ABSTRACT

British imperial activities in the Bights of Biafra in what is at present the southern parts of Nigeria assumed fresh momentum following the 1884/85 Conference in Berlin, Germany. Urhobo country, a territory of about 5000 square kilometres, occupies the mainland of the western Niger Delta, in the south of Nigeria. Urhobo people came in direct contact with the British imperialists in the 1890s, despite having been in trade relations with them for four centuries, through intermediaries. This imperial contact, which was followed closely by colonialism and an amalgamation that created Nigeria in 1914, gave rise to new social realities that discomfited the locals, and which required visionary leadership to comprehend. Just as significant were British colonial policies, which were, in the main, disadvantageous to certain peoples in the new structural system they had established. Tensions arising from competition among ethnic groups in the congested space of limited opportunities added to the necessity for visionary leadership. Mukoro Mowoe (1890-1948) provided that leadership for the Urhobo people. Though he wrote nothing, the consistency in his actions and decisions suggests underlying policy paths bothering on ideological convictions. I describe this ideology as self-reliant communitarianism. In this paper, I elaborate on this ideological construct, explaining how it expressed Mowoe's convictions and development philosophy. I conclude by highlighting the relevance of this ideology in tackling contemporary challenges of governance and advancement for the Urhobo and African peoples in contemporary times.