An analysis of community power structure and socioeconomic characteristics of leaders in Owerri, Nigeria

Abstract

Although the study of community power structure or community decision-making has been relatively intense in the United States since the early 1950s, the study in Nigerian communities is scanty, if there are any at all. The need to advance the study of community power structures in Nigerian communities is the principal stimulus for this study. There are several perceptions of community power. This study reviewed the two major theories of social power, the elitist and pluralist. It also examined the four dominant methods for the study of community power-- the positional, reputational, decisional and a combined approach. A combination of reputational and decisional methods was used in this study to locate the Owerri decision-makers or leaders and the key issues in which the leaders were involved. Four hypotheses are analyzed: (1) key decisional areas in Owerri within the last decade is small; (2) decision making in Owerri is elitist; (3) the key decision-makers fill positions in political and economic organizations; and (4) the characteristics of the decisional leaders are varied. Twelve informants and thirty-three leaders were interviewed. They mentioned a total of sixty-one leaders and three key issues-- the land, Eze and market issues. In the land and market issues, the Owerri leaders were on one side against the state government's propositions and actions while the leaders were divided on the Eze issue. There are some similarities and differences between the findings in the Owerri community power study and those of the communities studied in the United States. There is a need for social scientists both in Nigeria and Western countries that specialized in community studies to extend their researches to Nigerian communities to provide more bases for comparison between the Nigerian communities and communities in other countries.