Sunday Moses Adebayo Aloko
Book Title: An Economic History of Nigeria, 1860-1960
Author: R. Olufemi Ekundare
Publisher: Methuen & Co Ltd, London, 1973
Pages: xxii + 458 pages
ISBN: 416 75150 4
R. Olufemi Ekundare’s book entitled, An Economic History of Nigeria, 1860-1960 was published by Methuen and Co Limited, London in the year 1973. The book, though plagued with so many problems, which shall be highlighted, is nevertheless an important and comprehensive text in the study of the economic history of West Africa. Its major focus was the economic development and transformation engendered in Nigeria as a result of contacts with the outside world for 100 years (1860-1960). Thus, the various factors that influenced Nigeria’s economy such as cash crops agriculture, trade, attempts at industrialization and other related global events were explained in details. It also concentrated on administrative measures such as colonial policies, the activities of foreign firms and the introduction of British fiscal and monetary policies, which helped in the economic modernization of Nigeria.
From the onset, Ekundare provided a historical background upon which the impact of European colonialism on West Africa and Nigeria in particular can be grasped. On this backdrop, he delved into the major reasons for the acquisition of Nigeria by the British during the late 19th century and how the conquest of Nigeria disrupted the pre-existing economic system in place. Expectedly, he analyzed the exploitative nature of British rule in Nigeria and the extent to which Nigeria’s resources and wealth were extracted to serve the industrial needs of Britain.
In order to make the impact of colonial rule crystal clear, the book examined the various economic activities that impacted and helped shaped the economic history of Nigeria during the period of his study. In this regard, the role of agriculture as the mainstay of the pre-colonial economy and the backbone of the succeeding colonial economy was examined, though he gave special attention to export crops such as groundnuts, cocoa, rubber, palm oil, cotton etc. The book explained how these crops were cultivated, processed and sold both in West Africa and in the international market, which expanded as a result of the contacts with the Europeans after the abolition of the slave trade by the British parliament in 1807. The overall impact of the fluctuating international market forces of demand and supply on West Africa’s agricultural production was examined in detail, to enable students of economic history understand trade dynamics over a given period of time.
Furthermore, the author did not study the economic history of West Africa in isolation. The social and political contexts of Nigeria’s economic history were juxtaposed in a way that brings out the impact of economic changes amongst farmers, trades, elite and workers. The role of colonial administrators in bringing about profound changes in Nigeria through the enactment of policies that served colonial objectives and the backlash that followed were analyzed. Some of these changes in labor and taxation led to tensions and conflicts between the colonizers and the colonized. Ekundare identifies labor disputes and nationalist movement as some of the major factors that brought about such confrontations.
One of the aspect of Ekundare’s work which makes it illuminating is his considerations of regional variations in the analysis of economic history in West Africa. The importance of the approach lies in the fact that the economic history of the region cannot be thoroughly grasped from the perspective of a monolithic entity. On the contrary, it should be viewed as a collection of different societies, who have had unique historical trajectories. Within this perspective, the author assessed the role of factors such as environmental features, climatic conditions, political structures and ethnic composition in the patterns of economic development in West Africa and Nigeria in particular.
The book is an excellent account on the emergence of modern transport system and European economic activities in Nigeria because it was the result of a meticulous research effort, which relied heavily on primary sources such as oral traditions, archival records, official reports and the use of statistics to quantitatively drive home his point. Little wonder why it gives readers a wider perspective of West Africa’s economic history.
The major flaw of the study is its failure to critically analyze important issues which arise from West Africa’s economic history, such as the inextricable relationship that exists between economic developments and neo-colonialism. While issues relating to the topic were mentioned in passing, the author seemed to consider the experiences of Nigerians under British colonial rule as the best thing that ever happened. In that case, there could not have been a better alternative! Akin to this, is the author’s understanding of European analysis of African societies and behaviors as being almost apt. Ekundare descended so low to a point of accepting the Hamitic accounts of the origins of Yoruba and Hausa, which had already been shown to have no basis in the complex historical processes that produced the people.
The second section of the book which focuses on "The First British Foothold, 1860-1900," is not balanced, because it is completely based on European sources, devoid of the perspectives of Nigerians. In addition, Ekundare used problematic and inadequate concept such as "subsistence" and "legitimate trade," without interrogating the historiographical problems associated with them. The first third of the book dwelt almost entirely on the history of Yoruba people, especially that of Lagos, with some inadequate analysis of the central Sudan, while virtually ignoring the rest of what now constitutes Nigeria. This limitations may not be the result of an absence of source materials, but the fact that the author made very little or no conscious effort to come to terms with the limitations of his data.
Furthermore, Ekundare’s reliance on colonial records strongly influenced his analysis of agriculture, as does his views on almost all the other topics. Although his assessment of colonial policy was fantastic, it largely ignored the salient role of the local farmers and merchants who made the economic changes he was talking about possible. Our position can be buttressed by comparing his views of various agricultural products within the period. For instance, cotton which enjoyed tremendous interests of the British received significant attention, while kola nuts which did not was considered in a short paragraph throughout the book, despite the fact that the introduction and spread of cola nitida constituted one of the major economic developments of the first thirty years of the 20th century. Again, tobacco was treated as though it only surfaced with the advent of the British, even though it had been produced before being monopolized by expatriates’ European firms. Ekundare’s oversimplification of agricultural technology to the point of describing it as primitive, is an unmaking of history (p. 156-157) because agriculture in Nigeria had considerably developed, such that farm products were traded both domestically and in the West African sub-region. In my opinion, the most appropriate title for the book is the history of European economic activities in Nigeria, because it failed to properly analyze domestic economic developments in Nigeria.
NIGERIA REVIEW OF BOOKS 