Paper short abstract:

This paper seeks to examine the miners’ peaceful strategies of agitation, mediatory roles played by the NEC and non-violent strategies adopted by Nigerian youths organised under the Zikist Movement during the Colliery shootings of 1969.

Paper long abstract:

The Colliery shootings of 1949 in which eighteen workers and three protesters were shot by colonial police represents one of the most tragic episode in the history of labour and industrial relations in Nigeria. The peculiarity of the 1949 incident and its wide publicity lay in its characteristic fatalities. In addition to peaceful protests by African miners at Iva valley, the timely co-occurrence of the shootings with nationalist fervour drew sympathy from Nigerian educated elites who formed National Emergency Committee (NEC), and the youths whose organised protest was channelled through the Zikist Movement. While the waves of protest and violence that immediately followed the shootings have been well documented, little is known about non-violent response of Nigerians to the Colliery crisis. This paper seeks to go beyond dominant narratives that ignore non-violent strategies of protest as alternative response adopted in solving the Colliery shootings. Specifically, the paper will examine the miners' peaceful strategies of agitation, mediatory roles played by the NEC and non-violent strategies adopted by Nigerian youths organised under the Zikist Movement. The data for this work are derived from relevant archival documents, newspaper reports and editorial on the Zikist activities, and writings of major actors of the Movement.