GST 112 New

• The people of the area that later in the colonial period became known as Nigeria had a dynamic economy
• The dynamism arose from the fact that the economy was diversified
• Before the incorporation of Nigeria into the global capitalist system, the various Nigeria groups were involved in different forms of economic activities
• Economic activities in pre-colonial Nigeria


  • Agricultural products
  • Non-agricultural products
  • Distribution of various products
• Agriculture


  • Mainstay of the economy
  • Food crops and non-food crops produced using crude implements and farming methods like crop rotation, shifting cultivation, mixed farming
• Food crops cultivated


  • Sweet potatoes, beans, rice, corn, onion
• Non-food crops grown


  • Cotton, tobacco, indigo
• Manufacturing


  • Determined by availability of raw materials, local technology and needed skill
  • Included pottery, textile weaving, leatherwork, soap, basket, mat, canoe and wood industries, glass industry, iron implements
• Nigeria textile products competed with Lancashire producers until the colonial anti-industrial policies killed this and similar activities
• The pre-colonial economy was diversified, with trade and exchange among different Nigerian groups and with neighbouring regions
• The pre-colonial economy was not a subsistence economy, as it involved production beyond local needs and exchange with other communities
• The pre-colonial Nigerian economy was attractive to European visitors, explorers, missionaries and traders as it produced goods and services to cater for the needs of the citizens
• The abolition of the slave trade and new European economic activities in Africa were in response to economic situation in Europe, not the other way round
• Main economic activities of Europeans in West Africa


  • Agriculture, mining, trade, finance, shipping
• Commodities exported from West Africa to Europe


  • Vegetable oils (palm oil, palm kernels, groundnuts)
  • Guns
  • Rubber
  • Hides and skins
  • Kolanuts
  • Beniseeds
  • Timber
  • Ivory
  • Cotton
  • Shea butter
  • Bananas
  • Gold
• The production of cash crops for export spearheaded the incorporation of the majority of Africans into the colonial economy
• Trade in staple commodities was more beneficial to the Europeans, as they monopolized the trade and dictated the prices paid to African producers
• Legitimate commerce undoubtedly favoured Britain, France and Germany more than any African states
• Britain, being the first industrialized nation, was in a position to cater for the mass market which was beginning to emerge in West Africa
• Wage labour was introduced to West Africa, but much greater wealth accrued to the Europeans
• West Africa's raw materials entered a wide range of manufacturing processes and the price paid for them and the volume required were dictated by industrial Europe
• West African producers had to accept the price paid by the imperialist because they were unable to control the volume of palm produce and groundnuts placed at the market and because the industrialized countries could buy alternative competing products from other underdeveloped regions
• By 1850, staple items cost half and in some cases, only a quarter of what they had at the start of the century
• In exchange for African exports, Europeans sent mainly manufactured products especially textiles, salt and alcohol
• By flooding the sub-continent with shoddy manufactures and importing such valuable raw materials as gold, ivory and palm oil, the imperialists discouraged domestic production of manufactured goods and precluded the development of the requisite domestic technology
• Africans so much concentrated most of his energies in producing exports for Europe that he hardly had time to produce enough salt or textiles for his own use
• Vital opportunities for technological development were thus destroyed or inhibited by the imperialists
• Obnoxious laws were made to endure local manufacturing of commodities such as iron, alcohol among others
• The 1910 mineral proclamation was enacted which stipulated that an applicant for mining lease should have sufficient working capital to ensure the proper development and working of the mines and might be required to supply the Governor with reports on the matter made by competent engineers
• In 1910 and 1912, laws were enacted to prohibit local production of alcohol, therefore, alcohol produced locally by this time were regarded as inferior and thus termed "illicit"
• With the merchants came the missionaries and educated African ex-slaves
• Through the Christian missions, western literacy was introduced into West Africa
• This led to the emergence of a new group of elite that formed the nucleus of the new middle class
• This group became useful tools in the hands of the colonists to advance their selfish political and economic advantages
• The imperial powers built ports and harbours to promote export trade with Africa
• The introduction of the steamship, towards the end of the 19th century made it possible to transport a wide range of perishable goods and other bulky vegetable products and enabled Europe to economise on capital
• The steamship also guaranteed regularity of service, reduced the time spent in ports and so lowered running costs
• The imperialists built railways and roads within Africa in their respective areas of influence
• The existing transport system became insufficient in moving the staples from the hinterlands to the ports and harbours for onward transmission to the metropole
• The railways boosted the production of groundnuts in Senegal and Northern Nigeria and of Cocoa in Western Nigeria