67% OF NIGERIANS SAY “SETTLERS” SHOULD HAVE THE SAME RIGHTS AS “INDIGENES” – NOI SNAP POLL 27-1-2009

Against the background of the bloody violence which convulsed Jos, the Plateau State capital late last year ignited by disagreements over the conduct of local government elections, a majority of phone-owning Nigerians have stated their preference for “settlers” to have the same rights as “indigenes”.

This was a key finding of a snap poll conducted by NOI Polls, an indigenous opinion research firm which has been working in partnership with Gallup, the US-based world leader in opinion research to pioneer country-specific opinion polling in Nigeria. The survey is the first snap poll to be conducted by the partnership and it is expected to be followed by a regular series of snap polls which will focus on issues of current and contemporary interest in the country.

In the poll, respondents were asked the question, “Do you think settlers, that is, people who are not from an area but have lived there for a long time, should enjoy the same political rights as indigenes in that area in Nigeria?” 67% of respondents in the snap poll were in support of “settler” rights.

The word “settler” in current Nigerian socio-political lexicon refers to long-standing non-indigenous residents of communities while “indigene” refers to those who have the status of original inhabitants. The definitions are fluid and reflect the strong historic attachment to land in Nigeria, which is typical of most parts of Africa.

Respondents were also asked for their opinion on what they consider to be the real cause(s) of the crisis. The findings show that:

- 54% of the respondents blamed politics for the violence which left at least 300 people dead

- 19% of the respondents attributed the violence to religious motives.

-16% stated that it was caused by both political and religious factors.

- 4% said neither politics nor violence was responsible.

- 8% of the respondents in the poll didn’t know or refused to answer.

It is also noteworthy that one in four of those interviewed (25%) said that they were not aware of the Jos incident. Of the 75% who admitted knowledge of the violence, there were more men (77%) than women (70%).

The snap poll was conducted between January 20 and 27, 2009. It involved telephone interviews with 527 randomly selected Nigerians, a representative sample of phone-owning Nigerians drawn from the NOI-Gallup National Polls. Each interview lasted approximately three minutes and was conducted in Igbo, Hausa, Yoruba, Pidgin-English and English.