohannan, Paul, The Tiv of Central Nigeria, London, 1952. p12-14.
passive
one. They know witchcraft and believe in fairies.14 In fact, an elder
stated during an interview for this work, that fear of witchcraft is one
of the two reasons why a young Tiv-man will leave a family land to
acquire his own farm at a distant location to start a
new generation
all alone15. The other reason is that a family land is divided among the
wives for tendering and a male adult whose wife has given birth would
be expected to leave the portion given to him from the mother’s portion
to acquire land through his own might in order to start his own
generation. It is mostly the younger children of a family that stay on
their mothers’ portions on the death of their parents as inheritance.
Thus,
the Tiv man keeps perpetually pushing for more land and regularly
fights neighbouring communities for his unending quest for more land.
The fact that in the present day, there are hardly any vacant land to
settle on does not matter to him. This orientation of behavior
permanently brands him as a violent man.
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ABSRACT - [ Total Page(s): 1 ]This study is aimed at studying the customary land laws and tenurial practices of the communities of the Nigerian Lower Benue River valley. These communities are the Idomas and the Tivs of Benue state, and the Alagos, Eggon, Mada, and Gwandara peoples of Nasarawa State. The methodology adopted was a survey approach which incorporated primary data captured through questionnaire and interviews. The work has shown that in the area of study, all the land were acquired originally by settlement on vir ... Continue reading---
