i

ECONOMIC HISTORY OF EKITI PEOPLE IN , 1900-1960

BY

JUMOKE F. OLOIDI B.A., PGD, MPA, M.A. PG/Ph.D/99/27371

THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES, UNIVERSITY OF NIGERIA, NSUKKA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE AWARD OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY DEGREE IN ECONOMIC HISTORY.

JUNE, 2011 ii

CERTIFICATION

Jumoke F. Oloidi, a postgraduate student in the Department of History and International Studies, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, with registration number PG/Ph.D./99/27371 has satisfactorily completed the requirements for the award of the degree of Ph.D. in Economic History. The work embodied in this thesis is original and has not been submitted in part or in full for any

Diploma or Degree of any other University.

------PROFESSOR ONWUKA N. NJOKU PROFESSOR U.C. ANYANWU SUPERVISOR HEAD OF DEPARTMENT

------INTERNAL EXAMINER iii

APPROVAL PAGE

THIS THESIS HAS BEEN APPROVED FOR THE AWARD OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY DEGREE OF THE DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES, UNIVERSITY OF NIGERIA, NSUKKA

BY

------PROFESSOR ONWUKA N. NJOKU PROF. U.C. ANYANWU SUPERVISOR HEAD OF DEPARTMENT

------EXTERNAL EXAMINER INTERNAL EXAMINER

iv

DEDICATION

This Thesis is dedicated to my beloved and unforgettable late son,

Kolawole Oloidi, whose prayer for the success of this research and whose unrelaxed moral support as well as the happy atmosphere he created for me, and the family, largely contributed to the completion of this work. His memory continues to give me the mandate to achieve higher goals. v

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to express my profound gratitude to my thesis supervisor,

Professor Onwuka N. Njoku, whose painstaking and critical contextual, technical and editorial contributions have made this research what it is. I will continue to cherish his approachable, kind, tolerant and understanding dispositions that have naturally endeared him to his past and present postgraduate students.

I sincerely thank the former Head of Department, Dr. P. Obi-Ani, whose encouragement and interest in my work gave me no room to relent from completing this work. I am greatly indebted to the present Head of

Department, Professor U.C. Anyanwu, who not only supplied me some pertinent information but also helped to read some aspects of this research. I must also acknowledge the moral contributions of Professor J.O. Ijoma and

Professor P.O. Esedebe, my former teachers, whose interest in my academics has never wavered. Other members of staff who gave me the needed encouragement include J.O. Ahazuem, C.C. Opata and A.A. Apeh.

I am greatly indebted to my husband, Professor Ola Oloidi, the indispensable moral, intellectual and financial pillar in my research. He gave me the peaceful environment, the academic inspiration and strong research initiatives that made me unrelenting in my work. I thank my children,

Olumide, Femi, Kemisola and the late Kolawole who were all the supporting instruments that produced this research. I cannot forget my mother, sisters, vi brothers and my in-laws whose spiritual efforts and their desire to see the quick completion of my research cannot be forgotten.

I also thank Angela who typed the draft of the work and Emmanuel

Olusola Oni who helped type its final corrections. I thank the Almighty God, who, crowned my effort with success.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page TITLE PAGE … … i CERTIFICATION … … ii APPROVAL PAGE … … iii DEDICATION … … iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS … … v TABLE OF CONTENTS … … vii LIST OF TABLES … … xi LIST OF FIGURES … … xiii ABBREVIATIONS … … xv ABSTRACT … … xvi

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION … 1 Background … … 1 Conceptual Framework … … 9 Statement of the Problem … … 12 Objectives … … 13 Significance … … 14 Scope … … 14 Literature Review … … 15 Sources and Methodology … … 23 Organisation … … 24 REFERENCES … … 25

CHAPTER TWO: EKITI SOCIETY AND ECONOMY BEFORE 1900 … … 29

Settlement … … 29 Religion … … 31 Education … … 32 Marriage … … 32 viii

Government … … 33

Land Tenure … … 35 Agriculture … … 36 Art and Industry … … 40 Roads, Transportation and Trade … … 51 Slave Trade and Wars … … 54 REFERENCES … … 56

CHAPTER THREE: COLONIAL INFRASTRUCTURAL DEVELOPMENT, 1900-1960 … 59

Administration … … 62 Transportation … … 77 Truck Transportation … … 78 Bicycle Transportation … … 84 Motor Transportation … … 88 Education … … 99 Medical Services … … 103 Road Construction … … 105 Currency and Banking … … 113 REFERENCES … … 124

CHAPTER FOUR: AGRICULTURE, 1900 TO 1960 … 131

Land Tenure … … 131 Rubber (Hevea Brasiliensis) … … 138 Method of Propagation … … 138 Tapping System … … 139 Palm Produce … … 141 Palm Kernel … … 142 Palm Oil (Elaeis Guineensis) … … 144 Cocoa (Theobroma Cacao) … … 146 The Development of Cocoa Production in Ekiti … 149 ix

Kola (Cola Nitida or Cola Acuminata) … … 152 Timber … … 156 Fruit Trees … … 158 Subsidiary Crops in Ekiti (Tobacco, Rice and Cotton) … 162 Staple Food Production … … 168 Livestock … … 177 REFERENCES … … 186

CHAPTER FIVE: ART AND CRAFT INDUSTRY, 1900-1960 191

Wood Carving … … 191 Textile Production … … 207 Embroidery … … 213 Dyeing … … 214 Pottery … … 217 Mat Weaving … … 219 Basketry … … 221 Blacksmithing … … 224 REFERENCES … … 227

CHAPTER SIX: TRADE FROM 1900 TO 1960 … 231 Market Systems … … 232 Market Functions … … 232 Periodic Market … … 233 Types of Market … … 234 Market Organization … … 237 DOMESTIC TRADE … … 240 Petty Traders … … 240 Market Traders … … 241 Shop Keepers … … 243 Off-Market Traders … … 244 Long Distance Trade … … 245 Organization of Trade … … 253 Trade Technique … … 257 x

Trade Organizations and Trade Control … … 259 Funding … … 261 EXTERNAL TRADE … … 265 External Trade and European Imperialism … 265 Trade Commodities … … 268 Export Commodity Buyers, Evacuation and Trade Control 273 REFERENCES … … 304

CHAPTER SEVEN: CONCLUSION: THE ECONOMIC BALANCE SHEET OF COLONIAL RULE … … 313

Education … … 314 Land Tenure … … 316 Acquisition of Land at Ado-Ekiti, for the Establishment of a Textile Centre … … 318

Agriculture … … 319 Transport … … 324 Trade … … 327 Art and Craft Industry … … 335 Cumulative Impact of Economic Development … 338 Summary … … 344 REFERENCES … … 346 BIBLIOGRAPHY … … 349 xi

LIST OF TABLES

Tables Page 3.1 Supervising British Officials in Charge of Ekiti, 1897-1900 63 3.2 Travelling Commissioners in Charge of Ekiti, 1899-1905 64 3.3 Distribution of the Nigerian Police in Ondo Province, 1949. 71 3.4 Primary Schools Built Through Communal Efforts in Ekiti between 1949 and 1950 and Grants from Government 100 3.5 Primary Schools Built Through Communal Efforts and Government Support in Ekiti in 1951. … 101 3.6 Coin Denominations in English and Yoruba … 117 3.7 Arithmetical Money in Farthings and Pence … 118 3.8 Arithmetical Money in Pence and Shillings, etc. 118 3.9 Arithmetical Money in Shillings and Pounds, etc. 119 3.10 Sterling Money … … 119 4.1 Annual Report of Rubber Production in Ekiti, 1940-1944 141 4.2 Cooperative Societies and Membership in 1950 150 4.3 Cost of Permit for Cutting Timber in Ekiti, 1932 158 4.4 Location and Number of Fruit Trees in Ado-Ekiti, 1934 160 4.5 “Origin” of Fruit Trees Planted in Ado in Between 1930 and 1934 … … 161 4.6 Number of Fruit Trees (Citrus) Found in Ekiti, 1950 162 4.7 Root Crop Production and Locations, July 1950 174 6.1 Names of some Hausa Kolanut Buyers in Ekiti 1945-1960 252 6.2 Nigerian Cocoa Marketing Board Application Form for Admission as Buying Agent Under the Cocoa Marketing Scheme … … 279 6.3 Evacuation of Ekiti Cocoa from Station to 283 6.4 Cocoa Price per Ton Before 1960 at Point of Exportation 285

6.5 Cocoa Price Per Ton for Standard Weight in the Approved Ekiti Division and Ondo Province Buying Stations in the Early 1950s in Pounds and Shillings … 286

6.6 Price Schedule for Palm Oil in Ondo Province in 1943. 287

6.7 Kernels Buying Stations and Prices Per Bag in Ekiti in 1944. 292 xii

6.8 Offences Prosecuted Under Forestry Ordinance in Ondo Province in 1949 … … 296 6.9 Constituted Reserves in Ondo Province. … 297 6.10 Cotton Exportation from Some Ekiti Districts, 1920 to 1921. 299 xiii

LIST OF FIGURES

Figures Page 1.1 Map of Ekiti Division, Showing key Towns in the Colonial Period 2 1.2 Map of Ekiti Division, Ondo Province, in the Colonial Period 3 1.3 Trade Routes, Major Towns and Roads in Colonial Ekiti 4 2.1 (a) House Posts carved by Agunna of Ijero-Ekiti before 1920 41 (b) House Post by Agbonbiofe at the Palace of Efon- Alaiye-Ekiti … 41 (c) House Post by Olowe at the Palace of the king of Ise- Ekiti, C. 1925 … … 41 2.2 Wooden Carved Figures by Bangboye of Odo-Owa in the Colonial Period … … 42 2.3 Arowogun of Osi-Ekiti, a Carver with some of his works in the Colonial Period … … 43 2.4 A Yoruba Cloth Dyer at Work … 47 2.5 Products of Ekiti Local Pottery Industry in the Colonial Period 48 2.6 Heavily Beaded Crown of a King … 50 2.7 Beaded Crown of a King … … 51 3.1 Replica of Truck with 4 car tyres used by foreign Companies to transport goods in Ado-Ekiti in the 1940s 79 3.2 Truck (Omolanke) with 2 Car Tyres used for transportation in Ado-Ekiti Township in the 1950s … 81 3.3 Truck (Omolanke) with 2 Wood Tyres used in Ekiti for transport. 81 3.4 Bicycle, a Status Symbol in the Colonial Ekiti … 88 3.5 Sketch of -Ikere Road by Miss C. Mathews, May, 1926 109 4.1 Cocoa seedlings … … 150 4.2 A Heavy fruiting Cocoa Tree … 154 4.3 Farming Implements in the Colonial Ekiti … 176 5.1 Carved Figure by Lamidi Fakeye … 200 5.2 “Mary in Heaven” by Fakeye … 201 5.3 Pupils of St. Benedict’s Primary School, Igede-Ekiti in their Traditional Woven Uniform in 1946 … 214 5.4 Tie and Dye Cloth (Adire) … … 216 5.5 Tie and Dye Cloth (Adire variety) … 217 xiv

6.1 Diagrammatic specimens and marking methods of new cocoa bags issued by Cocoa Marketing Board for the Licensed Buying Agents … … 282 7.1 Two Types of Cocoa Spraying Machines … 322` xv

LIST OF ABBREVIATION

ADO - Assistant District Officer

BCGA - British Cotton Growing Association

CFAO - Compagne Francaise de L’Afrique Occidentale

DO - District Officer

JHSN - Journal of Historical Society of Nigeria

LDT - Long Distance Trade

NCMB - Nigeria Cocoa Marketing Board

NOPPMB - Nigeria Oil Palm Produce Marketing Board

NTC - Nigerian Tobacco Company

PWD - Public Works Department

P.Z. and Co. - Paterson and Zochonis and Company

SCOA - Society Commericale de L’Quest Africain

UAC - United African Company

UTC - Union Trading Company

WACB - West African Currency Board

WAPCB - West African Produce Control Board

xvi

ABSTRACT

The economic history of the colonial Nigeria will be incomplete without considering the contribution of the Ekiti people. Unfortunately, this contribution is largely unknown for lack of research documentation. Rather, many researchers on Ekiti have focused mainly on the political, religious, social, artistic and, most especially, the educational experiences of the people.

The colonial government easily recognized the economic potential of Ekiti, which was why it did not hesitate, particularly for mostly exploitative reasons, to provide the infrastructure to achieve British economic interests.

The infrastructure included European administrative system, modern transportation system, modern education, medical services, road construction, new currency and banking systems; all of which have been thoroughly examined.

However, this research has discussed in detail, the economic potential of the colonial Ekiti, focusing on the major aspects of the economy that were indispensable to the growth of Western Region between 1900 and 1960: agriculture as well as art and craft industries. This made it very important to discuss the major Ekiti agricultural products like cocoa, kola, timber, palm produce, rubber and various subsidiary crops like tobacco, rice and cotton.

These are in addition to staple food production and livestock. The art and craft industry also gave a fortifying energy to the economy of the colonial

Ekiti through various art and crafts products. xvii

The activities of the domestic and external traders have been thoroughly discussed under market systems and the activities of both local and, particularly, expatriate exporters of export commodities. The research has made it clear that Ekiti was an economic force behind the development of

Western Region in the colonial period.

1

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Background

Ekiti state, located in the north-eastern part of South Western Nigeria with abundant natural resources and other economic viabilities that still await prospecting, 1 was carved out of old on October 1, 1996. This was sequel to years of intellectual and political struggle by the Ekiti political business, social and academic elite (Map 1.1). 2 Before this creation, Ekiti constituted 52% of the old Ondo State population of over 3 million. The land area covers about 10898.68 kilometres, with hilly features and well spread prominent rocks, all of which earned the state the name “Okiti” or “Ekiti”, meaning a hilly land. 3

With its capital in Ado-Ekiti, (Map 1.2) is surrounded by

Osun State in the west, Ondo State in the south east, in the north and in the north east. 4 This geographical location has been a boost to the economic potential of the state. Historically, Ekiti once occupied a very large area, covering parts of the present Kogi State as well as the present

Ilesha and Akure. But by 1940, both Ilesha and Akure had ceased to be part of Ekiti Division. 5 Culturally, however, particularly as regards language or dialect and elements of tradition, the Ilesha, Akure and the Ekiti still continue, naturally, to drink from the same stream of ethnic unity. 6 In fact, according to

Isola Olomola, the name Ekiti was used to cover the whole northern areas of

Eastern Yoruba before the arrival of the Europeans.7

2

Fig. 1.1: Ekiti Division, showing key Towns in the Colonial Period. © Oguntuyi, 1979, p. 51. 3

OSUN

Fig. 1.2: Ekiti Division within Ondo Province in the Colonial Period. © Oguntoyinbo, 1979, p. 4 4

Fig. 1.3: Trade Routes, Major Towns and Roads in Colonial Ekiti. © Oguntoyinbo, 1979, p. 124

Many traditions have been ascribed to the origin of the Ekiti people.

Some scholars believe that Ekiti ancestors migrated from “the Middle East to

Ile-, the (fabled) cradle of the Yoruba race from where they spread all over the place to form one of the largest ethnic groups in .” 8 While some sources believe that some of the present sub-groups of Ekiti were the aborigines of Ekiti, various traditions of origin also claim that many sub- groups or towns migrated to the present location from other Yoruba areas and at different times. This seems to receive popular acceptance among some 5 scholars; more so if it is known that the “Ekiti dialect differs, in varying degrees, from one kingdom (town) to another.” 9 And the fact that Ekiti initially, that is before colonization, had 16 kingdoms, with diverse cultural traditions, further makes one believe that, in addition to the Ekiti aborigines, various other groups migrated into the present Ekiti. The 16 kingdoms, which later increased to 17, in the pre-colonial period, were Otun, , Ado,

Oye, Ijero, Ikere, Ido, Akure (which later became independent of Ekiti), Ise,

Emure and Efon. Others were Okemesi, Ara, Isan Itaji, Obo and Ogotun. 10

In fact, what appears to give more weight to the aboriginal and migrant origins of the Ekiti people was the nature of Ekiti dialects which “differed, usually very strongly, in intonation from one town to the other.” 11 The interesting thing about this was that the intonations of the towns on the main trade routes were reasonably very similar, while those of many towns outside the main trade routes were not only very different but also complex or very twisted in tonal variations. For example, the dialects of Igede, Iyin, Ado,

Ikere and Akure, Ise, Emure on the trade routes were close in intonation.

Aramoko, on the main trade route, was, however, a rare exception. But the intonations of the towns in Ekiti interior were not only markedly too different from one another but were also very twisted and complex to understand by those on the main trade routes. Some of these towns were Ilawe, Igogo,

Igbara-Odo, Awo, Ijero, Omuo, Ifaki, Igbemo, Osi and Otun. But the beauty of Ekiti’s variety of dialects was that each spoken one was very easily identified, both by the Ekitis and other Yoruba sub-groups, as Ekiti dialects. 6

But our knowledge of Ekiti as a people cannot be complete without explaining why the word “Ekiti” is always attached to the name of every town in Ekiti, as will be seen throughout this study. To an Ekiti person, the name of a town is not complete without attaching the word “Ekiti” like, for example, Ado-Ekiti, Igede-Ekiti, Ikere-Ekiti, Usi-Ekiti and others. This practice, which is unique only to the Ekiti people in Nigeria, shows not only the pride the people had in being Ekiti but also the continuous manifestation of the unalloyed solidarity and unity which the people had during the Ekiti-

Parapo War that will be discussed later in this study. 12

Like elsewhere in Nigeria, economic experiences were society-based, though the European writers and particularly anthropologists have portrayed the African economy and societies generally as backward and operating a mere subsistence economy. They also ignorantly criticised the Africans as being occupied with or engaged in frivolous activities. For example, W.A.

Lewis, a development economist, once argued that “’s static and primitive economy should be treated as dead and done with.” 13 D.K.

Fieldhouse also believed that there was no economy until the advent of colonialism in Africa. 14 Of course, these myths were based on the work of

Hla Myint who applied Adam Smith’s notion of vent-for-surplus to improperly describe and measure the already developing economy of Africa as will soon be discussed. 15

The agricultural economy of Ekiti was not a mere subsistence economy, as believed, for there was an exchange of both food crops and other items in long distance trade before the advent of the colonial rule. This means 7 that it was not the Europeans that taught the Ekiti peasant farmers agriculture but they only added impetus to an already growing agricultural economy.

Like other African societies, the whole economic structure was based on the family mode of production. 16 This means that the primary and social unit, that is, the family, dictated the ownership and control of factors of production, distribution and exchange. Like in other places, the principle and the workings of the economy of Ekiti cannot in any way be divorced from its social organization. 17 In Ekiti, every household worked in conjunction with the established framework of the lineage (ebi). There was team work in economic matters, and this system produced an effective mobilization of labour on a large scale.

The economy was also highly diversified; the majority of the people were farmers while others were traders and hunters, and traditional doctors known as babalawo or onisegun. In addition, the Ekiti people had various industries like pottery, weaving, carving, smithing and others which supported the economy. Farmers could engage in other economic pursuits like fishing and livestock. Ekiti, being in a hilly and forest zone, had plenty of game, and this made hunting an indispensable and respected occupation in the pre-colonial period. There was no economic isolation because there was a long-range communication for economic and socio-political reasons. This made the Ekiti economy of the pre-colonial era very dynamic, and according to Father Oguntuyi:

Our great grand-fathers were very unselfishly but uprightly proficient in the art of trading, buying and selling… making friends wherever their economic itinerancy took them.18 8

Oguntuyi has also described the Ekiti farmers as “very easy going and industrious farmers who produced yam and other vegetables for town dwellers.” 19 The pre-colonial Ekiti people who also constantly intermingled economically with other ethnic groups were usually referred to as the people in the hinterland by the or the Oyo elite. They traded far and wide within the Yoruba territory, especially the women who always displayed great resourcefulness and acumen in long distance trade. For example, the Ekiti traded with the Benin and the Nupe before the colonial rule. The people also took their economic interests to as far as Oshogbo, Ibadan and Lagos. In fact, large quantity of food consumed in the Yoruba cities came from Ekiti that was usually described as people from Ilu-Oke; that is distant territory. But the

Ekiti Parapo wars, 1879 to 1886, which, as stated above, temporarily affected the pre-colonial Ekiti economy, 20 gave the Europeans the opportunity to come into the hinterland of Ekiti, to “bring peace, suppress slave trade and bring what was described as legitimate trade, as well as new social and economic relations among the people. 21 The British Administrators, however, did not hesitate to use wars to achieve their economic objectives.

It is important to note that the Ekiti people already had well structured agricultural activities and well organised trade or commercial associations before the advent of the Europeans whose main contribution, however, was their encouragement of production for export. Thus, the pre-colonial Ekiti already had highly productive agricultural traditions that prepared them for their active colonial economic role. According to Oladeji Fasuan, the 9

“Ekitiland… supplied the bulk of cash crops, especially cocoa, timber that made Western Nigeria so financially strong and able to finance and prosecute its manifesto and social contracts with the people.” 22

Conceptual Framework

According to the conventional theorists, Africa, including Ekiti, would have remained stagnant without colonization. That is, by implication, its economy would have remained backward and static. This view was very seriously propagated by Adam Smith who eventually coined the term “vent- for-surplus.” 23 The “vent-for-surplus” explains the theory that it was the

Europeans who created avenues for African producers to take part in international trade by using their unutilized surplus labour and land for the production of goods for European markets, thereby allowing the people to build more capital for accelerated development. This theory was embraced and propounded by other classical theorists like J.H. Williams, Hla Myint,

Allan McPhee and G.K. Helleiner, among others, at the turn of the 20 th century. 24

For example, G.K. Helleiner maintained that “the colonial administration in the British West Africa was “the prime mover” of all processes of colonial economic change.” 25 Allan McPhee too asserted that the

British administration “had to do ‘everything’ to generate export production, including imposing the ‘peace’ and inducing the allegedly ‘lazy’ and

‘backward’ people of West Africa to take up export production.” 26 And to Hla

Myint, in formulating his own theory of vent-for surplus production, which

Adam Smith originated: 10

By participating in the international trade, West Africa producers made use of their hitherto unemployed surplus labour and land to produce goods for European markets and this enabled them to have access to more and more capital for their rapid economic growth. 27

However, the dependency theorists have totally challenged the position of the Classical or conventional theorists as regards colonization and development in Africa. Notable among the dependency theorists are Walter

Rodney, Toyin Falola, D.C. Obadike, O.N. Njoku, S.A. Olarenwaju, L.I.

Izuakor and A.G. Hopkins, among others. 28 Generally, these scholars have denounced the vent-for-surplus theory presented above. And in fact, they consider the colonial administration in Africa generally as exploitation. For example, according to S.A. Olarenwaju, the infrastructural provision of the

British for colonial Nigeria did not serve the developmental interests of

Nigeria but those of the British. 29 Toyin Falola was convinced that the British in Nigeria indisputably brought various infrastructures like hospitals, schools and roads, among others, to Nigeria, but to him, all these were for destructive and exploitative purposes. 30 Njoku believes that during colonization, the

Nigerians were “not exposed to anything near the basic benefits of Western education nor yet of modern medical services.” 31

And according to Obadike, “the British exploited Nigerian labour for the benefit of British commercial and industrial capital with painful repercussions for Nigeria.” 32 A.G. Hopkins has also been able to deflate many of the assertions of the vent-for-surplus theorists:

Colonial rule did not create modernity out of backwardness by suddenly disrupting a traditional state of low-level equilibrium. On the contrary, the 11

nature and pace of economic development in the early colonial period can be understood only when it is realised that the main function of the new rulers was to give impetus to a process which was already under way. 33

The above has also supported the views of other dependency theorists who believe that pre-colonial Nigeria was neither backward nor stagnating when the British brought their new administration, as already explained.

However, considering the above economic theorists and the peculiar nature of Ekiti economic experiences under the colonial administration, it is very necessary to adopt political economy as the conceptual framework for this study. This is because, the Ekiti colonial economy, in spite of colonialism, was completely woven to the social, political, religious, judicial or, according to Gavin Williams who has also used this method, “the totality of experiences through which men and women interpret their situation, define their goals and seek to realize them.” 34 The Ekiti colonial economy, therefore, shall be discussed as a continuum or as “one ongoing historical process.” 35

Through this, many of the erroneous conclusions of the vent-for-surplus theorists will be deflated as discussed in the subsequent chapters. In the same vein, the positions of the dependency theorists will be placed in their proper perspectives. For example, the exploitative intention of the colonial administration robbed Ekiti of well needed infrastructures like the railway and notable industries or investments. But in spite of this situation, the study reveals that colonialism generated some innovative experiences such as improved standard of living through Western education, modern transportation, medical services, monetisation of economy, communication 12 and commerce generally. The study argues that the process for economic development was already on-going before colonization. The study also refutes the way pre-colonial Nigeria or Ekiti “was eulogised in the ‘Merie

Africa” 36 by the Western scholars. This Merie Africa notion portrays the pre- colonial Nigerians as lazy or pursuing only leisurely activities like dancing and drumming during their golden age when the means of livelihood increased and life became more prosperous as a result of abundant or adequate production of foodstuffs.

Statement of the Problem

A lot of literature abounds on the political, educational, artistic, religious and social experiences of Ekiti people. The works were written mainly by the European missionaries, Yoruba scholars, culturists and traditional chiefs. A large number of the publications were written in the colonial and early post-independence periods. Most of these publications, which reflect the cultural and social dynamics of the Yoruba generally, can be grouped into “local history”, “oral traditions”, “ceremonies”, archaeology and social anthropology.” 37 Many of the publications were also written in . 38 But, while these publications sufficiently cover and represent the

Ekiti people’s “conventional” history, as observed above, they neglect, almost totally, the economic history of Ekiti; forgetting that the people were one of the largest producers of cocoa and other agricultural products which were part of the backbone of Nigeria’s economy before the “oil boom.” 39

Some hasty and casual references on the economy which also abound in some government official publications, usually as booklets and pamphlets, 13 do not in any way focus on Ekiti economy. Generally, the publications are limited in scope and therefore very inadequate for understanding the economic history of Ekiti. It is therefore very necessary to examine Ekiti’s economy, especially from 1900 to 1960.

Objectives

This research is being carried out to achieve the following objectives:

To examine, in detail, the economic history of Ekiti people such as land tenure, agriculture, trade and local industries from around 1900 to 1960. To bring into proper focus the Ekiti economy, especially, “the cocoa boom” of the pre-independence period; showing how Ekiti helped to uplift Nigeria’s economy.

This research also intends to correct certain Eurocentric misconceptions that seem to portray Ekiti’s economy as static and primitive, and, with available record, show how the Ekiti society was economically dynamic with clear contributions to development in Nigeria through their various economic enterprises. The study is also being carried out to open the avenue for further researchers on the Ekiti colonial economy; thereby enriching the literature on the Ekiti economy, like those on some Yoruba sub- groups like the Oyo and the Ijebu. It is the objective of this study to produce an academic document that will be a contribution not only to the study of economic history but also to knowledge. And very importantly, the research intends to show that Ekiti played a key role in Nigeria’s economic development. 14

Significance

No doubt, there is paucity of literature on the Ekiti economic history, unlike the situation with respect to Ibadan, Oyo and Ijebu where scholars have done more comprehensive work on the economic and political history.

This relative neglect has tended to portray the Ekiti people as merely “the fountain of knowledge” 40 , because of their enviable achievement in education, without showing their contributions to the economic development of Nigeria. This study is therefore important, because it shows the adaptive capacity, entrepreneurship contribution of Ekiti people to the economy of

Nigeria during the colonial period.

There is an urgent need to document the economy of Ekiti, since there are no serious written records, as stated above, on this. It is very important to address this situation, particularly because the present generation of Ekiti do not have the accurate understanding of their place and achievement as regards the economic development of Nigeria. This work should serve as a reference source for future students of economic history of Nigeria and particularly of

Ekiti.

Scope

The research covers the period 1900 to 1960 for some reasons. For example, 1900 marked the beginning of the colonial administration that eventually became a period associated with colonization and therefore the beginning of socio-political and economic changes in Ekiti. 1960, being the year of Nigeria’s independence, was also the terminal point of colonial rule. 15

Literature Review

It should be noted that, no book or literature has been totally devoted to the economic history of Ekiti, particularly between 1900 and 1960.

Numerous books have been written on the general socio-cultural, socio- political, educational and religious experiences of the Ekiti people, no doubt.

A large part of these publications focus on the history of many towns and

Christian evangelism. Though many of the publications are available in libraries and private collections, some are very difficult to locate because, according to S.O. Biobaku, “most of them are printed on ephemeral local presses and published, privately, so that they quickly become impossible to obtain and difficult to trace.” 41 But in spite of this publishing tradition, the materials sieved out of these publications, though in bits and pieces, are very useful to the research. However, generally, the literature sources located for the study can be categorised into two: books or materials that are indirectly relevant, since their foci are not on Ekiti; those that focus on Ekiti but without making the subject of this research their contextual or thematic foci.

One of the books that are indirectly relevant is I.A. Akinjogbin and

S.O. Osoba’s (eds.), Topics on Nigerian Economic and Social History. The book, in its treatment of various economic experiences of the Yoruba during the pre-colonial and colonial periods, also covers the Ekiti economic experiences during this period. Of particular relevance is Akinjogbin’s “The

Economic Foundation of ” which describes in detail various trade guilds that identify various professions and economic activities of the people. 42 The essay discusses local industries like weaving, dyeing, 16 embroidery, iron smelting, pottery, carving, drum making and various other craft works that were also practised in the pre-colonial and colonial Ekiti. 43

What is most notable in the book is its declaration of Ekiti as one of the “pre- colonial trade routes in Yorubaland.” 44

Father Kelvin Carroll’s Yoruba Religious Carving: Pagan and

Christian Sculpture in Nigeria and Dahomey, though without taking the economic benefit into consideration, has documented what can be seen as a recrudescence of a seemingly decaying artistic industry of the Ekiti. From the book, one can appreciate the value and, therefore, the economic importance of the Ekiti traditional art and craft production. Carroll also has an affirmative opinion about the state of the Ekiti economy, particularly in the fifth decade of the 20 th century:

The Ekiti district has been somewhat out of the mainstream of modern commerce, though its cocoa farms were increasing rapidly and the farmers are relatively wealthy and progressive. Education was spreading rapidly. Yet, a great variety of the old crafts were still carried on by men and women. A visitor to the district would notice the carved veranda-posts in the houses of the chiefs and see the upright looms of the women standing against the walls of their cottages. 45

The treatment of farming, craft and trade among the Yoruba in Power and Independence: Urban Perception of Social Inequality by P.C. Lloyd is also a concise affirmation of the same economic traditions in Ekiti. The book has fairly spelt out those economic practices that brought wealth or comfort to the people generally. 46 The Economic History of Nigeria: 19 th to 20 th

Centuries by Onwuka Njoku is equally relevant to the research, because his 17 highly critical reactions to aspects of Nigeria’s economic experiences have inspired some areas of this study. But very importantly also is the book’s featured map of Nigeria that clearly shows Ekiti as one of the principal trade routes in the 19 th century. 47

Other books that have some useful information on the Ekiti economy include Cocoa in West Africa, edited by L.A. Are and D.R.G. Gwynne;

Cocoa, Custom and Socio-economic Development in Western Nigeria by S.S.

Berry and Kolanut Production in Nigeria by A. Akinbode. All the above books have generally highlighted Ekiti’s contributions to Nigeria’s economy through cash products, particularly cocoa and kolanuts, during the colonial and post-colonial periods. In addition, they have clearly positioned Ekiti as having a highly enlivening agricultural economy through cocoa and kolanut production. 48

In Oladele Omishore’s Challenges of Nigeria’s Economic Reform, there is a pertinent reference to the “concept of taxation” during the colonial era which was unique and limited only to the Yoruba and Benin peoples before colonization. 49 The book examines the Yoruba or the Ekiti monarchic system which made the kings rule with dictatorial powers, particularly the mandatory taxation of subjects or lesser kings by more powerful kings. A good example is the Ewi of Ado-Ekiti who until Nigeria’s independence received or demanded taxes from all the towns under his political domain.

The book has been very useful to this study.

Some books, entirely written in Yoruba language, have been of immense help in this study. One of these is Itan Kukuru Nipa Ado-Ekiti, Apa 18

Kini (A Short History of Ado-Ekiti, Part 1) by A.O. Oguntuyi. 50 The book begins by discussing the history of Ado-Ekiti, the Ekiti capital, along with other major and minor towns within its socio-political authority from 1815 to

1947. The colonial and missionary efforts with their far-flung modern influences are graphically addressed. The various occupations and economic activities of the people are examined along with slavery and slave trade experiences. There is emphasis on industry, modes of communication, and how cocoa and other crops became an economic force among the Ado and the

Ekiti people generally. The contribution of the book is immeasurable.

Other books on the Ekiti people and culture are Iwe Itan Olusanta

(Olosunta) ati Ikere (Olusanta and Ikere) by S.O. Ogunrinde, Aduloju

Dodoundawa Oko Ekiti Oko (Aduloju Dodoundawa the Military Tough

Man and Terror to Ekiti and Akoko People) by A. Oguntuyi and Itan

Ekiti-Parapo (The Story or History of Ekiti-Parapo, Confederacy of Ekiti

Kingdom War) by D.F. Omidiran. Ogunrinde’s book shows the effects or the implications of the Olosunta’s yearly festival of Ikere-Ekiti on the overall socio-economic activities of the town. 51 Oguntuyi has pointed out how

Aduloju, a great and fearless warrior, successfully executed his military operations in Ekiti and Akoko territories, among other places, and how this naturally affected the growth of commerce and industry at the period. 52

Omidiran’s book traces the origin of Ekiti-Parapo War between the Ekiti with

Ilesha and Ibadan. Though the war initially disrupted the economy of Ekiti, the end of the hostility brought more life to the economy of the people. 53 19

Ekiti State: The Story of a Determined People edited by Akin

Oyebode, et. al, is another useful book. It traces the history and the culture of the people along with their political, social, religious and, very suitably, the economic activities. According to Isola Olomola:

…the Ekiti economic system had common features of division of labour on the basis of sex as in other parts of Yorubaland and beyond. The men predominated in cultivation… clearing the forest, making (yam) heaps and weeding, etc. Women helped in planting and harvesting… Ekiti economy was largely dependent on peasant agriculture and largely supplemented with hunting, domestic industry and trading. 54

Another relevant book to the research is The History of the Yorubas from the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the British Protectorate by

Samuel Johnson. The book thoroughly traces the origin of Ekiti along with its very strong traditions of kingship systems. The Ekiti war experiences like the Ekiti-Parapo, Kiriji and Ibadan wars are well discussed. What makes the book very useful is its treatment of “the economic and socio political history of the Ekiti countries”, showing how Ekiti had a free passage to aggressive economic activities. 55 The book has also made major contributions to the research in its discussion of agriculture, trade, art and industry.

But, while Peter C. Lloyd’s The Political Development of Yoruba

Kingdom in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries discusses the Ekiti wars and makes Ekiti a strong factor in Yoruba historiography, 56 The

Revolutionary Years: West Africa Since 1800 by J.B. Webster and A.A.

Boahen, et al, has an interesting reference to the revolt of Ekiti against

Ibadan’s imperialism. The book by Webster and Boahen briefly examines the 20 economic viabilities of Ekiti, particularly in the late 19 th century. During this period, the Ekiti region was so productive, particularly in agriculture and industry, that the Ibadan empire began to exploit the Ekiti people “as a source of wealth and cheap labour”. 57 The Ekiti-Parapo War was, thus, among other things, a revolt against Ibadan’s imperialist aggression, subjugation and economic exploitation. The book is very useful to this study.

The Blue Print for Ekiti State, published by the Ekiti State government, has admirably presented the major natural resources and agro-allied activities that have made Ekiti economically dynamic. For example, it discusses Ekiti’s industrial minerals and rocks, water resources and gemstones. The book details the agrarian nature of the Ekiti economy and briefly presents the major agricultural products of the state like cocoa, cocoyam, cassava, yam, palm produce, citrus, maize, vegetable and horticultural crops like pawpaw, orange, pepper and tomatoes. 58 The book also examines such agricultural sub-sectors like veterinary services, food crop and tree crop production as well as forestry and wild life.

Omuooke-Ekiti: Yesterday and Today by S.O. Olaitan and O. Idowu is another book that has supplied useful information for this research. Part of the book is devoted to the economic activities which have been instrumental to the development of Omuooke-Ekiti. Apart from presenting rich information on the political structure, religious beliefs and socio-cultural experiences of the Ekiti people, it examines very laudably, the economic activities which enhanced the development of Ekiti during the pre-colonial period. In its discussion of the people’s economy, it focuses on agriculture, 21 trade and transportation systems, crafts and local industries. The book highlights how colonial economy thrived in Ekiti:

Many registered colonial companies and firms were involved in commercial activities at provinces and districts. Two such companies stationed at Omuooke for commercial activities between the Western and Northern regions were Royal Niger Company and Messers Holts and Company. These two companies made use of services of young men and women in Omuooke to carry their products… for exchange for raw materials, such as palm oil, palm kernel,… Kolanuts (kolanuts), coffee, cowries, bones and skins of wild precious animal such as… lion, tiger, leopard, cobra and so on. 59

Of equal importance is Igede-Ekiti in Perspective by J.O. Adetunberu, et. al. This book examines various economic activities of the pre-colonial and colonial Ekiti under agricultural economy: food production and cultivation method, cash crop production, particularly cocoa, kolanuts, oil palm trees and para-rubber. This book also discusses agriculture, labour traditional crafts, like carving, dyeing, weaving and blacksmithing as well as small scale industries such as soap-making are treated. What makes the book interesting is its coverage of the Ekiti money-saving method during the pre- colonial periods:

Before the introduction of the modern banking system, our forefathers had evolved various systems of keeping their money. The most popular of these methods was to have the money in big pots and bury the pots in the ground, in their houses. Such places were made known only to trusted friends or relatives so that in the event of death, such treasures might not be lost. 60

22

Some unpublished theses have also been useful in this research. For example, E.K. Faluyi’s The Development of the Export Trade in Agricultural

Raw Materials in Nigeria, 1950 to 1959 discusses Ekiti as regards the production of cocoa, tobacco and timber which were part of the agricultural products that were heavily exported to Europe in the colonial period. 61 T.M.

Akinwumi’s Ph.D. thesis, The Commemorative Phenomenon of Textile Use

Among the Yoruba: A Survey of Significance and Form, briefly but clearly shows the place of Ekiti in the production of a variety of textiles which were marketed in other Yoruba towns. The thesis also shows different socio- cultural roles that textiles play among the Ekiti people. 62

Some academic journals have also been of great help, in the conceptual framework of this study. For example, in discussing the vent-for-surplus theory, the following have been very useful, particularly in the articulation of various Eurocentric ideas: The Economic Journal, June 1929 and June 1958.

J.A. Williams’, “The Theory of International Trade Reconsidered” and Hla

Myint’s “The Classical Theory of International Trade and the

Underdeveloped Countries” are relevant to this effect. And as regards literature on Dependency Theory these following books have also been useful, particularly in the refutation of the vent-for-surplus theory: How

Europe Underdeveloped Africa by Walter Rodney, The Political Economy of a Pre-Colonial Africa by Toyin Falola, Britain and Nigeria: Exploitation or

Development? by Toyin Falola (ed.).

Considering all the above reviewed literature, it is very clear that no work has been focused on the theme of this research; that is, no significant 23 research has been done on the Ekiti economy of the colonial period, not to talk of its history. It is very evident, judging by the contextual foci of these literature, that all the publications examined above treat some aspects of the

Ekiti economy very cursorily. On the basis of the aforesmentioned, therefore, and considering the prominent place of Ekiti in the Nigerian colonial economy, an exhaustive study of the Economic History of Ekiti from 1900 to

1960 is not only necessary but overdue.

Sources and Methodology

This study is handled chronologically and thematically. It lends itself to descriptive and also quantitative, statistical method as data can permit on the economic activities in Ekiti; how these economic activities developed

Ekiti and how the Ekiti people responded to external changes and overall colonial economic influences. To achieve this, the data derived from some statistical and other reports will be used. But histogram and graphs will not be needed because the study has sufficiently used tables or statistics. Maps and charts will also be utilized where necessary to give graphic pictures of the issues discussed.

This work heavily relies on both primary and secondary sources for its execution. With an effective use of a tape recorder and a camera, interviews were conducted among groups and individuals; that is, cultural, commercial, financial, educational, social, political and religious associations as well as chiefs, highly experienced teachers, civil servants, notable farmers, businessmen and women and retired administrators. Other primary sources of information include unpublished archival materials in Ado-Ekiti, Ife and 24

Ibadan. These are in addition to private diaries, photographs, maps, letters and written records in private museums. Various Christian Missionary or

Church records in selected Baptist and Catholic churches in Ado, Ikere,

Igede, Ise, Ijero and Akure are very useful additional sources of primary information.

The secondary materials obtained from published and unpublished sources include books, journals, newsletters, magazines as well as undergraduate and post-graduate projects, dissertations and theses located particularly in some tertiary institutions in Nigeria.

Organisation

The study has been organized in seven chapters. Chapter one is the introduction which contains background information and research methods.

Chapter two discusses the Ekiti society and economy on the eve of colonial rule. Here, focus is on traditional land tenure, agriculture, trade, industry and craft.

Various infrastructural projects, like roads and transport, embarked upon between 1900 and 1960 are the focus of Chapter three. Export and staple crops as well livestock production are discussed in Chapter four. In

Chapter five, different types of art and craft such as carving, textiles, pottery, smithing, among others, are treated. Chapter six examines domestic and external trade as well as market system, while Chapter seven is the conclusion.

25

REFERENCES

1. See The Blueprint for Ekiti State. (Ado-Ekiti: Government Printer, no date), pp. 13-21.

2. Femi Olugbade, Ekiti City Guide (Ado-Ekiti: Akaobi Publishers, 2004), p. 1.

3. The Blue Print for Ekiti State, p. 18.

4. Olugbade, Ekiti City Guide, pp. 2-4.

5. National Archaives, Ibadan (N.A.I.), Ondo Prof 120 ¼ File No. 5A Memormorada presented by the Deji (King) of Akure on behalf of the entire Akure town, seeking complete independence or separation of Akure from Ekiti Division.

6. This is saying that Ilesha and Akure still speak Ekiti dialect.

7. Akin Oyebode, et. al. (eds.) Ekiti State: The story of a Determined People (Ado-Ekiti: Fountain Newspapers and Publishing Company Ltd., 2001), p.1.

8. Femi Olugbade, Ekiti City Guide…, 2004, p. 2.

9. S.A. Akintoye, Revolution and Power Politics in Yorubaland, 1840- 1893 (London: Longman Group Ltd., 1971), p. 21.

10. Ibid., p. 6.

11. N.A.I., Ekiti div. 1/4, Administrative Report, 1940, p. 7.

12. Deacon O. Ogunkua, a retired tacher and big-time farmer. Interview conducted in Igede Ekiti on July 10, 2006.

13. W.A. Lewis, Savagery Through Barbarism to Contization. London: 1965, p.30.

14. D.K. Fieldhouse, Britain and Nigeria: Exploitation or Development? (London: Zed Books Ltd., 1987), p. 4.

15. H. Myint, “The Classical Theory of International Trades and the Underdeveloped Countries”, Economic Journal, 68, June, 1958, p. 20.

16. For more mode of production, see Toyin Falola, The Political Economy of the Pre-colonial African State: Ibadan, 1830-1900.

17. The family mode of production was practised in Ekiti before the introduction of monetised economy. This mode of production was controlled by the Family. Labour was free and the labourers were 26

taking care of the family. It was an economic unity where no one was left out.

18. See A.O. Oguntuyi, A Short History of Ado-Ekiti, Part One (Ado-Ekiti: Self Published, no date), pp. 5, 6-8.

19. Ibid., p. 30.

20. Oguntuyi, A Short History…, P. 75; also see This is Ekiti: A Publication of Ekiti Government, 1997, p. 4.

21. This is Ekiti…, pp. 4-5

22. Oladeji Fasuan, Creation of Ekiti State: The Epic Struggle of a People (Ado-Ekiti: Industrial and Merchandise Nigeria Ltd., 2002), p. 30.

23. See J.H. Williams, “The Theory of International Trade Reconsidered” Economic Journal, 68, June 1929, pp. 195-209.

24. Hyla Myint, “The Classical Theory of International Trade”, Economic Journal, 68, June 1958, p. 25.

25. G.K. Helleiner, Peasant Agriculture, Government and Growth in Nigeria (Homewood: Richard D. Irwin, Inc., 1966), p. 46.

26. Olufemi Omosini, “The Rubber Export Trade in Ibadan, 1893-1904”. JHSN, 10, 1, December 1979, p. 21.

27. Toyin Falola, The Political Economy of Pre-Colonial African State: Ibadan 1830-1900 (Ile-Ife: University of Ife Press), p. 21.

28. See Toyin Falola (ed.), Britain and Nigeria: Exploitation or Development? (London: Zed Books Ltd., 1987).

29. Toyin Falola, Britain and Nigeria…, 1987, p. 78.

30. Ibid., p. 28.

31. Ibid., p. 139.

32. Ibid., p. 159.

33. A.G. Hopkins, An Economic History of West Africa (London: Longman Group Ltd., 1973), p. 235.

34. Falola, The Political Economy of a Pre-colonial African State: Ibadan, 1930-1900, p. 10.

35. Ibid.

36. O.N. Njoku, Economic History of Nigeria: 19 th and 20 th Centuries (Enugu: Magnet Business Enterprises, 2001), p. 2. 27

37. See, S.O. Biobaku (ed.), Sources of Yoruba History (London: Oxford University Press, 1973), pp. 250-262.

38. Ibid., pp. 251-254.

39. This is Ekiti, 1997, p. 13.

40. The Blueprint for Ekiti State, (Ado-Etiti Government Publication, no. date, 1997), p. 10.

41. S.O. Biobaku, Sources of Yoruba History…, 1973, p. 251.

42. I.A. Akinjogbin and S.O. Osoba (eds.), Notes on Nigerian Economic and Social History (Ile-Ife: University of Ife Press, Ltd., 1980), pp. 49- 50.

43. Ibid., pp. 51-52.

44. Ibid., p. 46; also see Onwuka N. Njoku, The Economic History of Nigeria, 19 th to 20 th Centuries (Enugu: Magnet Business Enterprises, 2001), pp. 63-88.

45. Kelvin Carroll, Yoruba Religious Carving: Pagan and Christian Sculpture in Nigeria and Dahomey (New York: Frederick A. Prager Publishers, 1967, p. 1.

46. P.C. Lloyd, Power and Independence: Urban Perception of Social Inequality (London: Rutledge and Kegan Paul, 1974), pp. 37-38.

47. Njoku, Economic History…, pp. 62-88.

48. See A. Are and D.R.G. Gwynne (eds.) Cocoa in West Africa (Ibadan: Oxford University Press, 1976); S.S. Berry, Cocoa, Custom and Socio- Economic Development in Western Nigeria (Oxford: Clevendon Press, 1975); A Akinbode, Kolanut Production in Nigeria (Ibadan: NISSER, 1982).

49. Oladele Omishore, The Challenges of Nigeria’s Economic Reform (Ibadan: Fountain Publishers,1991), p. 3.

50. A.O. Oguntuyi, Itan Kukuru Nipa Ado-Ekiti Part 1 (Ado-Ekiti: Self Publication, no. date), pp. 1-27.

51. S.O. Ogunrinde, Olusanta (Olosunta) ati Ikere (Ikere: Self-Publication, no date).

52. A.O. Ogunrinde, Aduloju Dodoundawa, Oko Ekiti Oke Akoko (Ibadan: Self Publication, no date).

53. D.F. Omidiran, Itan Ogun Ekiti-Parapo (Okemesi: Self Publication, 1955), no date. 28

54. Akin Oyebode, et al. (eds.), Ekiti State: The Story of a Determined People (Ado-Ekiti: Fountain Newspapers Publishing Company Ltd., 2001), p. 9.

55. Samuel Johnson, The History of the Yorubas from the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the British Protectorate (Lagos: C.S.S. Bookshops, 1921), p. 664.

56. P.C. Lloyd, The Political Development of Yoruba Kingdoms in the 18 th and 19 th Centuries (London: Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, 1971), pp. 1-27.

57. J.B. Webster and A.A. Bochen, et al, The Revolutionary Years: West Africa Since 1800 (London: Longman Groups Ltd., 1980), pp. 70-71.

58. The Blue Print for Ekiti State, p. 12.

59. S.O. Olaitan and O. Idowu, Omuo-Oke Ekiti: Yesterday and Today ( Ibukun Publishers, 2001), pp. 103-104.

60. J.O. Adetunberu, et al. (eds.) Igede Ekiti in Perspectives, (Ibadan: John Archers Publishers) Limited, 2001), pp. 111-113.

61. E.K. Faluyi, The Development of the Export Trade in Agricultural Law Materials in Nigeria, 1950 to 1959. Unpublished M.A. Project, 1978, University of Lagos, Lagos.

62. T.M. Akinwumi, The Commemorative Phenomenon of Textile Use Among Yoruba: A Survey of Significance and Form, Unpublished Ph.D Thesis, 1990, University of Ibadan, Ibadan. 29

CHAPTER TWO

EKITI SOCIETY AND ECONOMY BEFORE 1900

The Ekiti people, before colonization, already had the basic infrastructure that made them self-sufficient and productive. 1 The organisation of the whole area now known as Ekiti ensured the maintenance of law and order. And generally, the people’s economy was built mainly on agriculture, trade and industry, but before discussing all these, it is important to generally examine the people’s social, cultural and political experiences before colonization.

On the eve of the colonial rule, Ekitiland had already been visited by many Europeans, who were mainly missionaries, explorers, traders and treasure hunters. The contact with the Europeans could be taken back to about the middle 1850s. 2 But during this period of contact with the British, the Ekiti cultural traditions were not really adulterated by foreign influences. It is good to examine the social life of the people during this period. Some writers like

D. Philips, Bolanle Awe, S.A. Akintoye, Paula Brown, P.C. Lloyd and H.

Oluwasanmi, among others, have written, either in bits or indirectly, on Ekiti pre-colonial cultural, political and social experiences. This chapter will, however, present a much more indepth or elaborate study of the people, particularly as regards settlement patterns, religion, government and economic experiences that will be elaborated upon in Chapter three. 3

Settlement

Being a completely homogenous society, made up of different family units within households that were also within districts, all the districts within 30 each town were headed by an or king whose chiefs were usually heads of these districts. The chiefs were special advisers to the king who also had minor chiefs in charge of, for example, wars, purification of the society or religious rites, community work and judicial problems. The Ekiti people on the eve of the “colonial era were living in houses made of mud walls and palm leaves or other leaves for roofing”. 4 Nearly all the buildings had the same “design and size, all of which were determined by the utilitarian and domestic needs of the Ekiti people”. 5 However, generally,

The buildings were all bungalows and were built in compounds known as Agbo – Ile (a group of houses). The compound was usually circular in shape enclosing a large area. Each compound was divided into several compartments serving the need of all the families and their dependants. In the open space in the centre of the compound, “Aede”, were kept goats, and sheep at night to prevent leopard from destroying them. 6

Every compound had an entrance near a urinary called Ojuto or a gutter. Within each compound were also different areas for cooking, bathing and other activities like night story telling. It was not in the people’s tradition to pass stools within a compound. Instead, each household, made up of several compounds, had a separate area, distant from the compounds, for this.

To avoid any plague, this area was always burnt to ashes, usually once a year.

Sanitation was an important aspect of Ekiti’s communal settlement. For example, “it was very mandatory for all the young boys and girls in each compound to sweep the grounds within and outside the compound every morning”. 7 And very periodically also, all male adults in every district used to clear and burn the areas where refuse was dumped. 31

Religion

Like the other Yoruba groups, the Ekiti believed in one “Supreme

Ruler, the creator of all things – pure – as to be unapproachable”, 8 God who abhors sin and wicked practices. He was known as (God), who was far removed from human beings, but had mediators known as Orisa who were worshipped and served as a communication medium between man and

God. Some of Orisa were Ogun (god of iron), Sango (god of thunder), Esu

(god of creativity), Osanyi (god of herbology) and Ifa (god of divination).

The people also had several deities and cults like (spirits of the dead). All these minor gods and deities were worshipped by all the Ekiti people. But individual towns had their own additional deities that were unique to them. For example, the Ikere people worshipped the Olosunta, the

Ado-Ekiti worshipped Olua and Orisa Ojudo , the Igede worshipped Osun and

Elemi. The Ogbese River was worshipped in Ise. Other deities worshipped generally by the Ekiti people were , Obalufon, Ereju and Orisanla.

For religious efficacy, sacrifices, including human sacrifice, were made to these gods and deities either for pacification or for various requests.

Through these various gods and deities, prayers were offered to Olodumare.

This nature of Ekiti religion made it necessary to have various priests who were in charge of many shrines which were very many in nearly every corner of Ekiti. The people so much believed in the efficacy of their religion that the

European missionaries initially found it difficult to introduce Christianity to them. No doubt, the traditional religion of Ekiti brought moral discipline to the daily experiences of the people. Their religion influenced, through 32 constant oracular consultations and spiritual atonement, the socio-economic life of the people. The Ekiti religion and other cultic activities, patronized for medical, social, political reasons, among others, by people, improved the economic conditions of the people, particularly the priests and the herbalists.

Education

Education among the pre-colonial Ekiti was through apprenticeship; where young boys or girls were made to serve under experts for a specified period, learning various trades like medicine, music, body adornment or scarification, blacksmithing, weaving, dyeing, carving, beading, trade or commerce, hunting, among many others. Some of these trades could be learnt through parents or family’s tradition. But generally, moral education and more particularly “the education of women was the natural responsibility of parents who always made sure that their female children were adequately prepared not only for successful marital life but also for productive careers in the society”. 9 Various social, creative or artistic events or occupations were more regularly learnt by association. And this takes one to the Ekiti’s marriage tradition.

Marriage

In the pre-colonial Ekiti, marriage system was highly laborious and methodical. And this was seriously tied to the economic level or power of the bridegroom to be. In fact, three things were necessary for getting a wife: moral character, hard work and financial strength. According to tradition, marriage essentially took three stages which, according to Elizabeth Oni, 33 were the introduction, the betrothal and the final marriage. 10 All these were set in motion after the families of both man and woman had agreed to the marriage. The introduction, called Ana, could take place after the man, parents and friends might have met the parents of the girl formally with kolanuts and palm wine. The acceptance of the gifts was followed by prayers from the girl’s parents after which a day would be fixed for the betrothal called Idana, which, usually, should be within nine to 12 days.

Idana was a day of celebration and merriment, because it was when various food items, including kolanuts, palmwine, goat, yams as well as loads of clothes and other properties which the girl would need, were brought to the bride’s house by the bridegroom. 11 At the occasion, all the relations of both the man and the lady would be in attendance, and it was the occasion that the man would show whether or not he was financially very strong. It was during the Idana that the dowry, which was usually a very small amount in cowries, was paid. Marriage, called Obuntun, could follow any time, depending on the agreement between the two families. The marriage day was the most elaborate in celebration, with various musical bands and more than enough to eat. At the end of the whole ceremony, the parents of the lady would pray for her before following her husband to his house at night. By tradition, the lady would be followed by one of her younger female relations who was supposed to stay or live with her for as long as she wished.

Government

Before the colonial era and even after, every town in Ekiti had the same system of government based on Kingship. All administrative, judicial, 34 military and cultural powers were invested in the kings who had many slaves, messengers and numerous court attendants who all affirmed the next-to-god image of these rulers. The kings, who were also graded or classed according to some cultural, military, medicinal and population criteria, dominated all the social, economic, political, religious and cultural lives of their people. They even had the power of death over their subjects. Atanda records that:

The Chief (King) had around him civil officers – who serve as public criers to make known laws or publish temporary enactments; he appoints over every department of labour or business, principal men who are to act in their respective spheres; and then he has regular officers of a police character --- who are so detected --- that it is difficult for anyone to thwart them in their vigilance. Hence the order and regularity characteristic of these town governments. 12

The administration of each town was made possible through a well organized system that took its root from the heads of family units through the heads of households to the heads of the districts who, automatically, were the senior chiefs to the kings. Each chief had his special role as demanded by tradition and the king. Every town had one palace where all the kings lived in succession. And kings were selected from ruling houses according to age-old tradition. Kingship stool could not be bought in anyway in Ekiti land. Every ruling house “produced the person next in line for the kingship stool, no matter how financially poor he was”. 13 And that is why, till today, many Ekiti kings are not very rich financially, though their subjects always elevate them materially, placing them very comfortably among the notable elite in the society. 14 For good governance, various cultural experiences were also practised. For example, there were many festivals in each town in which 35 young men and women as well as old people participated. These festivals could be for the peace and development of the town; they could be for land fertility, protection from witches and wizards, procreation and for preventing premature deaths.

Land Tenure

Though symbolically, the land belonged to the king, the custodian of all lands, he did not get himself involved in any family or household land unless there was a problem. But the king was in charge of all the community land. Land in the pre-colonial Ekiti was hereditary. That is, the male children of a man inherited all his land after him, and the land was shared among them if the man had more than one child.

It was not the tradition of Ekiti to sell any portion of their land, because no person outside the family was allowed to permanently own a land within the family’s land. Rather, land could be given to a distant relation on trust on agreed terms and for a specified period, after which the land was returned to the owner. Such land was given after the person had given a gift of kolanut and wine to the family. In fact, each lineage had the right to land which, according to tradition, belonged to their ancestor. Such land was in the charge of the head of the household who would make sure that the land was shared among the family heads who, in turn would also make sure that the family heads shared the land appropriately. 15 There was no tradition of land pledging in the pre-colonial period.

36

Agriculture

Pre-colonial Ekiti was a completely agricultural society, and farming was their main occupation. With very few and simple agricultural implements like cutlass, hoe and axe, the Ekiti farmers were able to produce more than enough food for the people. According to Captain Anderson in

1899,

With few, simple and primitive implements, these hard-working people (Ekiti) have been able to produce a variety of food crops that are displayed in segmented units like Egyptian pyramids in the markets that are customarily located near the kings’ palaces. One is not surprised because very early in the morning, by 6 a.m., the farmers and their male children are seen trooping to the farms with cutlasses, hoes, baskets and, at times, wood torches needed to make fire in the farm for food…. And in the evening, around 4 p.m., the people usually return home in groups, this time including women carrying heavy loads on their heads while men are seen carrying fire wood on their shoulders…. Evidently, there can be no Ekiti without farming. 16

It is very clear from the above observation that the pre-colonial agriculture

“though without all the appliances of civilization, produces fine results”. 17 In addition, “with … simple instrument, large trees are felled, the forest cleared, the wood cut and split and thousands of acres prepared for tillage”. 18

Since some cash crops were not yet really introduced to Ekiti, the main crops grown were tobacco, kolanut, maize, yam, cocoyam, beans, gourds, calabashes, melon, okro and a variety of vegetables, which, at times, grew up unplanted among planted crops. The common vegetables were ewe dudu, tete, rorowo, edu and egure (water leaf). A variety of pepper was also cultivated, 37 in addition to plantain, cassava, potatoes, cotton and pawpaw. Palm oil and palm kernels were also part of Ekiti’s agricultural products in addition to palm wine. It was the duty of the men to clear the bush, till the land with hoes and plant the crops. It was the responsibility of the women to harvest farm products and bring then home and for sale in the market.

The Ekiti farmers reared animals like goat, dogs and pigs. The animals were allowed to roam about freely after being fed in the morning. Apart from pigs which were not allowed to enter a house, dogs and goats were free to mix with people. In fact, a dog was treated like a human being and was allowed to even sleep within a house and close to people. Dogs were used for hunting and for other domestic purposes. Fowls were raised both at home and in the farm. While the men were responsible for rearing fowls in the farm, women were mostly in charge of rearing them at home.

Another important aspect of the agricultural life in the pre-colonial

Ekiti was hunting. During this period, and the situation still remains the same till today, nearly all the farmers were also hunters, using locally made guns, different types of traps, wires and catapults. Apart from individual hunting, there were also periodic collective hunting expeditions made up, at a time, of about 20 to 30 or more, hunters hunting various animals and birds. Such game resulting from hunting were usually shared according to age and contribution either for food or for sale.

One practice was very common among Ekiti farmers before 1900, though this was carried over to the colonial period. This was the practice of selling some crops in the farm without the sellers or the owners of such farm 38 products being around. About this method of selling. Anderson also commented in 1899:

The amazing thing about the Ekiti farmers, both men and women, is their strange method of selling farm products without the presence of the sellers. This is a lesson for we British because I cannot but wonder how this method can work among us in Britain. At the entrance or gateway to a farm is usually found items like ripe plantain, tomatoes, yams, roasted rats and snakes and other things that were displayed on skeletal wooden beds resting rectangularly on four wooden sticks that were firmly driven into the ground. What the buyers do is to pick any of the items displayed and put the cowrie money there. Nothing is ever stolen. 19

Ekiti people called this practice kosoloja or remote selling. 20 Kosoloja, or ko si oloja, means the seller is not around or very distant from his market.

Chief Jonathan Agunbiade of Ado-Ekiti explained the working of “remote selling”. According to him, “remote selling was a custom that, among other things, helped teach and promote moral decency among the Ekiti people”. 21

People believed that it was a curse for anybody to steal or take any of the displayed items without dropping the price money near the product.

However, for a prospective buyer to know the price of each product displayed for sale, according to Agunbiade, a price was put very close to each item for sale. What the buyer needed to do was to first count the amount of money, usually in cowries, beside the item he or she wanted to buy and then drop the exact amount in front of the product. 22 “Remote selling” was also practised among some Igbo communities well into the late 1950s.

But Bosede Ajayi, a 67-year old trader at the Oja Oba, King’s Market, in Ado-Ekiti, has further explained the commercially creative nature of 39

“Remote Selling” among the Ekiti traders. For example, it is still the practice that when somebody buys any food item in the market or in a yard, it is customary for the seller to generously add to or top what has been bought with small and free extra. This small extra or gift was known in Ekiti as “eni” or what the call “mmezi”. However, Bosede has been able to recollect the same practice with remote selling in the farm. To her, though not all the remote sellers were practising this, many farmers usually put extra foodstuffs on the right side of other foodstuffs for sale. No money or amount was placed near this at all, meaning that it was “eni” or free gift. 23 What happened was that if, for example, a bunch of banana was placed on the extra portion of the stall, one was free to take one or two from the bunch after buying an item.

Nobody had the right to touch the extra gift if the person had not bought anything from the stall. 24 To Oluwatoba, the method of putting “eni” or extra on many stalls was a way of attracting patronage. 25 And this now makes it necessary to discuss the amount for and the currency used in remote selling. Though the Ekiti currency will be discussed later, it is necessary here to understand that the main and most popular currency were cowries followed by precious beads called “ayun”. About the remote selling, the quality and quantity of the foodstuff’s usually determined the number of cowries placed near each item by the seller. However, it is good to point out that occasionally, people could exchange food item for another food item.

40

Art and Craft Industry

Long before the British occupation, Ekiti was creatively powerful for its strong tradition of wood carving. Nearly every district in a town had wood carvers who were revered not only for their ability to create images of the gods but also more importantly for their closeness not only to the powerful chiefs but also to the kings who were their major patrons. Culture was the life of the people, and religion was the soul of this life. All the daily activities of the people were tied to religious practices which were totally controlled by the worship of their gods. Hundreds of religions activities had been sustained and associated with very many shrines that also had to be constantly equipped with art images or carved figures and other objects. All over Ekiti land, the chiefs’ houses and the kings’ palaces or courts had thousands of religious and secular art images and objects, all of which served the spiritual and material objectives of these powerful elite in the society (see Figs. 2.1 – 2.3). 41

Fig. 2.1: (a, b & c): (a) House posts carved by Agunna of Ijero-Ekiti before 1920. (b) House Post by Agbonbiofe at the Palace of Efon- Alaiye-Ekiti. (c) House Post by Olowe at the Palace of the king of Ise-Ekiti, C. 1925. © D.P. Biebuyck, Tradition and Creativity in Tribal Art, 1969 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1969), p. 24. 42

Fig. 2.2: Wooden Carved Figures by Bangboye of Odo-Owa in the Colonial Period. © Biebuyck, 1989, p. 21. 43

Fig. 2.3: Arowogun of Osi-Ekiti, the Carver with some of his works in the Colonial Period. © Biebuyck, 1969, p. 22.

The individuals also commissioned various art images for protective, therapeutic, economic and other social reasons. Different types of musical instruments, domestic objects and other occupational objects were carved by the wood carvers. And many of the carvers were also traditional doctors or priests, and these positions brought considerable patronage to them. Wood carvers were generally very wealthy, bringing “this very popular saying that carvers never lack”. 26 In fact, what made the carvers’ position more financially lucrative than those of many professionals was the belief that any 44 commissioned religious or cultic object must be paid for once; not instalmentally. There was also no room for credit buying. It was believed that any art image that was not fully paid for at once might not be spiritually efficacious or potent.

Many wood carvers did not specialize in carving images and objects but focused on wood ornamentation or design. In fact, on the eve of the

British rule, Ekiti had three types of wood carvers. One was known as

“agbere”, the person who caved human and animal figures; “agbena”, a wood carver who made wood or furniture very ornamental with patterns, motifs and other creative designs. There was also “agbegi” who produced only domestic and other non-figurative secular wood objects without any trace of design or ornamentation. 27

The influence of wood carvers on the Ekiti society before 1900 was so great that both the Christian missionaries and the colonial administrators descended heavily on these “carvers who were accused of making idols in Ise,

Ado, Iyin and Igede and were locked up, though without any physical harm, in the D.O’s Quarters (Ado) for two weeks”. 28 This was because it was discovered that “many of those gigantic carved human figures, some about seven feet high, holding carved swords and carved human heads with fearful big eyes and soaked with human blood were produced by them”. 29 Like many other idols, human sacrifices were made to purify and energize the powers of these images. This was why the traditional wood carvers were not only respected but also feared in the pre-colonial Ekiti. 45

However, there were other forms of art which, in fact, formed the backbone of Ekiti local industries. These were blacksmithing, weaving, dyeing, pottery, beading, cap – making and mat weaving. The Ekiti people were adept blacksmiths who, before colonization, produced a variety of cultic, hunting and domestic objects for the community. Like in other Yoruba ethnic groups, iron ore was available and obtained from the mountains that abound in Ekiti. This was smelted in furnaces before being sold to blacksmiths who used them to produce a variety of implements and instruments. According to W.H. Clark:

Every town has its complement of blacksmith shops (workshops) that may be known by their circular tops where the sound of the hammer and anvil may from day to day be heard. The implements used are a rock for anvil, a small oblong piece of iron tapering to a handle for a hammer, one or two pairs of tongs similar to those in common use, a pair of bellows made out of raw hide in a circular shape – with handles of wood inserted so as to be raised perpendicularly – (for firing). Coal made from wood is generally used though shells of the palm nut are used in case of necessity. 30

Blacksmithing was an important and indispensable industry before colonization, because without their products, there would be no implements for agriculture and no instruments to fight in wars, among other experiences.

Weaving was another industry of Ekiti before colonization. With the use of vertical and horizontal looms, Ekiti women were able to produce enough cloths for people to wear. The process of weaving began by obtaining thread for weaving from cotton wool front which cotton seeds had already been removed. These seeds were removed by a thin iron rod called obibo that 46 served as a roller. After all the cotton seeds had been removed, the cotton was beaten into a light and thin form, before being spun into threads with a spindle that had a round, heavy object at its bottom end. The heavy object could be circular in shape. The threads could be dyed in different colours, while others were used in their white colour. There were women whose occupation was to produce threads for weaving. Weaving with vertical looms was the exclusive occupation of the Ekiti women.

They were very dexterous on their looms and very fast in turning out yards of cloth in one day. This was why weaving of cloths was already a part of Ekiti culture long before the 19 th century. 31 Dr. T.E. Rice, the Acting

District Commissioner for Ekiti in 1899 knew this when he said that the

“Ekiti’s sense of pride is clearly noticeable in their fashion --- with special clothes for farming and different ones for recreation, paying visits --- and for special ceremories”. 32 He observed further that “apart from children who occasionally troop out, particularly when it rains, you cannot see anybody nude on the street. But in individual homes or indoor one occasionally sees aged women pounding yam barebreasted only”. 33

Dyeing was another industry that went had in hand with weaving. In nearly every district were found dyeing cottage industries which were usually carried out by women only. With indigo leaves, usually obtained from the farm or bought in the market, dye was prepared. It was easy to locate the dye establishments with many big pots and heaps of ashes that had been used during processing (Fig. 2.4). Dyeing produced shades of blue because of the natural indigo colour. Other common colours were purple and green. 47

Pottery was another popular Ekiti industry. Unlike other industries which were commonly found around every town, pottery industries were found only in towns where clay was available. These towns were Ara, Isan,

Afao, Obo, Igbara-Odo and Okemesi, among others. Despite the fact that only few Ekiti towns produced pottery, the few pottery industries were able to even produce surplus pottery wares with locally made instruments and traditional techniques. Again, like many other industries, pottery was an exclusively female occupation (Fig. 2.5). Another home industry, monopolised by women, was cap-making and beading.

Fig. 2.4: A Yoruba Cloth Dyer at Work. © Nigeria Magazine, No. 89, 1966, p. 100.

48

Fig. 2.5: Products of Ekiti Local Pottery Industry in the Colonial Period. ©Adeyeye, 2008

49

Many Ekiti towns, before 1900, were known for the production of elite caps, used mainly by the chiefs, kings and very wealthy people in the society.

With strong threads or horse hair, these caps were dexterously sewn with needles produced by blacksmiths. In fact, during the pre-colonial era, the status of a man could easily be measured by the type of cap he wore. These caps produced by women definitely could not be bought or worn by ordinary people, and the people were aware of this. There were also royal caps, or crowns, which were exclusively for kings (Figs. 2.6-2.7). These were expensive and prestigious. The kings’ crowns were usually heavily beaded with various ornamental, pictorial or sculptural designs. This type was known as “ade”. Of course caps were also produced for the ordinary people in the society.

Mat weaving, like pottery, was an industry that strongly affected the lives of the Ekiti people generally. In the pre-colonial period, when there were no modern beds, these today, mats were the major materials for sleeping; followed by animal skins. Even when raised mud beds were in use by some wealthy Ekiti, mats were still needed to spread on them before sleeping. During ceremonies like marriage, masquerade rituals, child naming, death rites and special thanksgiving to the gods for success in some endeavours, mats were usually spread on the ground for children and boys and girls to sit on. Grown up people or adults were given wooden or palm frond stools to sit on. On occasions, when these stools or benches were not enough, mats were also used by the adults for sitting. Like pottery, mat weaving was practised in only a few Ekiti towns. However, the volume of 50 production by these industries was enough to meet the consumption demand of the people. What made the products of these mat industries very unique and acceptable were their attractive geometric designs and colours.

Fig. 2.6: Heavily Beaded Crown of a King. © Nigeria Magazine, No. 83, 1964, p. 255.

51

Fig. 2.7: Beaded Crown of a King. © Nigeria Magazine, No. 83, 1964, p. 254.

Roads, Transportation and Trade

Before 1900, Ekiti had road infrastructures that connected the town people to their various farms that could be between five to twenty kilometers away. The roads which “branched out from each town to many geographical corners of the town were footpaths that were not only very narrow but also very curvy in many places, with side bushes that occasionally made some animals close on, on people”. 34 On the roads, agricultural and hunting 52 activities were carried out. In fact, therefore, two types of road existed in each town. These were the farm and hunting roads. The farm roads were very narrow and long while the hunting roads were narrower, rough and short.

However, “many of these hunting bush paths later developed into farm roads, particularly because of constant trailing of animals that occasionally escaped from traps or after being shot”. 35

But, the major Ekiti roads were those that connected towns to one another (Map 1.3). Though the roads were also narrow and very tortuous, they were wider and cleaner than the farm roads. These roads were always maintained by the communities mainly because they were trade routes to different destinations. The roads met the needs of the people, because they were only for head porterage or leg transportation. Through these roads, people carried their agricultural and industrial products to distant markets.

Ekiti, before 1900, had many trade commodities like the industrial and agricultural products, all of which made Ekiti, as will be seen later in this study, a commercial centre. There were both domestic and external trade this period. Ekiti operated a five-day market cycle or periodicity, and various farm products like yam, cocoyam, plantain, pepper, palm oil, among many others, as well as goats and fowls were sold in the markets. Trade was conducted either by barter or with cowries. Values of goods used to change from time to time, and this also made the value of cowries change accordingly. The following can give one an idea of what cowries could buy around 1900:

53

40 cowries = 1 string (British ½ penny)

50 strings = 1 head (British 2 shillings)

10 heads = 1 bag (British 1 pound, 10 shillings)

During the period, 40 cowries or 1 string was about 1 British half penny. 36 Cowries were carried in baskets to and from trade centres by hired men and women who were also paid for their services. To be able to have enough money as security for social and commercial activities, the Ekiti adopted the traditional banking system known as esusu which made a group of people join together to contribute a specified amount either every market day or every moon period. Such money after a period was always returned to members in full. Without doubt, in their own traditional way, the Ekiti people had a well structured trade system which made the commercial experiences of the people very productive. But despite the largely domestic nature of the Ekiti pre-colonial economy, it is good to also know that there was limited contact between Ekiti and some European merchants on the eve of colonial era. And this was why, in fact, in “the whole of Yorubaland, production for export was by no means a new experience that came in the wake of colonial imposition” 37 because the activities of the European traders before 1900 evidently showed that “export production antedated the formal imposition of British colonial rule”. 38

54

Slave Trade and Wars

Without doubt, slave trade and wars were the greatest humiliating and destructive experiences on the lives and economic activities of the Ekiti people. Slave had its most tragic effect on Ekiti from the beginning of the

19 th century. But during this period when hundreds of Ekiti men and women had been captured and taken as slaves, people were able to fashion their own methods of avoiding being captured, particularly by the Fulanis and some powerful Yoruba kings who became the agents of the slave dealers. Part of the means of escaping the slave raiders was shifting some settlements temporarily to far away into the interior forest where the raiders could not easily locate. Women, young boys and girls were made to reside in these settlements, while the men, armed with charms and weapons and who could resist capture would come to the town. According to Chief Bakare Arije, slave raids were not carried out daily and was not focused on a particular area; because the raiders knew that they could be fought back and even captured themselves. The slave raiders used to strike unexpectedly at the areas least expected at a particular period. 39

However, Ekiti was also engaged in local and external wars. Some of these were the Benin war, Ogotun war, Aaye war, Ikoro war, Aramoko war,

Oro war, Wokuti war and Ise-Emure war. Others were Ikere war and the greatest of them all, the Kiriji war, also known as Ekiti-Parapo war, against

Ibadan. All these wars were fought between 1810 and 1886. 40 The wars, no doubt, aided slave trade. But inspite of the destructive wars, which also brought the Ekiti into contact with other cultures or ethnic groups, the Ekiti 55 people were able to build a well organized society and with sound economic, social and political experiences. However, on the eve of colonial rule, slave trade had diminished considerably. 56

REFERENCES

1. See N.A.I., Ondo Prof. Lieut, L.N. Backoell, District Commissioner, Akure, 1898 in Administrative Report, File No. 220, 1920, p. 32.

2. See J.A. Atanda (ed.), Travels and Explorations in Yorubaland, 1854- 1858, by. W.H. Clarke (Ibadan: Ibadan University Press, 1972).

3. See Bolanle Awe, The Rise of Ibadan as a Yoruba Power, 1851-1893, Ph.D Thesis, Oxford University, 1962, p. 127; S.A. Akintoye, Revolution and Power Politics in Yorubaland, 1840-1893 (Ibadan: Longman Group Ltd., 1971), p. 5; Paula Brown, “Patterns of Authority in West Africa”, Africa, Vol. 21, No. 1, 1951, pp. 261-2264; P.C. Lloyd, “Traditional Political System of the Yoruba”, South-Western Journal of Anthropology, Vol. 4, No. 10, 1954, pp. 366-384; H.A. Oluwasanmi, Agriculture and Nigerian Economy (Ibadan: Oxford University Press, 1966), pp. 20-25. Also, that the pre-colonial Ekiti experiences were still very strong during the colonial period is evident in the subsequent chapters.

4. John Adebisi, Ekiti Local Architecture. (Ado-Ekiti: Karimu Printing Press, 1962), p. 19.

5. Ibid., p. 30.

6. A. Oguntuyi, History of Ekiti: From the Beginning to 1939. (Ibadan: The Carton Press, West Africa, Limited, 1979), p. 16.

7. Adebisi, Ekiti Local Architecture…, p. 35.

8. Atanda, Travels and Explorations…, p. 277.

9. Chief Lawnance Oluwotaba, the Orisawe of Igede – Ekiti, 78 years. Interview conducted in Igede-Ekiti on February 8, 2006.

10. Elizabeth Oni, Methods in Traditional Marriage. (Ado-Ekiti: Okoli Press, 2007), p. 10.

11. Also see Oguntuyi, History of Ekiti…, 1979, pp. 17-19.

12. Atanda (ed.), Travels and Explorations, p. 254.

13. Oluwatoba, 2006, interview already cited.

14. Ibid.

15. Ibid.

16. N.A.I., Ondo Prof. 2/4, File No. 82A, Administrative Report (Miscellaneous), 1920, p. 4. 57

17. Atanda (ed.), Travels and Explorations…, p. 259.

18. Ibid.

4 2 19. N.A.I., Ondo Prof. /1, file No /4, Administrative Report, 1920, p. 4 20. Chief Jonathan Agunbiade, 83 years, a farmer and a former Produce Buyers in the early 1960s in Ado-Ekiti, Interview conducted in ado- Ekiti on May 2, 2006.

21. Ibid.

22. Ibid.

23. Bosede Ajayi, 67 years, a trader. Interview conducted in Ado-Ekiti on May 5, 2006.

24. Ibid.

25. Oluwatoba, 2006, interview already cited.

26. Frank Willett, “The Yoruba wood Images”. A Mimeograph on African Art Course, Department of Art History, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, p. 17.

27. Also See Ola Oloidi, “Mediarization, Academization and Professionalism: Art Criticism in Nigeria, 1920-1996” Art Criticism and Africa, K. Deepwell, ed. (London: Shaffron Books, 1997), pp. 41- 54.

28. Oladapo Aina, 91 years, an Assistant Catechist in the early 1960s, Catholic Church Ado-Ekiti: Interview Conducted on May 2, 2006 in Ado-Ekiti.

29. Ibid.

30. Atanda (ed.), Travels and Explorations…, p. 272.

31. Ibid., pp. 272-273.

32. N.A.I., Ondo Prof. 1/2 , Administrative Report, July 10, 1920, p. 8.

33. Ibid.

34. N.A.I., Ondo Prof. 3/2, File No. 244, Administrative Report, 1922, p. 4.

35. Oluwatoba, 2006, interview already cited.

36. See Atanda (ed.), Travels and Explorations…, p. 268. 58

37. Olufemi Omisimi, “The Rubber Export Trade in Ibadan, 1893-1904: Colonial Innovation or Rubber Economy”, Journal of the Historical Society of Nigeria, Vol. 10, No. 4, December 1979.

38. Ibid.

39. Chief Bakare Arije, 92 years, a retired Constable in the colonial Ekiti administration. Interview conducted in Iworoko – Ekiti on May 6, 2006.

40. See Oguntuyi, History of Ekiti…, 1979, pp. 65-77.

59

CHAPTER THREE

COLONIAL INFRASTRUCTURAL DEVELOPMENT, 1900-1960

In 1897, the British took over the administration of Ekiti and imposed colonial rule. The take-over, to them, was necessary in order to restore peace among the Ekiti people who were at war with one another and other groups such as Ibadan, and Benin. But the real motive for the imposition of colonial rule, according to some scholars, was economic and therefore exploitative. For the colonial administration to fully succeed in its economic objectives, therefore, it had to create an enabling environment for these through the provision of various infrastructures like administration, transportation, education, medical services, currency and banking.

Before colonialisation, the Ekiti people had already had, or developed, their own indigenous infrastructure that positively affected their social, political and economic lives. This is saying that the people had no intractable socio-economic barriers and that colonialism only accelerated the development of, or drastically brought improvement to, the existing local infrastructures. What were these infrastructure? Before discussing them, it is necessary to define infrastructure as should be understood in the context of this research. Infrastructure is “the basic systems and structures that a country or organisation needs in order to work properly”. 1 Such basic systems and structures, therefore, were administration, communication, education, religion, healthcare as well as sanitary and monetary systems, roads and transportation. 60

Without doubt, the colonial government in Ekiti brought a lot of changes infrastructurally to Ekiti between 1900 and 1960; the changes that also influenced the socio-cultural, political, spiritual, artistic and industrial practices of the people. These changes were very unavoidable, if the history of colonisation all over the world is considered. And despite some resistance from the colonized, the authoritative might of the colonial government, according to Onwuka Njoku, was what people “had to live with and make the best they could of foreign rule”. 2 Many scholars like Izuakor, Toyin Falola and J. Ihonvbere see colonisation as exploitative. 3 For example, according to

Toyin Falola and J. Ihonvbere:

… it is not disputable that British Colonialism in Nigeria led to the establishment of schools, hospitals, bureaucracy, an armed force, roads, a new language, religion and culture, amongst other things. However, given the destructive and exploitative goals to which these were put by the colonial state with the active support of the British bourgeoisie, at best these developments can be described as either unintended or simply to facilitate the penetration of the hinterland… colonialism cannot be divorced from domination, exploitation and unequal incorporation. 4

However, whatever might be the motive of the British government in

Nigeria, and in Ekiti in particular, they effected infrastructural changes.

These changes will be discussed with focus on administration, roads, transportation, education and currency.

The late 19 th century marked the beginning of Christian religious activities in Ekiti. Between 1900 and 1939, many Christian churches had emerged in Ekiti. The Church Missionary Society (C.M.S.), which came to 61

Ekiti in 1895, brought the Anglican Church. 5 The Roman Catholics came in

1912, Baptist in 1901 and the Methodist Church in 1910. There were also the

Wesleyan and the Seventh Day Adventist Church which came to Otun-Ekiti in 1922. 6 The Anglican, Roman Catholic and the Baptist churches became the most dominant Christian denominations in Ekiti. While Ado-Ekiti was the main centre for Anglican and Catholic Churches, Igede-Ekiti became the headquarters of the Baptist church. Because of persecution and other punitive actions of the European missionaries and their Nigerian or Ekiti followers, people were forced to be Christians, while all traditional religious practices were discouraged. For example, many shrines were destroyed, hundreds of art images considered idols were burnt while some chiefs and priests were intimidated and even fined by government for engaging in traditional religious practices.

But the submission of the Ekiti people to Christianity appeared to be nominal or rather artificial. This was because a large number of the people still secretly, and even many openly, patronized their traditional religion.

This situation remained like that till the post-independent period. By 1947, many indigenous Christian churches had also emerged in Ekiti. Some of these were the Christ Apostolic Church (C.A.C.) founded by Joseph Babalola in 1930, the Celestial Church of Christ (C.C.C.) founded by S. Joseph

Oshoffa and the Cherubim and Seraphim founded by Moses Tunolase

Orimolade. In addition to government primary and secondary schools, these foreign churches opened various primary and secondary schools to help bring a new educational system to Ekiti. 62

Administration

The British government brought a novel administrative system that totally upset the traditional form of administration in Ekiti; the system known as indirect rule. The administration of Ekiti by the colonial government cannot be fully discussed without going back to the pre-colonial period or the eve of the British rule in Ekiti. On the 14 th of January, 1899, Major W.R.

Reeve Tucker visited many areas of Ado District, familiarizing himself with the cultural, political and environmental situation in the District. On the 17 th of January, the Travelling Commissioner had a meeting with the Ewi, the Oba or king of Ado-Ekiti, along with his chiefs. 7 Ado was the headquarters of

Ekiti District, while the Ewi, the Oba or king of the town, was the one recognized, owing to existing tradition, by the British government as the political head of all other Ekiti Obas. The meeting in Ado-Ekiti began the foundation of several meetings between the Ewi and other Ekiti kings and between the Ekiti kings and many British officials who, for about a decade, were very cautious in their dealing with the Ekiti traditional form of administration. Between 1899 and 1912, for example, these British officials were very diplomatic in their attitude to the laws of Ekitiland. And

“everything possible was done not to antagonize the chiefs (kings) since they were normally co-operating with the British Officials. 8

During this period, Akure and Ilesha towns and people were all Ekiti, until they got their independence before the late 1940s. Before 1900, British

Officials were stationed in Akure to study and make reports to the British

Government in Lagos as to how best the Ekiti District could be administered 63 without offending the tradition of the people. Some of these were A.O.C.

Scott, Lieut. L.N. Backoel and Dr. T.E. Rice (see Table 3.1). They were ordered very strictly not to interfere in the politics of the local people. Of course, this was part of the ploy to prepare for a maximum future control of the people. As will be seen later, the British succeeded in this diplomacy.

Table 3.1: Supervising British Officials in Charge of Ekiti, 1897-1900 Name of Supervising Commissioners Station Date 1. Lieut, A.O.C. Scott Akure Aug. 1897 2. Lieut. L.N. Backoell Akure Feb. 1898 3. Capt. E.L. Cowiet Akure July 1898 4. Capt. H.V. Neal Akure Jan. 1899 5. F.P. Pinkett (Acting) Akure Feb. 1899 6. Capt. H.V. Neal Akure May 1899 7. Dr. T.E. Rice (Acting) Akure Sept. 1899 8. Capt. G. Anderson Akure Oct. 1899 9. Capt. J.E. Cohrance Akure Feb. 1900 Source: Oguntuyi, 1979, p. 118.

Between 1900 and 1905, the British colonial Government in Nigeria had become more confident in its knowledge, approach and attitude to the local administration of Ekiti which, according to one of the newly appointed

Travelling Commissioners, “is very conservatively, well organized and politically very authoritative, progressive and functional”. 9 The British government was so determined in its effort to have a firm grip or total control of Ekiti District that British Officials appointed for the period 1900 to 1905 were called Travelling Commissioners and were stationed in Ilesha. And as part of the British political strategy, each Commissioner was not supposed to 64 stay too long in a Station. They were constantly changed or transferred.

Some of them would be called back to their earlier stations but after a period

(see Table 3.2).

Table 3.2: Travelling Commissioners in Charge of Ekiti, 1899-1905 Name Title Station Date 1. Major W.R. Reeve Tucker Trav. Comm. Oke-Imo (Ilesha) Oct. 1899 2. T. Sidney Trav. Comm. Oke -Imo (Ilesha) Apr. 1901 3. Capt. W.G. Ambrose Trav. Comm. Oke -Imo (Ilesha) July 1901 4. Capt. W.B.G. Best Trav. Comm. Oke-Imo (Ilesha) Oct. 1902 5. Capt. F.E. Werry Trav. Comm. Oke -Imo (Ilesha) Jan. 1903 6. Capt. W.G. Ambrose Trav. Comm. Oke -Imo (Ilesha) June 1903 7. Capt. F.E. Werry Trav. Comm. Oke-Imo (Ilesha) July 1904 8. Capt. W.G. Ambrose Trav. Comm. Oke -Imo (Ilesha) Feb. 1905 Source: Oguntuyi, 1979, p. 188.

By 1906, particularly with the amalgamation of Lagos and Southern

Nigeria and with the apparent control of Ekiti as well as the confidence gained with one British Official or Travelling Commissioner succeeding another, the designation travelling Commissioner changed to District

Commissioners, and this new title remained till 1913. Of course, it did in

1913 when Ekiti District was elevated to a Division to be known as Ekiti

Division with the Headquarters at Ado-Ekiti. After the amalgamation of

Southern and Northern Nigeria on January 1, 1914, the new Ekiti Division was placed under the newly created Ijebu Province with G.E.H. Humphrey as the first District Commissioner. Humphrey was however relieved in February

1914 by the first District Officer for the Division, A.R.W. Livingstone. 10 65

In July 1915, however, Ekiti Division was transferred to the newly created Ondo Province, but still retaining Ado-Ekiti as its Headquarters. 11

With the appointment, or the introduction of District Officers to administer

Ekiti, the British had taken total control of Ekiti Division. Nevertheless, the colonial officers continued to treat Ekiti kings and chiefs, generally, with some respect, because the colonial government needed them to successfully implement its administrative objectives. From 1914 to the end of colonial rule in Ekiti, the District Officers took total control of the administration of

Ekiti.

According to Chief Oyewole Ajayi, “these District Officers popularly known as D.O. were like gods. Except those highly literate Ekitis, nobody could see them where they ate. In fact, they all lived in areas known as reservation in Ado-Ekiti and Akure”. 12 The visit of any District Officer (DO) to any Ekiti town or towns was always heralded. Days before such visits, the

Chiefs would make sure that all the streets were cleaned up and frontyards as well as backyards of houses would be specially swept “in order not to annoy

Oyinbo Agba. (Senior White Man) as popularly called by the Ekiti people. 13

Initially, a DO, usually carried on head by those called White man’s carriers

“used to sleep in a tent erected in a market or open place”. 14 Occasionally, he also slept in a mosque. 15 Though the Resident, the head of all the District

Officers in Ondo Province, discouraged the practice, some Obas and Chiefs used to present various gifts to the District Officers. And though the DOs were not asking for gifts, some Ekiti, particularly some of the White Man’s carriers, were still collecting fowls and other gifts on behalf of the DOs 66 without the knowledge of DOs. This practice was stopped in 1925.

However, one of the major assignments of the District Officer in 1914 was to provide accommodation for the DOs on tour of Ekiti towns. This was why

Rest Houses were built to this effect in Ikere, Ilawe, Isan, Ise, Aramoko, Oye,

Okemesi and Ido Olojido. 16

However, on January 1, 1920, the Native Administration was inaugurated in Ekiti. The Native Administration, which finally concretized the British system of Indirect Rule in Ekiti, was made up of “a Council of 16

Independent Chiefs (Obas or kings) of Ekiti who meet together for the purpose of passing estimates and discussing questions of policy and administration which affect Ekiti people”. 17 Though the struggle for power and more dignity brought jealousies among some kings, and though this situation initially threatened harmonious relationship among them, they were eventually able to form a workable council. The District Officer introduced

Direct Taxation the same day that the Native Administration “came into existence”. 18 This followed the earlier meetings of the District Officer, Mr.

G.H. Findlay, with the Kings and people of major Ekiti towns. At the same time, preparatory to the new tax system, “a house to house count was made and the names of every adult male were entered in the Register as well as the number of women and children in every compound”. 19

With taxation, the economic interest of the colonial government became not only apparent but also very real. The collection of taxes was in the hands of the 16 Independent Obas who also automatically became District

Heads. The elevation which also naturally declared them as paramount kings 67 in Ekiti made collection of taxes by them very easy all over Ekiti “without the slightest difficulty or disturbance”. 20 There was no doubt that taxation was not popular among the people. It was popular among the kings for two main reasons. Firstly, the kings, who had no tradition of salary earning, had begun earning salaries, and secondly, each king’s salary was fixed, based on 25% of the tax collected in his District.

The kings saw the new experience as a boost to their already weakened position, since the salary became an addition to their meager and rather irregular incomes from presents and litigation rewards. But before colonisation, Ekiti kings enjoyed a great degree of economic freedom. This was through dependence on revenues from various traditional sources and through part of the levies collected for town or community project. This customs or traditions were, however, stopped by the colonial laws and actions in 1900. One can now see why taxation was embraced by the Obas. Taxation later became generally popular among the adult males and females, because they were being paid.

The colonial government, had, by 1920, put up all the necessary infrastructures that would effectively secure administrative efficiency and smooth as well as successful governance in Ekiti. Notable among these were the judiciary, police and prisons. According to R.O. Ekundare, these administrative efforts “to establish good and orderly government in Nigeria in order to make it easier to exploit the country’s natural resources took precedence over other economic considerations”. 21 The Ekiti judiciary was created in June 1915, following the Native Court Ordinance that opened a 68

Grade “C” Count in Ado-Ekiti to cover all civil and criminal cases in Ado

District. 22 In 1916, a sessional court was opened at Ikere-Ekiti to cover all cases from Ikere, Ise-Ekiti and Emure-Ekiti. But Ikere was given its own

Grade “C” separate Court in 1917 when the Grade “C” Court in Ado-Ekiti was elevated to Grade “B” Court with the Odofin of Odo-Ado, the Second-in-

Command to the king of Ado, Ewi, as the President of the Court. 23 In 1916,

Oye-Ekiti was given a Grade “C” Court to take cases in Oye, Ishan, Aiyede and Itaji-Ekiti Districts.

A Sessional Court was opened at Ilawe in 1921 with four Ilawe Chiefs and four Igbara-Odo chiefs appointed as members. In the same year, Itaji-

Ekiti was given a Grade “C” Court with the King of Itaji as its President. A judicial council was later in 1923 constituted in Ado Ekiti with the Ewi as a member. There was also a Court of Appeal. Members of the Ado-Ekiti

Grade “C” Court included four Chiefs from Ado, one Ilawe Chief, one Are

Chief and one Igbara-Odo Chief. By the 1930s, because of the heavy load of cases from various towns, and because many people had to come from far away towns to answer cases in other towns, courts were established in more towns. That is, the increase in the number of cases awaiting presentation in courts or the pile up of many unpresented judicial cases causing delay, made it very necessary for the colonial government in Ekiti to open more courts.

Furthermore, many courts that were already overloaded with cases were advised to sit at least four times a week. 24

Members of the Native Authority courts were not trained formally, but the DOs allowed them to rely on their wisdom, objectivity, firmness, 69 fearlessness and other moral requirements in carrying out their judicial duties.

All the adjudicating court members were paid for their services. There was no fixed amount for all the court members; the amount paid varied from one town to the other. For instance, high ranking kings and chiefs were paid higher than the lower ranking ones. The money paid the court members was from the money generated by courts through criminal cases or civil matters”. 25 The courts, irrespective of their grades, had their functional limitations or strict guidelines imposed by the government.

For example, a Grade “B” Court could not fine any culprit more than

£100 (one hundred pounds) in civil cases, while in criminal cases that did not involve death or the use of dangerous weapons, the jail term was not to exceed two years with hard labour or a fine of £50 (fifty pounds) with 24 lashes of cane; depending on the seriousness of the offence. Between 1915 and 1934, hundreds of cases were considered under criminal, adultery and civil offences and these generated money for government. There was suspicion that certain newly introduced colonial experiences in Ekiti made people commit crimes that would not have been tolerated under the traditional

Ekiti judicial system under the Obas, according to Chief Felix Falade.26

For the colonial administration to successfully implement its socio- economic and political agenda, a police force was established. The institution of Police Force in Ekiti goes back to the creation of Ekiti Division in 1913.

During this period, most of the policemen were not from Ekiti, and were mainly used as security guards to the government officials like District

Commissioners. They were also very few in number. By 1922, a few Ekiti 70 men had been admitted into the Police Force, such as Adeleye who later became the Elekole, the king, of Ikole-Ekiti. 27 Popularly known as Olopa

(policemen) in Ekiti, many Ekiti male adults were not attracted to the Police

Force, mainly because of harsh, and at times, brutal treatment that innocent offenders usually received from the policemen who were mainly from outside

Ekiti Division. The colonial government itself was not in a hurry to encourage Ekiti men to join the police, unlike the military, since they needed those who were not very close to or familiar with the local people.

Though the policemen were few in Ekiti, their forceful and authoritative activities, as encouraged by the District Officers, occasionally, were very loud and pronounced. By 1923, “Police Lines” (Police Barracks) had been built in Ado-Ekiti along with those in other areas of Ondo Province like , Oka, Ogbagi, Isua and Ikeram. In each of these stations were “I

Non-Commissioned Officer and 3 Olopas (policemen)”.28 By 1936, it was very clear to the Ekiti District Officer, T.B. Bowel Jones, that “these local people (Ekiti) had open aversion for police job. I have been made to believe that the reason for this attitude is far beyond occasional professional risks which policemen are made to take”. 29 This consciousness made the colonial government begin to engage in various reforms, through “intensive… propaganda from the Head Quarters”, that would bring “considerable improvement in the (police) personnel” in Ekiti Division. 30

Despite the government’s effort, not much was achieved, and instead, people continued to “hate policemen who were also considered enemies of the community.... the situation that automatically brought the popular saying 71 that Olopa koni ore, koni ara ile”; that is, policemen have no friends, including their relations. 31 People also believed that policemen were enemies to themselves. In the 1940s, though this was not peculiar to Ekiti, still not many policemen were in the Ekiti Division, and in fact in the entire Ondo

Province, as shown in Table 3.3.

Table 3.3: Distribution of the Nigerian Police in Ondo Province, 1949.

Town/Division Corporals Lance Constables Total Corporals Akure 1 - 6 7 Ado - 1 7 8 Okitupupa 1 1 12 14 Ondo - 1 6 7 1 - 7 8 Source: N.A.I. Ondo Prof. 1/3, File No. D41, 17/2/1949, p. 51.

The Ekiti Police was “under the charge of the Commissioner of Police,

Ibadan, and he periodically inspects the detachments”. 32 The Ekiti policemen, during this period, in addition to being used for some punitive actions by government, were employed, as security guards in “government offices and Treasuries”. 23 They were also essentially used as official escorts and for crime investigation. And as part of the improvement of the Police

Force, Mr. H.L. Wilkins, Superintendent of Police, Motor Traffic Branch, was posted to Akure along with 2 Traffic Corporals stationed in Owo and

Ado-Ekiti respectively. In the 1950s particularly with the Nigerian political leaders in charge of administration, the Nigerian Police in Ekiti Division 72 expanded with bigger, modern barracks and other infrastructure for the Police in Ado-Ekiti.

As regards the military, the Ekiti situation can be examined from the

British establishment of West African Frontier Force, also known as Royal

Frontier Force, in the 1880s. 34 Ekiti men had their first experience as soldiers during the First World War, 1914 to 1918, during which hundreds of able- bodied men were recruited into the army to fight in Europe. According to

Gabriel Fajobi, despite the fact that death could be the ultimate end of a solider, many of these men, including Fajobi’s father, were first attracted to the idea of going to Europe which, in those days, was like going to heaven. 35

Thus, the Ekiti soldiers became part of “17,000 fighting men and another

58,000 service personnel” that Nigeria provided for the War. 36

After the First World War, many Ekiti young men were attracted to the military, mainly because of the elitist image which many of the soldiers already acquired. For example, some of them who could not speak English before being recruited into the army came back with a reasonable level of spoken English. In addition, many of them became more materially and financially comfortable, to the admiration of many in the Ekiti society. It was even a great pride and honour to have in a family or household “one jagunjagun (soldier) who was also regarded as one who could, even unknowingly, shield his people from, or prevent, possible verbal or physical attack because of that image of ‘strong man’ already carved for him”. 37

However, during and after the Second World War, more Ekiti began to enlist in what was labelled Colonial Army and the beauty of soldiering began 73 to attract many Ekiti male adults. This was in spite of occasional intimidation or high-handedness of the soldiers, particularly during communal unrests or land disputes between some towns. One of the sons of Ekiti who joined what was later known as the Nigerian Army was Colonel Adekunle Fajuyi, the former Governor of defunct Western Region, from Ado-Ekiti, who was assassinated in 1966 during a counter coup by the Nigerian Army. Another

Ekiti son, from Iyin Ekiti, was Brigadier Adeyinka Adebayo who became the

Governor of Western Nigeria after Colonel Fajuyi had been assassinated. No doubt, like the Police Force, the colonial government used the Army to further legitimize and solidify its political and economic interest in Ekiti.

The Prison was another infrastructure of power and domination in the colonial administration. Before the colonial tradition of imposing prison terms on offenders was started in Ekiti, the Oba, the major Kings or the bale

(Junior Kings), were responsible for all judicial matters, including imposition of penalties on those who were found guilty of offences. There was nothing like prison yard or imprisonment. Rather, depending on the gravity of the offence, there were various penalties for those found guilty. They could just be blamed and then warned very seriously against any future occurrence.

Some, according to Chief Onileowo of Igede Ekiti, could be made to work for a specified period for the king or in the palace and then warned by the King, usually with some of his Chiefs in attendance, after serving these penalties. 38+

Some offenders were banished from their towns, while some would be given poison to drink. Those whose offences were very great and unusual were stoned to death or beheaded at the order of the kings. 39 In fact, “an offender 74 who already knew the consequences of his offence would not wait for any king’s verdict before committing suicide, usually by hanging either on a tree in a nearby bush or under the roof of his house”. 40 Some relations used to encourage this type of death which, to Samuel Oyedele, was considered honourable;41 instead of being beheaded, stoned to death or banished for life.

But the British government brought a new judicial tradition through imprisonment.

The history of imprisonment in Ekiti, which included the present

Akure town and its districts, goes back to 1922 when three Chiefs,

Olomodegbira, Onishe and Omoleye, were imprisoned “for leading an agitation against their District Head, the Elekole (king) of Ikole”. 42 The

Chiefs were released in May, 1923. These Chiefs were punished for “being leaders of a party of young men who had attempted to build a new town and make themselves independent of the Elekole”, the king of Ikole. 43 Though these Chiefs suffered for their actions, “His Honour Lieutenant-Governor” promised to look into the creation of a new town only if the matter was presented through the Elekole, their District Head. One important thing should be noted here. Since there was no prison yard in the whole of Ondo

Province in 1922, one wonders where these Chiefs were kept. Oyedele has shed some light on this. According to him, before 1915, those considered dangerous to the society, especially, those connected with killing or kidnapping for rituals, were taken to unknown or secret locations where their whereabouts would not be known. Such people were escorted by the members of the West African Frontier Force or Policemen from Lagos or 75

Ibadan. The culprits were usually kept in the prison yards located in any of these cities, but without the knowledge of even the kings. 44 From the above discussion, it is clear that in the colonial Ekiti, there was imprisonment and there were prisoners before a prison yard, was built. It is now necessary to focus on the emergence of prison yard in Ekiti.

At the beginning of 1923, Ekiti had had many people sentenced to prison by the Grade “B” Court in Ado-Ekiti. Many were taken to a prison yard in Ijebu Province while many were imprisoned in well guarded temporary areas in Ado-Ekiti. All Ekiti prisoners were eventually located in these temporary sites “awaiting the time approval will be given for the construction of a prison yard on the new site located towards Uyin-Ado road”. 45 While Ondo and Owo Divisions rejected the building of prison yards, in their towns, Ekiti had its prison yard built in Ado-Ekiti in 1923 known as Native Administration Prison. The prisoners were made to work along with the government labourers on week days, but while the government labourers were paid, the prisoners were not. The prison yard, when it was completed and effectively occupied by inmates, immediately became a symbol of fear and terror to the Ekiti people. Within a few years, the Prison

Yards in Ondo, Owo and were also completed. The Prisoners were considered outcasts by the public, and in the prison yard, they were given inhuman treatment. For example, very usually, they were flogged and made to work under the rain. They were also paraded under a severe cold weather and “made to dance round naked”. 46 With the new tradition of imprisonment 76 under the colonial rule, the colonial government was able to completely subjugate the people and put them under total submission.

The colonial government also, in its determined effort to aid socio- economic transactions in Ekiti, introduced a new postal system through the building of post office in Ado-Ekiti in 1923. In those days, post office was officially known as Post and Telegraph. And by the late 1930s, Post and

Telegraph Offices were opened at Ikere-Ekiti and Ilawe-Ekiti, among few major towns. By the 1940s, nearly all the Ekiti towns had had, particularly through community effort, either post offices or, in the case of smaller towns,

Postal Agencies. Through all these post offices and postal agencies, both official and private letters were received from various parts of the country.

Messrs Weeks Transport, which also ran a weekly service between

Ado and Oshogbo, was the sole mail carrier for Ekiti Division. 47 By 1949,

Ado-Ekiti had been connected to a Telephone line; a new communication system that people saw as a miracle. The 1950s saw a remarkable improvement in the Ekiti communication system under the Action Group

Party of Chief Obafemi Awolowo, who believed that “communication is power”. By 1954, therefore, and as the Premier of the Western Region, he had provided free “Radio Visions”, popularly called “Redivision”, for houses and all the streets in Ekiti towns. Many of these radio boxes, usually triangular in form, were hung on trees. Market places were even provided

“Radio Visions”, giving news in Yoruba, Tiv, Urhobo, Edo, Itshekiri, Ijaw and Nupe. It was a real innovation in the colonial period. “Radio Visions” were for the common people in Ekiti. Again in 1959, Awolowo introduced a 77 new communication system, the television, the first in Africa. Though the television was not yet known to the majority of Ekiti people, it was considered a miracle during this period.

Transportation

In this section, we shall confine our discussion on transportation to mechanical rather than organic or human movement or conveyance of human beings or goods from one place to another. Though, according to Ayodele

Olukoju, scholars recognize the indispensable role of transportation in economic development, they differ “on the actual role of transportation in the process of development”. 48 Olukoju however concludes that “modern transport played an enabling, though sometimes crucial, role in the process of

… development…” 49 . No doubt, without efficient transportation there would be perennial frustrations in the economic activities of a people and there can be little meaningful development. This was why, according to Onwuka

Njoku, the improvement and modernization of transportation in the colony was the main focus of the colonial administration. 50 However, since Ekiti had no railway and waterway transportation systems, wheeled transportation automatically became the main means of transport in the colonial period.

The wheeled transportation was of various descriptions: truck transportation, bicycle transportation, motorcycle transportation and motor transportation. Except truck transport which restricted itself to carrying goods, and the motorcycle that was used only for human mobility, bicycles and motor vehicles were used for transporting both human beings and articles of trade. 78

Truck Transportation

Though truck, according to David Olabode, had been in use in most

Yoruba big cities since the 1920s, it was not until the late 1940s and more especially in the early 1950s, that truck became a popular means of transport in Ekiti. But the first mention of truck with regard to Ekiti was in 1914 when the Acting District Officer for Ekiti, A.R.W. Livingstone, recommended to, and sought approval from, the Provincial Officer, for “2 mahogany built trucks with mounted umbrellas and 4 tyres to be built by the P.W.D. to help move materials from our temporary warehouse to some construction sites within Ado and its environs by mounting an umbrella on each truck, however, means that they will have the dual function of also carrying officers, during an extremely bad weather, to and from inspection locations”. 51 According to

Livingstone, this would not only reduce human labour but would also drastically reduce the cost of labour; by not employing many labourers as head porters. One is not certain whether or not these trucks were eventually built but in the early 1940s, the Flionis Brothers and the United African

Company (U.A.C.) used trucks similar in description to the one requested by the A.R.W. Liviingstone (Fig. 3.2) to transport, particularly kerosene tins of palm oil from the local middlemen to the evacuation centres in Ado-Ekiti.

It is good, however, to briefly discuss the types of trucks used for transport during this colonial period. There were three types: trucks with four car tyres; those with two car tyres and those with two wooden tyres. As earlier discussed, the design of the truck with four tyres (Fig. 3.1) was conceived by the Acting District Officer for Ekiti in the first decade of the 79

19 th century for carrying government products or materials, and possibly, as also intended, to carry the Resident of Ondo Province, the District Officers and Acting District Officers during their official duties in Ekiti. The type was later used by the foreign companies in Ekiti. Trucks with four tyres, therefore, were used for transportation by the colonial government and by the expatriate companies in Lagos. The elitist nature of this truck type and the high production cost naturally made it too expensive for business. The second type, trucks with two car tyres, were more expensive than those with wooden tyres.

Fig. 3.1: Replica of Truck with 4 car tyres used by foreign companies to carry goods in Ado-Ekiti in the 1940s. © Oloidi, O.

The cost of production was high, and this type could go through rugged terrains with ease. Thus, as regards long distances, this type (Fig. 3.2) had an advantage over the type with wooden tyres. There were many of this type in

Ekiti. But the most popular, and the cheapest type, was the truck with wooden “tyres”.

Naturally, this was the type used by most truck pushers in Ekiti and the type individual truck pushers could acquire on their own (Fig. 3.3). 80

Occasionally, the wooden tyres fell off; however, the pushers also had the professional dexterity to easily fix them back. But what made all these trucks very attractive and unique were their identification marks. That is, on many of these trucks were inscribed statements like Ose Jesu (Thank You Jesus),

Irawo Owuro (Morning Star), Ogo Oluwa (Glory of Jesus), Die Die (Softy, softly), Ranmi Lowo Olorun (Help Me O God), God is God and Man Must

Wak (see Figs. 3.2 and 3.3). The truck pushers were usually identified by these labels.

Truck transportation first took place in urban Ado-Ekiti in the late

1940s, but during this period, it was not popular among the people. The reason for this, among other things, according to Chief Michael Olajiga of Ise

Ekiti, was that “people found it very unnecessary, because they had children, wives and other relations who could carry home whatever they produced from the farm and were also very available to help carry to the market goods or products for sale”. 52 People could not just understand why, even despite the heavy weight of some loads, they should waste the amount that would have been part of their market gains on paying the truck pushers. In addition, truck transportation before 1950 was not seriously patronized because many roads or paths were impassable to trucks. Trucks had to take longer routes to their destinations because of some settlement patterns. In such a situation, people preferred shorter roads by carrying their products on their heads.

81

Fig. 3.2: Truck (Omolanke) with 2 Car Tyres used for transport by the rich Truck Pushers in Ado-Ekiti Township in the 1950s. © Oloidi, O.

Fig. 3.3: Truck (Omolanke) with 2 Wood Tyres used in Ekiti for transport by the Truck Pushers who could not afford a truck with car types. © Oloidi, O.

However by the early 1950s, truck pushing had attracted more patronage, particularly from the market women and those farmers whose farmlands were very close to the city, Ado-Ekiti. By 1955, according to

Clement Ojo, popularly known as Abajo of Okekere in Ikere-Ekiti, “truck pushers suddenly surfaced in Ikere criss-crossing many roads with both market and farm products”. 53 Ojo continued:

This place (Ikere) suddenly became another Ado (Ado-Ekiti). The truck pushers were very careful and in fact adepts in packing load. The more 82

delicate the loads (goods) were, the more careful they became. This was real business for them, you know? They had no time to waste, which was why they used to move very fast, usually with the expression: “mama ese kia (mama please, I beg be fast in following me). The already tired woman would also immediately and even aggressively snap back: kilode? Ofe pami ni? (what is your problem? Do you want to kill me?). Since it was a matter of business, such reactions usually ended in laughter or peacefully. 54

At the time the truck pushers were in Ikere-Ekiti, they were also already in big towns like Ilawe, Iglaro-Odo, Ikole ad Ise. Truck, popularly called

Omolanke, and Truck Pushers, called Olomolanke, thus began to make the commercial activities of Ekiti more dynamic and enterprising.

But the increasing popularity of truck business was to a large extent due to the influence of those Ekiti young men who had earlier left Ekiti for other Yoruba cities like Ibadan and Lagos to engage in this business with great economic success. Before they left Ekiti for urban centres, some of them had snobbed truck pushing as shameful occupation. But they took to this job in urban centres where they were unknown and they made considerable amount of money out of this job. They came in large numbers, particularly around 1958, to Ado-Ekiti to do the same job. This gave impetus to the economic life of Ekiti. The truck pushing tradition later spread to other

Ekiti major towns like Igede, Iyin, Iworoko, emure, Igbemo, Efon, Ikoro and

Aramoko, among others. By then, it had become very clear, particularly in commercial towns, that traders needed the truck pushers to transfer their heavy bags of beans, rice, gari, kernel and other commercial items, to various markets. 83

These truck pushers were mainly found inside markets, motor parks and popular road junctions in various towns. When business seemed not to be forthcoming, some of them would take to the streets, hoping to secure business. By 1958, truck pushing had become so lucrative and economic venture that truck pushers, contrary to their earlier shy attitude to this business, formed an Association of Truck Pushers, or Egbe Olomolanke, in

Ado-Ekiti. According to Daramola Olowokere of Ijigbo quarters in Ado-

Ekiti, the association was to be shortlived. This resulted from an operation dispute which resulted in physical combats in 1959.55 M.A. Aluko of Ise-

Ekiti whose uncle was at the centre of the whole problem provided the details of the problem. His uncle, while working at the Ureje cocoa farm settlement,

Ado, discovered that hiring trucks out to pushers would be economically lucrative. He commissioned a carpenter, Ojo Rabiu, a muslim, of Okelawe,

Ado-Ekiti, to construct 10 Trucks which he rented out to truck pushers in

Ado-Ekiti. Since, according to him, the colonial government had “changed many Ekiti ways of life and Awolowo’s regime had also opened up Ekiti, particularly Ado, to various economic activities, truck pushing for those who would not look at faces (that is, shy) was a good economic venture”. 56

As time went on, some business elite also began to rent out trucks, eventually leading to a clash of economic interests among these truck owners.

It was “decreed” by some of these people that truck pushers should not venture into certain districts considered the sphere of interest of these businessmen. Sine this was not an official decision of the Association of

Truck Pushers, this order was not obeyed by many pushers. The desire or 84 determination to enforce this “order” eventually led to a free-for-all fight at the area known as Oja Oba (King’s Market) in Ado-Ekiti. The “order” failed to achieve its objective while the association also collapsed. 57 The above incident clearly shows how economically viable truck pushing was in colonial

Ekiti, and how truck pushing became one of the economic ventures of the people.

Bicycle Transportation

Bicycle was another novel means of transportation in colonial Ekiti. It is still difficult to know the exact date that bicycles were first brought to Ekiti.

However, record shows that in 1901 “preparations are on the way to teach some native officials who are also travelling guides how to mount or ride some of the newly acquired bicycles in readiness for the visit to Ado of

Captain W.G. Ambrose, the Travelling Commissioner stationed in Ilesha”. 58

Part of the preparation included dispatching an advance party to all areas to be visited as well as “getting ready hefty carriers who will be needed for the areas/roads that are too snaky, rough or rugged for bicycles to pass”. 59 With the foregoing, it can be assumed that bicycles appeared in Ekiti, particularly

Ado, before 1900 or between 1898 and 1900. But these bicycles were exclusively used for the mobility of the colonial officials. By the 1920s, many Ekitis and other Yoruba serving as vaccinators and dispensers in Ekiti were given bicycles for transportation. It was not until the late 1920s, however, that some businessmen and farmers as well as teachers began to purchase bicycles, particularly “Releigh”, which were being imported by the

U.A.C. But the number of people who owned bicycles was still very few, 85 since it was seen as luxury. The situation began to change when by 1929 motorcycles had also been “freely used”. 60

However, between 1920 and early 1930s, bicycles were used only for mobility within towns and for traveling for one town to the other. At the same time, it was seen as an elitist possession; a prestigious property. Young men usually decorated their bicycles with additional ornamentations like one or two vertical front mirrors, bladder horns and slim, coloured rubber tubes.

Bicycle “bags” were also usually painted, to taste, with floral patterns. On the bags were artistically written, in very bright colours, various philosophical statements. They were never used to transport goods or materials but mostly for pleasurable rides. However, by the early 1930s, some Ekiti young men had begun to use their bicycles for commercial purposes, such as transporting textile materials to areas as far as Ilesha to sell their textile materials.

Such people were rebuked, usually by their relations, for using expensive commodities like bicycles for trading. People began to refer to them as “Ota aje”, that is, people who had no regard for treasure or enemy of precious things. Some farmers who, from their distant farms, occasionally used their bicycles to bring home little foodstuffs were also rebuked. Many people could not just understand why a bicycle, an expensive commodity, should be overburdened with loads and placed on a distant journey that could easily wear out its tyres. But Igbo traders in Ekiti changed this concept in the middle 1940s with their unconscious introduction of bicycle trade culture to the commercial or transport system of Ekiti. 61 86

To the Igbos, bicycles were not status symbols but a means of transport and therefore aid to trade; for inter-city and inter-town transportation.

Bicycles owned by the Igbos, unlike those of the Ekitis, were easily recognized because they were devoid of decoration or attractive ornamentations. Rather, these bicycles were taken to blacksmiths for additional metal or iron support or fortification which could equip these bicycles to carry heavier loads. Very interestingly, these blacksmiths were also mostly Igbo whose population strength in Ekiti was substantial. During this period, the Igbo blacksmiths were found everywhere in Ekiti; particularly in Ado, Igede, Iyin, Ikere, Ikole, Aramoko and Ilawe, among many other towns. The Igbo traders began to use their bicycles to transport very heavy loads from one town to the other, particularly on market days.

Coincidentally, bicycle trading by the Igbo came at a period when European goods began to flood Ekiti; from cooking utensils or various domestic materials to educational, instructional and building materials which the Igbo traders were selling.

Many Ekiti people began to wonder how a single bicycle could carry the loads which even five people could not carry. The load, which was usually high up, making the rider diminutive under it, was strongly tied together, very dexterously with rubber bands, ropes or strings for stability and easy carriage to and from a town every five market days. These well loaded bicycles were never ridden, but pushed, up hill. They were ridden only on level and sloppy areas of the road. For the bicycle rider to rest or ease himself, there was also a special method of making the well loaded bicycle 87 stand on its own. A strong, long stick or iron rod, with a V-shape on top and about one foot short of the bicycle height, would be placed on one side, where the bicycle could gently rest on.

Papa James Okafor, an Akwa blacksmith in Igede-Ekiti, in my interview with him, narrated how the Igbo traders, particularly those based in

Ado-Ekiti, brought dynamism to the commercial activities of Ekiti with their bicycles which, according to him, “appeared old, colourless or rickety but very strong to carry heavy load with ease”. 62 “Remember”, he continued,

“we blacksmiths helped them support the spokes (bars) and other parts of the bicycles with the type of iron we were using for making guns and animal traps in those days”.63

No doubt, bicycle transport accelerated the sale of Igbo products which were usually not quickly disposed off through the sedentary nature of shop systems of the Yoruba traders. As already explained, before the emergence of Igbo traders in Ekiti, many Ekiti traders and farmers were carrying loads on their heads for commercial and domestic reasons, respectively, while their bicycles were reserved only for social mobility. However, many Ekiti people followed the example of Igbo traders and began to use their bicycles to transport trade goods. Some Ekiti farmers in particular who had been trekking to and from their distant farms began to use their bicycles to their farms and also for carrying foodstuffs. Thus, bicycles, among the colonial

Ekiti, began to serve social, elitist, commercial and other occupational functions (Fig. 3.4). And very evidently, bicycle transportation brought improvement to Ekiti commercial and agricultural activities of the people. 88

This was the situation until the early 1950s when motor vehicles replaced bicycle transportation and forced the Igbo traders to adopt the Yoruba tradition of shop keeping or trading.

Insert fig here

Fig. 3.4 Bicycle used as status symbol in the Colonial Ekiti. © Tunji Adanri, 2006.

Motor Transportation

The history of motor transportation in Ekiti Division dates back to

1918 when B.M. Carkeek, the Acting District Officer (ADO), suggested that motor vehicles should be purchased for Ekiti Division. But the suggestion was not accepted because Ekiti trade routes were not considered very motorable. It was not until 1920, when the Ekiti’s main roads had been 89 reconstructed, that G.H. Findlay, the ADO, made another proposal, this time in writing to the Resident, giving economic and administrative reasons:

… lack of wagon transport is seriously affecting smooth, quick and easier trade transactions in the Division. Not only the administration but the traders as well as the farmers are the worse for this… Head carriers, though capable, are now proving unreliable for some reasons. For example, age is telling on many though they will not accept. Some are no more ready to invest their energy on what they now see as strenuous and laborious exercise which has led to occasional disappointment. Many now fear occasional ambush despite guide, by diehard thiefs while on the way back to station. Some cases of women collapsing on the road have also been reported, while many precious goods or materials have been found damaged between point of departure and destination. All these, and other reasons, have negatively affected the take-off of some projects because of delay unduely caused… by the Division’s inability to secure a good van…64

Following the above letter, a Ford van was purchased in 1920 by Ekiti

Division at the cost of £239 (two hundred and thirty nine pounds). This was the first motor vehicle to be bought in Ekiti. 65 In 1922, other motor vehicles, including cars, were bought but mainly for official purposes. The Olojido, the king of Ido also bought a car in 1922.

Without doubt, from the beginning and as already understood above, economic factors necessitated the importation of motor vehicles as an indispensable aid to rapid development in the colonial Ekiti. It was against this backdrop, as stated above, that the colonial administration in Ekiti bought additional Ford vans to aid official transportation. As the ADO, H.De B.

Bewley, stated, 90

The Van has been of the greatest use to the Native administration for the transport of timber, tools, building materials, etc. It has also been very convenient for Government purposes at different times. It will therefore be seen that the purchase and maintenance by Native Administration of these lorries is fully justified. 66

One of the Ford vans bought for official transport cost £520, but the government did not consider the high cost of the vehicles because it believed that it would still save money which private transporters would have taken by hiring their vehicles. What happened was that, beginning from 1921, private transporters, with government patronage, were already aware of the chronic need for motor vehicles, particularly Ford Lorries, to transport various government and private goods locally and between Ekiti and some major cities in Western Nigeria: like Lagos, Ibadan, Oshogbo, and Ijebu-

Ode.

In fact, it was the role of private transporters that motivated, or forced, the colonial Administration to start acquiring its own vehicles, particularly in

1923. This was how Ekiti, mainly through communal efforts, could boast of many motorable roads across the Division and beyond. Some of these private transporters were W.A. Dawodu, one of the indigenous pioneer motor importers, 67 Howells and Longe. There was no doubt that the economic objectives of the colonial administration were being threatened, and to arrest this situation, in the interest of the Division, motor vehicles had to be bought.

For instance, according to the report of the Native Administration Public

Works in 1923:

91

Transport service was entirely the monopoly of Messrs Dawudu (Dawodu). Howells and Longe, native traders at Ilesha and Oshogbo who charged prohibitive prices for hire of motor transport as much as £17.17 being charged for a journey of 85 miles. 68

In fact, the colonial government of Ekiti was in a dilemma. It did not want to continue to patronize the private transporters because it considered their charges very high. Government, at the same time, was also finding it difficult to get human carriers; while many goods or materials needed by the administration had to be brought to the Division by all means. The concern of the colonial administration could be felt in the following report on Ondo

Province generally:

… a REO Motor lorry was purchased by the Native Administration at a cost of £450 and has rendered possible the carrying out of works which were formerly out of the question. The Ondo (including Ekiti) men have always refused to act as carriers, and to transport goods from AGBABU in the South has been a matter of extreme difficulty. Cement is, of course, a necessary adjunct to any road-making schemes involving the construction of bridges. To bring a single barrel of cement from AGBABU to ONDO necessitated the splitting up of the barrel into about seven or eight loads which were often exposed to the weather for three days en route with great depreciation in the quality of the cement, especially in the wet season. Corrugated iron carried from the waterside is invariably damaged by being folded. To obtain carriers, all strangers, in any number was generally speaking impossible. 69

Between 1923 and 1930, the motor transport situation in Ekiti was dominated by the Native Administrations and some powerful motor transporters outside the Ekiti Division, including W.A. Dawodu, based in 92

Lagos, the Levantines and J.N. Zarpas, also in Lagos. 70 While during this period, the Native Administration purchased a number of lories and Vans, many of which were in the service of the Public Works Department, these big transporters also extended their transporting services to the local people by

“putting more lorries on the road, particularly on the main transport (trade) routes like those from Akure to Ikere through Ado to Igede, through Aramoko to Ilesha and from Ilesha to Ibadan and Lagos”. 71

According to Karimu Olawale, “in the late 1920s, I was still very young then, my father used to book, like others, for the lorry of Daodu

(Dawodu) who was very popular in those days, while travelling to Lagos”. 72

He continued: “He had to wait on the road with his bag as early as 6 a.m or 7 a.m in order not to miss the lorry… you know, the driver used to pick other passengers in every town on his route. The lorry used to travel to Lagos or

Ibadan once every week, and if you missed it you will have to wait for another week or break your journey into three or four routes, which could make you get to Lagos in three days instead of one day”. 73

No doubt, Dawodu was a great factor on the transport system of Ekiti in the 1930s, because, as mentioned above, the Native Administration, private businesses and the local communities benefited from his transport services. It was not surprising, therefore, that when Dawodu died in 1930, G.G. Haris, the District Officer for Ekiti Division instructed the Director of Public Works to extend the Division’s sympathy of Dawodu’s family and the Dawodu

Motor Transport Service. Part of the letter which was signed for the Director by one L. Eaglafield read: 93

While the Division will continue to appreciate and acknowledge the pioneering effort of Mr. Dawudu (Dawodu), particularly in the area of aggressive and profitable motor business… which has aided our administrative duties and made life more comfortable for the people, even beyond Ekiti, it will also pray for the repose of the deceased while wishing God’s protection for the family, he had left behind. It is the wish of the Honour and the entire people of this Division that the good work he has left behind, which should also be a source of consolation to you, his family, will continue…74

However, up to 1930s, Ekiti commercial motor transportation had experienced no significant change since the 1920s. Because apart from the already known motor transporters, no new transporters seemed to be emerging. An exception was the Ado based Adewale Motors that surfaced in

1935 but “packed up within few months because its acquired two second- hand lorries, for many technical and professional reasons, could not compete with the well established existing ones”. 75 But the situation in the 1930s was not all that bad, because it was a period of drastic change or increase in the number of heavy duty motor trucks brought solely for transporting heavy timbers from the forest to timber sheds or sawmills, or form the timber depot to the riverside in Agbabu, Ondo Province, for exportation.

The Native Administration was joined by the expatriate companies like the U.A.C. British Nigeria Company, John Holts as well as indigenous timber companies, especially in Ondo, Akure, Okitipupa and Ado, in the lucrative timber business. They all began to acquire motor trucks. The truck, also known as Agbegilodo and considered the king of the road at the period, for its mechanical strength and capability to carry an unbelievable number of timber 94 logs at a time, became an indispensable vehicle in the development of Ekiti economy of the colonial period. It was a new era in the transportation system of Ekiti, and this position did not change in the 1940s and 1950s with the accelerated growth in timber trade and therefore greater acquisition of fleets of motor trucks.

One must not, however, forget the service of jeeps in the private transportation of the colonial Ekiti. The Jeeps which were “open, strong and rather skeletal but with solid big iron rods covered with tarpaulin, were used mainly by the District Officer or Native Administration high official,

Directors of the expatriate companies and few European and American

Missionaries”. 76 These jeeps were used to penetrate the Ekiti interior for evangelical and administrative purposes. The tradition of jeep transportation according to the retired Driver of Leventis in Lagos, Rufus Fadipe, “started in the late 1930s when both the Christian Missionaries and government discovered that it was the most suitable for penetrating the very rough interior areas for evangelical and administrative reasons, respectively”. 77

But apart from lorries or vans, jeeps and motor trucks, another means of motor transportation, that emerged in the 1940s, was the motor car, usually known as saloon or pleasure car. Saloon cars were not used for commercial purposes by those who owned them. Though this type of motor vehicles had been in Ekiti since the early 1920s, the number of people who owned it was so small that most Ekiti people had not seen it in their towns; or those who saw it, for the first time always made it a celebration. 95

In the 1940s, however, more of these vehicles were in Ekiti. Some reasons made this possible. 78 Many First Class Ekiti Kings bought cars as a status symbol; some communities through communal contributions presented cars to their kings. The increase in the missionary efforts via evangelization and increasing number of missionaries required that these missionaries should enjoy a relative transportation comfort by providing them with pleasurable cars. Among the emerging Ekiti educated elite, the possession of saloon cars had become fashionable, in line with the social expectation of the period.

There were also some Ekiti business elite, farmers and traders, who also found it very necessary to dignify their positions by owing cars and therefore made themselves more commercially prominent and attractive. Furthermore, many nationalists, who were usually critics of colonial administration, had also emerged in Ekiti. To some of them, acquiring cars was also a way of asserting their social and political relevance in Ekiti.

These developments in the motor transportation sector in the 1940s

“was consolidated and speedily improved upon in the 1950s; when motor transportation was trying to make itself part of Ekiti’s economic venture”. 79

In fact, at the beginning of the 1950s, “many Ekiti educated and business elite began to challenge this situation and decided to venture into either small scale or large scale motor transportation”. 80 Among them were Chief Omosio

Fakunle of Igede-Ekiti, a very successful produce buyer and trader who was the first to buy a lorry in Igede-Ekiti; business tycoon, Ogbende of Iyin-Ekiti, a big-time trader and shop-owner based in northern Nigeria and the richest man in Iyin-Ekiti; Moses Famakinwa of Ado-Ekiti, a successful farmer and 96 land owner; J.A. Ani, a senior executive officer at the S.C.O.A. company and a lorry and a car owner; Chief Solomon Olajiga from Ise-Ekiti, whose Motor

Transport Service began operation in the late 1940s, and J.A. Anisulowo among others. Thanks to effort of these people who gave the Ekiti Division greater access to smoother transportation. But the struggle was just beginning, because lack of fund handicapped various transportation ventures.

And for this reason, in the early 1950s, a group of enterprising Ekiti business and educated elite, all based in Ado-Ekiti, decided to apply for a loan to enable them start a transport service to be known as Ekiti Youth

Transport Service with their office at 32, King’s Market Square, Ado-Ekiti.

The loan application was directed to the Secretary, Western Regional

Development Board, Ibadan through the Ekiti District Officer. Part of the application which was the main reason for organizing the Transport Service read:

In view of the fact that we in Ekiti are far removed from the rails, and in view of the fact of the heavy traffic between Ado and the afore-mentioned places, and in view of the fact that the travelers from Ibadan coming to Ekiti are more often than not stranded at Ilesha; and in view of the fact that we in Ekiti are just learning how to begin to ask for a share out of the Development funds; and in view of the fact that we hope to receive every encouragement from our Government towards business development, and for the sake of instituting a non-stop bus service from Lagos to Ado-Ekiti and on to Lokoja, we crave that we be given serious and kind attention. 81

The application form signed by J.O. Oshutokun showed the members of the Ekiti Youth Transport Service to be as follows 82 : 97

1. J.A. Ani: A Senior Executive with the S.C.O.A. Company and Lorry and Car owner. 2. B.A. Ajayi: A graduate of University of Durham and Senior Master, Christ Secondary School, Ado-Ekiti. 3. J.A. Osuntokun: A graduate of University of Durham and an Assembly Man in Ibadan. 4. E.A. Adeleye: Business Magnate with the S.C.O.A. 5. I.O. Adamolekun: Managing Director of Tiwantiwa Company. 6. G.O. Fadipe: Senior Master, Christ Secondary School, Ado-Ekiti. 7. A.A. Fayinminu: Barrack’s Road, Ado-Ekiti. 8. James Adu: Okesha Street, Ado-Ekiti. 9. Mathew Adewale: Okesha Street, Ado-Ekiti. 10. J. Afolabi: Okesha Street, Ado-Ekiti.

This group proposed to buy seven buses and one kit-car. The buses were to work five days a week, running every day to Ilesha, Ado to Ikare and from

Ikare to Lokoja and Ado to Akure to Ikare and from Ikare to Lokoja. 83 The record of approval of the above loan was not available, but it is on record that when the approval of the loan was not forthcoming form the Western

Regional Loan Development Board, members began to raise money from other sources to make the transport service take off. The amount needed for their transport project was £32,000 (thirty two thousand Pounds). The transport service eventually look off in 1953, but limiting its operation to

Ado-Lagos route.

However, the sudden increase in cocoa price in the early 1950s, particularly when Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s Action Group had won election in the West, helped the transport situation in Ekiti. This was because, according to Clement Ojo, “some motor transporters were able to raise money more easily to put one or more saloon cars on the road as taxis”. 84 In fact, by 98

1956, when self-government had been granted to the Regions in Nigeria, cocoa boom had already created a very enabling environment, particularly for small scale motor transport in Ekiti. There was enough money to spend and people had many reasons to travel, particularly students and traders. Increase in the number of secondary schools and colleges also generally impelled the need for more travels. For the first time in Ekiti, by 1957, cars had become the main means of transport within Ekiti, while lorries could travel daily, instead of weekly, to distant areas like Lagos and Ibadan.

And instead of people using the market areas or road sides as their parks, the emergence of the Motor Transport Union led to the creation of motor parks in all Ekiti towns; “though the Nigerian Motor Transport Union had existed in Ibadan and few other cities in the Western Region since 1932 with Chief Obafemi Awolowo, also the founder and as Secretary”. 85 By

1960, the year of Nigeria’s independence, Ekiti, through the efforts of Ekiti indigenes and non-indigenes, had acquired dynamic motor transportation systems that made it possible for all the Ekiti towns, to be linked through direct transportation or through many motor routes, when necessary, to other towns outside Ekiti.

From the above discussion of infrastructural development in Ekiti in the colonial period, it is very clear that much was achieved while new colonial structures either overshadowed or completely replaced the existing local ones. Naturally the Ekiti people, like other ethnic groups under the same situation, had no alternative than to succumb to the political leadership of the period. In the areas of religion, education, administration, welfare, 99 health services, communication and transportation, there was an undisputed evidence of improvement. Whether the improvements were the result of colonial exploitation is another question.

Education

Though primary school education had been introduced to the highly urban areas of Yorubaland like Lagos, Ibadan, , Abeokuta, ,

Osogbo and Ogbomoso since the middle 19 th century, the new system did not reach Ekiti until the last decade of the century. In fact, it was not until 1896 that Emmanuel School was founded in Ado-Ekiti by the Anglican Church. It is the oldest primary school in Ekiti. 86 By the early 1890s, various primary schools had been opened in many Ekiti towns mainly by the Christian

Missions, especially the Anglican, the Roman Catholic and the Baptist. Some of these towns were Ado-Ekiti, Ikere-Ekiti, Igede-Ekiti, Ikole-Ekiti, Ilawe,

Aramoko, Ifaki, Ido, among others.

Initially people refused to allow their children to go to school for fear of slave raiders which griped particularly those in the smaller towns, despite its abolition. But with strong evangelism, this fear was gradually removed.

However, while the primary schools in big towns reached primary or standard six levels, many in the more rural parts did not go beyond standard four, making many children complete their standard six in other towns. In the

1920s, all the major Ekiti towns had already produced hundreds of standard six certificate holders. That certificate was considered to be the highest certificate needed to secure a good government job. It must be noted that at that time, people with standard four certificates were considered learned. By 100 the late 1940s, many Ekiti towns had started building their own primary schools, through communal efforts. Christian missions also built many secondary schools in Ekiti between 1936 and 1960.

The mission secondary schools included Christ School, Ado-Ekiti founded in 1936, Igede Boys’ High School in Igede-Ekiti (now Ekiti Baptist

High School) founded in 1956, Ushi Grammar School, Ushi, Annunciation

School, Ikere-Ekiti founded in 1957, among others. 87 C.A.C. also established primary and secondary schools in Ekiti. Before 1960, many towns in Ekiti, through community efforts, had established many primary schools (see

Tables 3.4 and 3.5). Though many Ekiti people were not fanatical, or very emotionally involved, in their attitude to Christianity, they focused their attention on the new, modern, education, particularly at the secondary school level. The products of these schools quickly seized the opportunities to go for higher studies within and outside Nigeria.

Table 3.4: Primary Schools Built through Communal Efforts in Ekiti between 1949 and 1950 and Grants from Government. Aramoko C.M.S. Senior Primary School 1949/50 500 Erijiyan C.M.S. Senior Primary School 1949/50 300 Ode C.M.S. Senior Primary School 1949/50 290 Aisegba/Agbado C.M.S. Senior P rimary School 1949/50 300 Are/Afao C.M.S. Senior Primary School 1949/50 100 Awo C.M.S. Senior Primary School 1949/50 200 Iye C.M.S. Senior Primary School 1949/50 300 Source: N.A.I., Ekiti Div.1/1, File No. 1168, 11/10/1950, p. 1.

101

Table 3.5: Primary Schools Built Through Communal Efforts in Ekiti in 1951.

Town Name of School Year Grant Apa Ipole Junior Primary School 1915 1,400 Odo Ora Junior Primary School 1915 600 Aye/Ifishin Junior Primary School 1915 900 Oke -Odo Igbira Senior Primary School 1915 1,000 Okemessi Senior Primary School 1915 2,000 Iddo Irappa Junior Primary School 1915 1,400 Iddo Junior Primary School 1915 1,500 Source: N.A.I. Ekiti Div. 1/1, File No. 1168, 11/10/1950, p. 1.

By the late 1950s, and with the free education as well as scholarships from the ruling Action Group, the Ekiti Division was already known as “a fountain of knowledge”; because of the high number of its first degree and

Ph.D. holders. The situation has not changed till today, according to the

Guardian (Nigeria). 88 This should not be a surprise if one considers the

Ekiti’s fanatical attitude to education, as earlier stated. For example, as early as 1938 “about 60 percent of Ekiti boys and 10 percent of Ekiti girls were going to school”. 89 The District Officer for Ekiti, B.J.A. Mathews, in 1940 emphasised the point that:

Education is the structure that holds the body of any modern development. He who trains the mind prepares him for a better future, morally, physically and professionally. With the on-going upsurge in school enrolment and the determination of parents to now, unlike before, put their children in classes, the Ekiti Division is undoubtedly moving steadily towards a more civilized world.

This is why the meeting of last Wednesday, February, 14 1940, on the state of education generally was most appropriate, particularly having 102

recognized the great propensity the children have for learning… Education makes the eyes to see and not just to look, the mind to probe and not just to think, the brain to acquire knowledge and not just to read, and the hands to create and not just to make. 90

No doubt, the free Education introduced to the Western Region in the

1950s by Awolowo also made the Ekiti people, especially, seize the opportunity to make education their industry. Probably more than any Yoruba group, Ekiti fanatically embraced this, making Ekiti, eventually, the land of the learned. But many Ekiti academic elite frowned at the lopsidedness in the

Higher Education system of Western Region before 1960 under the ruling

Action Group.

It is true that during this colonial period, the Western Region

Government trained many Ekiti students in tertiary institutions within and outside Nigeria, producing numerous Ekiti Ph.D. holders. This was why, in the region, Ekiti was able to produce a “high level manpower in government, in administration and in education”. 91 For this reason, some Ekiti intellectuals began to question why industrial infrastructures were not built in Ekiti. And not only that:

The situation was made worse by the … Western Nigerian Government policy to award, as it were, scholarship in ‘high’ disciplines of Medicine, engineering, Law, etc. to indigenes of particular parts of western Nigerian while retaining those for teaching and trades, History, Geography Boot Making and Textile Technology for Ekiti indigenes. As a result, most qualified Ekiti indigenes had no option than to take to teaching as their main profession. Hence, they were to be found in all schools in the old Western region and those of them that were able to make higher 103

degrees ended teaching in tertiary institutions all over Nigeria. 92

Medical Services

No medical infrastructures were put in place in Ekiti until after almost three decades of the British rule, and these were dispensaries and maternity homes. There was no single hospital until after about five decades. But when dispensaries were eventually opened, they spread rapidly to nearly all the

Ekiti towns. But maternity homes were found only in some major towns, while hospitals were very few and very distant from most of the Ekiti towns.

Before 1929, the Ekiti people relied totally on their traditional medical practices which really worked for them. Every community had traditional doctors or herbalists and bone setters. Baby delivery was considered a common experience which was easily handled. But, according to Bolaji

Adeyeye, “despite the fact that many herbalists or therapeutic centres existed in many towns, there were some places in Ekiti specially regarded and heavily patronized by other towns for their superior, unfailing and very effective medical services; which was why people from different towns used to come to my father in those days for particularly mental disorder and poisoned legs or hands”. 93

However, in 1929, a dispensary and one maternity home were opened in Ado-Ekiti. The same year, dispensaries were opened in other towns like

Egosi (now Ilupeju) and Ifaki. 94 And by the early 1930s, Ido Faboro, Ilawe,

Ikere, Ijero, Aramoko, Igbaro-Odo, Ikole and other towns had either dispensaries or maternity homes or both. In the early 1940s, nearly all the 104 major Ekiti towns, including Igede, Aisegba, Ikoro, Igbemo, Ise, Emure, Iyin,

Ogotun, Otun, Oye and Aiyede had been given the above medical facilities.

But there was a problem: many people refused to patronise these medical units because they still preferred their traditional methods of healing. What compounded this problem was the idea of going to a dispensary, for example, to queue for treatment when one could easily go to a nearby herbalist for treatment without wasting time. Distance was also an additional problem in some areas.

But what helped the medical service, to some extent, was the intervention of some mission dispensaries, maternities and other medical services which began to operate in some towns before the middle 1940s. One of these was the Baptist Dispensary and Maternity Home in Igede-Ekiti.

According to Jide Falade, “the Baptist Reverends opened these medical facilities near their Reservation Home at a place known as Oke-Esu, a little removed from Igede township”. 95 These Baptist Reverends, who were

Americans, began to attract people, irrespective of their religious denominations, to their clinics for free treatment in addition to free gifts of toys and dresses, among other items for babies, particularly. Roman Catholic priests in Ado-Ekiti later followed this example when it was clear that many people were likely to be attracted to the Baptist Church. The first Hospital in

Ekiti was built in Ado-Ekiti by the C.M.S. Church in 1944. Within a year of its operation, according to Ekiti Administrative Reports:

The C.M.S. Hospital at Ado has dealt with 44, 120 out-patient attendances, 630 in-patients, 7,680 Antenatal cases and 8,441 Infant Welfare cases during the year. There have been 499 deliveries at 105

the Hospital. The general health of the population has been good with the exception of small outbreaks of small-pox, 310 cases in all. 96

In 1947, another hospital by the colonial government was built at Ido

Faboro-Ekiti, with a 20-bed capacity. 97 Before 1960, the only additional hospitals in Ekiti were built by the Christian Churches. These were Maria

Assumpta Hospital, by the Roman Catholic Church and the Ile-Abiye

Hospital by the Anglican Church. 98 The two Hospitals were located in Ado-

Ekiti. However, it must be mentioned that medical activities in Ekiti during the colonial period included sanitation. Long before the dispensaries and the maternity homes were opened, sanitation was made a mandatory duty which all the Ekiti towns must carry out. Any unclean environment attracted heavy fines and occasionally, people were jailed. Unfortunately, many Sanitary

Inspectors, who were usually not Ekitis, used their positions to terrorize the people; to the extent that the word Wolewole (sanitary inspector) became another word for fear, terror, enemy or intimidation.

Road Construction

Road construction was the most important infrastructure that made the

British easily locate and tap the human and economic resources of Ekiti during the colonial period. Before 1912, the British officials and their Ekiti or other Yoruba assistants were making use of the pre-existing paths already created by the people. The Ekiti people already had highly functional paths that were connected to all the various towns. But these paths were very snaky, rugged, narrow and generally impassable for the newly imported 106 bicycles of the Resident and Supervising Commissioners, the Travelling

Commissioners, the District Commissioners and the District Officers. It was very necessary, therefore, for the colonial government to build, or encourage the building of, roads that could give the British officials easy access to the

Ekiti interior. In fact, road construction was “very important if only to put an end to the humiliation of several Ekiti able bodied men who were taking their turns as Head Carriers to the DOs (District Officers)”. 99

Without doubt, the economic and political interests were the major reasons that made the colonial government in Ekiti quickly see road construction as a major assignment. By 1912, many of the roads in Ekiti had been made suitable for riding bicycles. 100 From the beginning, despite the fact that there were no motor vehicles or even motorcycles, the colonial government, were already constructing some motor roads. But these were mainly roads that connected the major towns, on the main trade routes, to other major towns in another Division of the Province. Such major towns, at that time, included Ado-Ekiti, Iworoko, Ikere-Ekiti, Ilawe, Igbara-Odo,

Igbara-Oke, Ise, Emure, Igede, Aramoko, Otun, Ikole, Ilu-Omoba, Ijero,

Ifaki, Agbado, Omuo and Awo. Others were Ire, Igbemo, Igbole, Ido, Oye and Ipoti (see Map 1.3).

By 1923, it had become a thing of pride to have a car pass through one’s town. And this, among other reasons, made the desire to have new roads stronger among the people. This was also why communal participation in this regard was very popular, and the colonial government also encouraged this. According to the 1923 Native Administration Report on roads: 107

Throughout the Province, every town and village wants to connect up with the main motor road. The chiefs and people are full of enthusiasm and volunteers labour in a most extravagant fashion. Unfortunately the funds at the disposal of the Native Administration are not sufficient even to pay for the tools, skilled supervision and materials required… one of the great difficulties of Native Administration road making is to find skilled overseers. The District Officers can only visit the scene of operations periodically and, in the meantime, the work has to be left entirely to African supervision. 101

This determination of the colonial government to have very comfortable and faster trade routes for its economic and other activities also necessitated the construction of a better and wider road from Akure to Ikere-

Ekiti, so far the most important trade route to Benin Province or to Eastern

Nigeria. The decision to construct this road was taken in July 1925 by the

P.W.D. in Lagos. And according to the Resident, Ondo Province, J.L. Tabor, the Ado-Ekiti Native Administration was very anxious to build the road because it was an important trade route that would join the new Ilorin-

Oshogbo road. The road which was about 18 miles long “would also shorten the distance between Akure and Ado by about 17 miles”. 102

Perhaps no other Ekiti road attracted so much government interest than this road for reasons already given. This was why the government was determined to build the road in spite of the high cost, brought about by topographic problems; mainly “rugged” surrounding, many granite hills, which would necessarily need blasting, and “sparsity of sub-soil”. 103 There were also many bridges and culverts to construct. What gave the government additional problem was the initial re-routing or “deviation” of the road 108 because of the above stated problem. When the king of Iju learnt that the road’s deviation would mean that the road would not pass through his town, a protest letter was sent to the Ondo Province Resident through the Ekiti

Division’s ADO, B.J.A. Mathews. In addition to the protest letter, Miss C.

Mathews wrote a separate letter to the Resident, through B.J.A. Mathews, dated May 12, 1926. 104

She later supported her letter to the Resident on Ondo with a sketch of the proposed road (Fig. 3.5). The topographic sketch no doubt explains why the road should pass through Iju and it convinced the DO and the Director of

Public Works. The Assistant Engineer, Akure, E.C. Roberts, who initially did not identify with Miss Mathew’s view, and the Resident were also convinced.

The construction of Akure-Ikere road was eventually completed at the end of

1927. However, the construction of the road showed how the colonial administration made road construction their main objective between 1900 and

1960. For example, while the colonial government was not so much in a haste to build many hospitals, more schools, which the government left for the Christian missions, and help to reconstruct very many communally built roads in the hinterland, there was that strong determination or speedy effort to build economically viable roads. An excerpt from a letter written by the ADO in 1926 to the Provincial Resident in Akure on Akure-Ikere road readily exposed this economic intention of the colonial government in Ekiti: 109

Fig. 3.5: Sketch of Akure-Ikere Road by Miss C. Mathews in May, 1926. Source: N.A.I. Ondo Prof. 1/2, File No. 324(2), 0/85/25 1925, memorandum, 1926.

It is true that the construction of this road will enable the cocoa farmers to transport their produce direct to the waterside at Agbabu, but I would submit that the road will actually be almost entirely a political one, as it will be a direct link between Akure (Provincial Headquarters) and Ado-Ekiti (Divisional Headquarter) and the obvious route for the telegraph line to follow. 105

The same year, it was discovered by the government that the Ikere-Ise-

Emure road would be of immense economic importance and therefore needed complete overhauling. The building of bridges, particularly over River

Ogbese, and several culverts was given an immediate priority by the P.W.D. 110

There was also heavy construction of abutments and piers. To complete the section of the road from Ise to Emure, the Arinjale, king of Ise, was given the responsibility of providing timber for Ogbese bridge. 106 The road was completed in 1937. Throughout the 1930s, road infrastructures continued to grow in Ekiti with the encouragement of the government that eventually began to assist towns by reimbursing part of the money spent on building their roads. This was also the situation with the construction of the road from

Okemesi to Esa-Oke. After the people had completely formed the road through communal work, the government, in its Draft Estimates of 1938-39, provided the fund for the construction of the bridges and culverts only. The road was completed in 1939.

Throughout the 1940s, roads were either being reconstructed, in parts, or being renovated either by the people or by the government. And by 1950, all the Ekiti towns, no matter the size, had motoroable roads; though many of the roads were very dangerous to drive on, particularly during the rainy seasons (Table 3.11). It is good to know that apart from Ado-Akure road which has semblance of hard surface, all the Ekiti roads had only well compacted earth surfaces. There were no tarred roads or roads built with bituminous and laterite surfaces. But the situation began to change from the

1950s with the new political dispensation that gave Nigerians limited freedom to operate their own political or administrative systems.

Though the Nigerian politicians had been given that administrative power over their people, which was why Chief Obafemi Awolowo became the Premier of Western Region, the colonial masters still effectively took 111 control of, or still had direct authority over, the Nigerian political elite. This is saying that the Nigerian leaders were still under colonial rule and therefore not free to take any serious decision not approved by the British government.

But there was one achievement. That is, many Nigerian politicians were already emboldened in their determination to challenge, particularly any colonial action that was incapable of producing real development in Nigeria.

This was the situation in Ekiti in 1952 when many Ekiti educated elite began to challenge the state of the Ekiti roads, which they saw as not meeting up with the developmental expectations of the period.

Some of these Ekiti indigenes who were not only educated elite but also politicians all belonged to the reigning Action Group. They included A.

Osuntokun, A. Areola, E.A. Babalola, J.E. Babalola, B.A. Ajayi, S.A.

Akerele and O. Ogundipe. Having been “attracted by the welfarist posture of the Action Group, especially its often canvassed position on… social infrastructures”, 107 these elite criticized the colonial government for not using literite in place of mere earth which, in the words of James Balogun,

“constantly disintegrated particularly during rainy seasons”. 108

Very interestingly, the same year, the Resident, Ondo Province, instructed the Provincial Engineering, through the Ekiti ADO to “prepare a very reasonable estimate for tarring these roads that have been given priority for their commercial, economic and administrative importance”. 109 By

August 1952, the Provincial Engineer had acted accordingly by preparing an estimate for tarring one mile road with laterite. The detail included the labour for the laterite dug and carried by labourer. Unlike the previous years, before 112

Nigerians were granted a semi-autonomous political and administrative power when most of the road construction duties were carried out through communal efforts, this time around, the colonial government was totally responsible for tarring the roads approved for construction in Ekiti. The summary of the tarring estimate, which also included overheads and miscellaneous, for one mile put the total cost of tarring one mile at eight hundred and eighty four pound and one shilling, (£884.1.0). However, this new tarring exercise with laterite marked the beginning of ambitious road construction that later, by the late 1950s, covered the major Ekiti trade routes.

In fact, before 1960, road infrastructure which the Action Group government saw as very significant, particularly for the easy transportation of the Ekiti agricultural products, especially cocoa, had become the main feature of Ekiti’s development. That is, nearly all the major commercial routes, roads linking administrative centres to major towns, roads linking production centres to the major cities outside Ekiti, had already been tarred before 1960.

The very aggressive propaganda machinery of the Action Group under Chief

Obafemi Awolowo had great effect on Ekiti communication and education as the backbone of economic development and his strong welfarist philosophy demanded his personal visits to the Ekiti interior. This made road infrastructure, though on a less ambitious scale, extend to the Ekiti interior.

Without doubt, road infrastructure was one of the most prominent features of

Ekiti development in the colonial period.

113

Currency and Banking

Commerce in the pre-colonial Ekiti was carried out by barter in addition to the use of cowries, all of which served as people’s traditional currency. 110 These modes of commercial transactions “continued in Ekiti well into the colonial period”, 111 though metallic currency had been in moderate circulation in Ekiti since the beginning of the 20 th century. Before the introduction of the metallic currency by the British, the Ekiti people traded with cowries which had two types: the perforated cowries and the unperforated cowries. Unperforated cowries were very burdensome in counting and carrying, particularly for big transactions. However, barter as a means of buying and selling, went hand in hand with the use of cowries in commercial transactions till about 1906. Barter, “where goods are exchanged for goods directly”, 112 involved the exchange of goods or products of local industries; agricultural products like food items and livestock; local wine or gin; precious beads; skins of animals like leopard, lion and deer as well as therapeutic or medicinal materials. Later, various imported European goods were also used as barter which, to the people, served as “special purpose currencies”. 113

But by 1906, the use of cowries had taken over barter for commercial transactions, while perforated cowries appeared to be more preferable for commerce. For example, the perforation made them possible for stringing into units, thereby making counting large sums easy while traders, particularly those on long distant journeys, also found them very easy to carry. According to Daramola Akinsofe who still has bags of both perforated 114 and unperforated cowres in his backyard, as saved by his father before 1920,

“women who were usually hired to carry bags of cowries in baskets and leather bags to various trade destinations were occasionally attacked, though without physical injury, by thieves and dispossessed of their “money”

(cowries)”. 114 Akinsofe explained that “with strings of cowries, traders, particularly men, were able to carry thousands without being noticed by tying many of the cowry strings around their waists, under garments, or by suspending many of these strings on their shoulders, also under their dresses”. 115 This way, according to Akinsofe, the thieves would also be scared away because the weight of the cowries usually made these traders appear like well armed hunters or powerful herbalists. 116

Though the number of cowries per string “was never fixed… cowries were usually strung by 200 in five strings of 400 each:” 117 At times, in the

1920s, the following were the fixed units:

40 cowries = 1 string (British ½ penny)

50 strings = 1 head (British 2 shillings)

10 heads = 1 bag (British 1 pound, 10 shillings). 118

And in the early 1930s, the units per string were different:

20 cowries = 1 string

5 strings = 1 bag (or 100 cowries). 119

At the same period, for one to buy a tuber of yam, one needed 1 string while a bowl of palm oil cost 2 strings and for a long distance trader to have meaningful trade transactions, not less than 20,000 cowries or 10 heads would be needed”. 120 For commerce, one can see how heavy these cowries were for 115 carrying. It was not surprising that the British began to demonetize the existing cowries currency which, however, the people did not initially appreciate.

Though the British coins had been in circulation in the very urbanized areas of Yorubaland since 1904, it was not until 1906 that the British currency, or one farthing, was introduced to Ekiti; it enjoyed very little circulation. However by 1910, other types of coins had been introduced to

Ekiti, though these were still used along with cowries for commercial transactions. In fact, many people, according to Deacon Borishade Afuye, still preferred the use of cowries, since they could not just understand easily how one small piece of metal, or even two or three pieces, could buy what hundreds of cowries, considered large enough, could buy. 121 A common Ekiti proverb goes this way:

Araja losi oja bi eni tiko lowo lowo osowo nbo ni ile bi eniti ko lowo lapo Oyibo kojeki amo olowo mo Oyibo ko je ji amo oloro mo Aiye ti da aiye oyinbo A buyer goes to market as if there is no money in hand. A seller comes home from market as if there is no money in the pocket. A white man does not make one recognize the rich anymore. A white man does not make one recognize the wealthy any more. One now lives in the world of a white man. 122

The above reaction is understandable, since the new coins made it difficult for one to know whether or not one had money. This was because the tradition of carrying to the market bags of heavy cowries had been replaced by a few 116 weightless coins inconspicuously carried or kept, without noticing, either in hand, pocket or tied to handkerchief or a hem of a cloth.

However by 1910, it was very clear that the colonial government could no more tolerate the use of cowries which it saw as badly affecting the Ekiti’s economy. Every effort was therefore made to increase the circulation of coins needed to demonetize the traditional currency. The West African

Currency Board (WACB), established in 1912, had the official mandate of distributing to all the British West African countries like the Gold Coast,

Sierra Leone, Nigeria and Liberia “silver coins imported from Britain”. 123

With this development, the British government, through its colonial agencies, was able to introduce uniform currencies for her West African colonies. Of course, the new currency was an “extension of the (British) imperial currency”. 124 Though the increase in and popularization of coin currency made the colonial government have a firm control over Nigeria’s economy, there were still pockets of trade transacted in cowries in Ekiti. And in fact, it was not until the Amalgamation of 1914 of Northern and Southern

Protectorates by Lord Lugard that the cowries currency was made to be of illegal tender in Nigeria. This fact is evident from the statement of ADO of

Ekiti in November 1914 during his visit to the palace of Ogoga, the King of

Ikere-Ekiti:

The new administrative position in the colony has made it very indispensable for all traders, particularly, to adopt the new coin currency already circulating very well in the Division… I do not want to belabor what the Provincial District Officer has stated many times…. Any Oba that receives monetary tribute in cowries will be demoted and any Baale or Obas (Junior kings) who 117

give such money/cowries will be sanctioned appropriately. 125

By that year, various denominations of metal coins had become popular among the Ekiti people. They were farthing, the smallest denomination, and shilling, the highest. These coin denominations were farthing, half penny, penny, three pence, six pence and one shilling.

Naturally, the denominations of these coins were given local names that were also common to other Yoruba ethnic groups (see Table 3.6).

Table 3.6: Coin Denominations in English and Yoruba English Yoruba 1 farthing Onini ½ Penny Epini 1 penny Kobo 3 pence Toro 6 pence Sisi 12 pence Sile (pronounced shile) kan 20 shillings (1 pound) Poun kan Source: Interview with chief Lawrence Oluwatoba Oloidi, the Olusawe of Igede-Ekiti, 2006.

And the colonial government made sure that all money calculations were taught arithmetically in the primary schools as shown in Tables 3.7 to

3.10. By the late 1930s, farthing was becoming increasingly unpopular among the people, since its buying power was reducing. But half penny, penny, three pence and six pence were already dominating the commercial activities of the people, while until the early 1940s, one shilling, as a denomination, was popular only with the rich people or elite in the society, mainly because of its very high buying power. 126 By the late 1940s, farthing had almost completely disappeared, while other denominations still remained 118 very commercially strong and active until around late 1950s when half penny itself was not so much in circulation in Ekiti.

Table 3.7: Arithmetical Money Table in Farthings and Pence Farthing Pence 4 equalled 1 8 " 2 10 " 2½ 12 " 3 16 " 4 20 " 5 24 " 6 28 " 7 30 7½ 32 8 Source: The Ridgemill Exercise Book, Ridgemill series, 1920 as kept by Alexander Oloidi, a Primary School Headmaster in Igede-Ekiti, 1944.

Table 3.8: Arithmetical Money Table in Pence and Shillings, etc. Pence Shillings Pence 12 = 1 + 0 20 = 1 + 8 24 = 2 + 0 30 = 2 + 6 36 = 3 + 0 40 = 3 + 4 48 = 4 + 0 50 = 4 + 2 60 = 5 + 0 70 = 5 + 10 72 = 6 + 0 80 = 6 + 8 84 = 7 + 0 90 = 7 + 6 96 = 8 + 0 100 = 8 + 4 108 = 9 + 0 110 = 9 + 2 120 = 10 + 0 130 = 10 + 10 140 = 11 + 8 Source: The Ridgemilll Exercise Book, Ridgemill Series, 1920; as kept by Alexander Dada Oloidi, a Primary School Headmaster in Igede-Ekiti, 1944.

119

Table 3.9: Arithmetical Money Table in Shillings and Pounds, etc. Shillings Pounds Shillings 20 = 1 + 0 30 = 1 + 10 40 = 2 + 0 50 = 2 + 10 60 = 3 + 0 70 = 3 + 10 80 = 4 + 0 90 = 4 + 10 100 = 5 + 0 Source: The Ridgemilll Exercise Book, Ridgemill Series, 1920; as kept by Alexander Dada Oloidi, a Primary School Headmaster in Igede-Ekiti, 1944.

Table 3.10: Sterling Money Table 2 shillings = 1 Florin 2 shillings & six = 1 Half Crown pence 5 shillings = 1 Crown (G.) 10 shillings & six = 1 Half Guinea pence 20 shillings = 1 Pound (£) 21 shillings = 1 Guinea Source: The Ridgemilll Exercise Book, Ridgemill Series, 1920; as kept by Alexander Dada Oloidi, a Primary School Headmaster in Igede-Ekiti, 1944.

In fact, the introduction of paper currency later in the 1940s made the lower coins, particularly farthing, become unpopular in Ekiti. Paper currency in one pound denomination “was first seen in Ekiti in the early 1920s with some powerful Ekiti businessmen, the District Officers and some Ekiti soldiers who had returned home after World War I”.127 From the early 1920s to the early 1940s, the paper currency was extremely unpopular and not accepted by the Ekiti, and even other Yoruba groups, generally. People still preferred coins in their daily commercial activities. Perhaps what happened in other West African communities about paper currency as observed by the 120

WACB and as reproduced by Allan McPhee was the reflection of the same situation in Ekiti:

Naturally the natives preferred coins and were ready to sell their produce at lower prices for coin than for paper…. It is recognized, however, that at the present stage of development, West Africa is unsuited to such an extensive use of paper currency, and that it is desirable to reduce the note circulation of coins. 128

However, Ekiti people could not just understand easily how an ordinary, easily perishable paper could be of any serious economic value. To them, according to Olalusi, people could not save it in a pot where water, especially from the leaking thatched houses, could easily destroy it. It was also “unsuitable for burying in the ground, while inside the house, you know like esisan (palm kernel shells), it would even make a house burn faster”. 129

In addition, the theft of one pound, not to talk of two or more, was enough to drive a trader out of business. Pa Olalusi also addressed the unpopularity of paper currency in a humorous but frank manner:

In those days, before and after the Second World War, many young men while visiting their intended lovers at night, used to attract or impress them by “showing off” their financial standing or how rich they were through the rattling “kewekewe”, or beautiful noisy metallic, sound of coins which they deliberately loaded into the pockets of their dansiki (small garment) or agbada (big flowing garment).

A small or gentle movement of these dresses used to easily activate the above impressive rattling sound of coins, particularly by deliberately and occasionally raising the long agbada sleeve up, over the shoulder and also throwing it down to position. Some ladies were necessarily captured for marriage this way, because to then and their parents, they would be financially very 121

comfortable in their husbands’ homes. You know it was not possible to display this trick, though not a trick, with paper money, even if you put hundreds of it in your pocket. 130

However, by the late 1940s, with increasing social awareness, highly accelerated literacy level paper currency became popular among the people.

One pound paper currency was followed by 10 shillings paper currency which was brown and smaller in size. And with various modern infrastructural and social developments like modern houses, educational institutions and the emergence of more elite businessmen and farmers, paper currency, which later included five shillings denomination, became an integral exchange medium. This situation resulted in greater monetization of Ekiti economy.

But one would have thought that this new economic position in Ekiti would immediately bring about the culture of modern banking capable of attracting patronage from the people. This was not so, as well be explained shortly. 131

According to Onwuka Njoku, the first bank established in Nigeria was the Bank of British West Africa (ABWA) which was established by Alfred

Jones in 1894; followed by Barklays Bank. By the late 1920s, the discriminatory attitude or policies of these banks led to the emergence of indigenous banks like the Industrial and Commercial Bank which was established in 1929; the Nigerian Mercantile Bank, 1931 and the National

Bank of Nigeria, 1933. Other indigenous banks were the Agbonmagbe Bank,

Merchant Bank Ltd., Muslim Bank, Ltd., the City Bank, the Nigeria Trust

Bank and the Pan-African Bank. 132 Unfortunately, however, all these indigenous Banks were shortlived. 133 By the late 1940s, more banks, based on ethnic and political grounds, had also emerged in Nigeria. These were the 122

National Bank of Action Group (A.G.), the African Continental Bank (ACB) of the National Council of Nigeria and the Comerrous (NCNC), representing

Eastern Nigeria, and the Bank of the North belonging to the Nigerian

People’s Congress (NPC) of Northern Nigeria. But until the eve of Nigeria’s independence, these Banks were mainly concentrated in the major Nigerian cities or capitals. It was in the late 1950s that the first bank, the National

Bank of Nigeria came to Ado Ekiti, the Headquarters of Ekiti Division. Its presence did not make much difference in the overall economic activities of the people, because people did not patronize it.

However, generally, banking did not affect the economic lives of the people for a number of reasons. There was dearth of banks which made people have little or no knowledge of their economic values. Those far away from the banks found it inconvenient to travel all the way to another town to lodge in money in bank. That is, when the number of banks increased, they were still far away from many farmers and traders. There was also fear that menacing thieves could snatch money on transit to far away banks. And of course, the reaction of a few who patronized the Banks did not encourage many people. For example, there used to be delay in payment. That is, many traders were “frustrated either because of irregular signatures or the demand for certain identifications”. 134 Many were also not used to the tradition of queuing, particularly for a long time. For example, the farmers who used to go to their farms before 8a.m. every day from Monday to Saturday could not understand why “they had to spend a long period in the Bank when pressing farm activities awaited them”. 135 123

The Esusu, a traditional credit association of the Yoruba did not also help the modern banking system in Ekiti before and even after Nigeria’s independence, Esusu, an age-old traditional form of banking among the Ekiti, and other Yoruba groups, is a “custom for the clubbing together of a number of persons for monetary aid”. 136 It was usually “organized by kinsmen or by groups of friends and … devoted mainly to social purposes”. 137 Samuel

Johnson explained how the system worked:

A fixed sum agreed upon is given by each (person) at a fixed time (usually every week) and place, under a president; the total amount is paid over to each member in rotation. This enables a poor man to do something worthwhile where a lump sum is required. There are laws regulating this system. 138

Even well into the post-colonial period, the Ekiti people generally preferred identifying with the Esusu system rather than the banks. The practice is still very alive today among the people. Those who were not engaging in the Esusu also preferred keeping their money with trusted people who “in those days were usually respectable heads of family, community leaders or chiefs, traditional doctors, reliable in-laws and others considered having impeccable moral character”. 139 Unlike in Ekiti, few available Banks, particularly in Ado-Ekiti and Ikere-Ekiti were heavily patronized mainly by the heads of post-primary institutions and government parastatals as well as some local and expatriate companies. 124

REFERENCES

1. Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English (Essex: Pearson Education Ltd., 2005), p. 834.

2. Onwuka Njoku, 2001, p. 138.

3. See J. Ihonvbere and Toyin Falola, “Introduction: Colonialism and Exploitation” in Toyin Falola, Britain and Nigeria: Exploitation or Development? (London: Zed Books Ltd., 1987), pp. 32-52, 142-159.

4. Ibid., p. 28.

5. See Ondo State of Nigeria: Spotlighting Major Towns, Ado-Ekiti (Ado- Ekiti: Ministry of Home Affairs, no date), pp. 7, 10.

6. Oguntuyi, History of Ekiti…, 1979, p. 100.

7. Ondo State of Nigeria: Spotlighting on Major Towns, p. 4.

8. Oguntuyi, 1979, p. 117.

3 9. N.A.I., Ondo Prof. /1, Ekiti Administrative Report, Vol.1, 1920. 10. N.A.I., Ekiti Div. Administrative Report, 297 34; Vol., 1933, p. 69.

11. Ibid.

12. Oyewole Ajayi, 85 years, a retired Police Constable. Interviews conducted in Ado-Ekiti in July 14, 2006. 13. Ibid. 14. Oguntuyi, p. 122. 15. Ibid. 16. Ibid.

17. N.A.I., Ondo Prof. 4/1, Administrative Annual Report, 1920-1921, p. 21. 18. Ibid. 19. Ibid. 20. Ibid.

21. R.O. Ekundare, An Economic History of Nigeria, 1860-1960 (London: Methuen & Co., 1973), p. 12. Also see Toyin Falola (Ed.) Britain and Nigeria: Exploitation or Development? (London: Zed. Books Ltd., 1987), p. 76. 125

22. N.A.I., Ekiti Div. Administrative Report, File No. 29734, Vol. 1, 1933, 1934, p. 60.

23. Ibid., also see Oguntuyi, History of Ekiti…, p. 92.

24. N.A.I. Ekiti Div., Administrative Report, File No. 29734, Vol. 1, 1933/1934, p. 61.

25. N.A.I. Ekiti Div., Administrative Report, File No. 29734, 1933/1934, p. 60.

26. Chief Felix Falade, 82 years, a retired Police Constable. Interviews Conducted in Iworoko-Ekiti on July 12, 2006.

27. Oguntuyi, History of Ekiti…, p. 134.

28. N.A.I., Ondo Prof. 4/1 Annual Report (Miscellaneous) 1923, p. 64.

29. N.A.I. Ondo Prof. 3/2 Administrative Report, 1936, p. 11.

30. N.A.I. Ondo Prof. ½ File No. Op. 329, 1936, p. 230.

31. Chief Felix Falade, 2006.

32. N.A.I., Ondo Prof. 1/3 File No. D41, 17/2/1949, p. 11.

33. Ibid.

34. Also see Onwuka Njoku, Economic History of Nigeria…, 2001, p. 137.

35. Gabriel Fajobi, a retired Army Sergeant, aged 72 years. Interview conducted in Ise-Ekiti on July 10, 2006.

36. Kehinde Faluyi, “The Economic Impact of the World Wars” in G.O. Ogunremi and E.K. Faluyi (eds.), An Economic History of West Africa Since 1750 (Lagos: First Academic Publishers, 1996, p. 144.

37. Francis Ojo, 67 years, a retired primary school teacher whose father fought in the 2nd World War. Interview conducted in Ado-Ekiti on July 13, 2006.

38. Chief Onileowo, 75 years, a traditional High Chief in Igede-Ekiti, Interview conducted in Igede-Ekiti on July 7, 2006.

39. Ibid.

40. Ibid.

41. Samuel Oyedele, 81, years, retired Court Clerk in Ado-Ekiti. Interview conducted on July 14, 2006.

42. N.A.I., Ondo Prof. 4/1, Annual Report, Miscellaneous 1923, p. 15. 126

43. Ibid.

44. Samuel Oyedele, 2006, interview already cited.

45. N.A.I., Ondo Prof. 4/1 Annual Report (Addendum “A”), 1923, p. 2.

46. Oguntuyi, History of Ekiti…, p. 135.

47. N.A.I., Ondo Prof. 1/3 File No. D41, 9/2/1949, p. 53.

48. Ayodele Olukoju “Transportation in Colonial West Africa, G.O. Ogunremi and E.K. Faluyi (eds.), An Economic History of West Africa since 1750 (Lagos: First Academic Publishers, 1996), p. 151.

49. Ibid., p. 160.

50. Onwuka Njoku, Economic History of Nigeria…, p. 138.

51. N.A.I., Ondo Prof., 2/1 (a), Miscellaneous, August 20, 1920, p. 2.

52. Chief Michael Olajiga, 65 years, a traditional Chief. Interview conducted on Ise-Ekiti in May 20, 2007.

53. Clement Ojo about 80 years, a cocoa farmer. Interview conducted in Ikere-Ekiti on July 16, 2006.

54. Ibid.

55. Daramola Olowokere, 78 years, a former member of Ado-Ekiti Road Transport Service, now a cocoa former. Interview conducted in Ado- Ekiti on July 17, 2006.

56. M.A. Aluko, 78 years, one of the first set of security Guides in Odua Textile Industry, Ado-Ekiti. Interview conducted in Ise-Ekiti on May 20, 2005.

57. Ibid.

58. N.A.I., Ondo Prof., 3/1 Administrative Report (Miscellaneous/Attachment 1-4), 1920, pp. 70-71.

59. Ibid.

60. Oguntuyi, History of Ekiti…, p. 102.

61. Interviews on the place of bicycles, particularly in the commercial experiences of Ekiti in the colonial period, were conducted with many young and elderly people in Igede-Ekiti, Ado-Ekiti, Ise-Ekiti, Iyin- Ekiti; Emure-Ekiti, especially James Okafor (alias Awka or Aginagbode) of Igede, Raphael Okoli from Ado-Ekiti (a trader), Chief (late) Elejoka of Ise-Ekiti, Chief (late) Bade Adeyeye of Iyin-Ekiti, 127

Femi Stephen Oloidi of Igede-Ekiti and Deacon Ogundele Ogunkua of Igede-Ekiti. Interview conducted between 2006 and 2009.

62. James Okafor, 86 years, a blacksmith in Igede-Ekiti. Interview in Igede-Ekiti on June 14, 2005.

63. Ibid.

64. N.A.I., Ondo Prof., 4/1, (Miscellaneous six), Annual report, 1923, p. 4.

65. N.A.I., Ondo Prof., 4/1 Annual Report, miscellaneous ix, 1923, p. 66.

66. Ibid., p. 68.

67. G.O. Ogunremi and E.K. Faluyi (eds.), An Economic History of West Africa…, p. 156.

68. N.A.I., Ondo Prof., 4/1 Annual Report, 1923, p. 65.

69. Ibid.

70. Also see Olukoju in Ogunremi and Faluyi (eds.), An Economic History of West Africa…, p. 156.

71. Karimu Olawale a Driver in the Meterorological Services, Lagos in the middle 1960s; 79 years, from Ado-Ekiti. Interview conducted on July 11, 2006.

72. Ibid.

73. Ibid.

74. N.A.I., Ondo Prof., ½, File No. 324 Memorandum 0/85/30, 1930, pp. 4-5.

75. Ekiti on the Move, a pamphlet publication of the Ekiti Government 1998, p. 7.

76. Rufus Fadipe, 80 years; a former Driver to Leventis Lagos. Interview conducted in Ado-Ekiti on July 11, 2006.

77. Ibid.

78. Ibid.

79. Ekiti on the Move, p. 9.

80. Ibid.

81. N.A.I., Ekiti Div. 1/1, File No. 665/1/7, 1952, p. 1.

82. Ibid. 128

83. Ibid.

84. Clement Ojo, 2006.

85. Daramola Olowokere, 2006.

86. Though Emmanuel School “was formally opened on March 16, 1896” (Oguntuyi, 1979, p. 106), it was not until 1916 that the school was able to register a substantial number of children.

87. Chief John Oluremi, 2006.

88. The Guardian, October 2, 1996, p. 7.

89. Oguntuyi, History of Ekiti…, p. 110.

90. N.A.I., Administrative Report, Ondo Prof. ½. File No. Op. 370 (Miscellaneous), 1940, p. 7.

91. Oladeji Fasuan, Creation of Ekiti State: The Epic Struggle of a People (Ado-Ekiti: Industrial and Marchandise Nigeria Ltd., 2002), p. 4.

92. Ibid.

93. Bolaji Adeyeye, 82 years and a retired Dispenser in Iworoko. Interview conducted in Iworoko on July 13, 2006.

94. Oguntuyi, History of Ekiti…, p. 145.

95. Jide Falade, 88 years, a member of the Baptist Church in Igede-Ekiti, Interview conducted on July 8 in Igede-Ekiti.

96. N.A.I., Ondo Prof., 4/1 Administrative Report, 1945, p. 12.

97. N.A.I., Ondo Prof., 1/3 File No. D2, vol. 11 1947, p. 4.

98. Ondo State of Nigeria: Spotlighting major Towns, p. 15.

99. Chief M. Olajuwon, 82 years, a retired civil servant in Lagos whose fathers was one of the early Dispensers in Ado-Ekiti. Interview conducted in Ado-Ekiti on July 14, 2006.

100. Oguntuyi, History of Ekiti…, p. 147.

101. N.A.I., Ondo Prof., Miscellaneous Annual Report, 1923, p. 58.

102. N.A.I., Ondo Prof., File No. 324 DO/85/1925, p. 5.

103. Ibid; Memorandum, No. 73/029/25, 25/1/1926, pp. 1-2.

104. N.A.I., Ondo Prof., ½ File No. 324 (4), 0/85/1926, p. 4.

105. N.A.I., Ondo Prof., ½ File No. 324 (8) 0/85/1925, 1926, p. 8. 129

106. Ibid., p. 261.

107. Oladeji Fasuan, Creation of Ekiti State…, p. 3.

108. James Balogun, 80 years and a retired staff of the Ministry of Works and Housing, Ibadan. Interview conducted in Ado-Ekiti on July 18, 2006.

109. N.A.I., Ondo Prof., 1/3 File No. D39/3 (Miscellaneous), vol. 11, 1952, p. 358.

100. For a more elaborate discussion on currency in Africa, see Allan McPhee The Economic Revolution in British West Africa (London: Frank Cass and Company Ltd., 1971), pp. 235-239, 241-246; Samuel Johnson, The History of the Yorubas: From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the British Protectorate (London: Low and Brydene (Printers) Ltd., 1969), pp. 118-119; Onwuka Njoku, Economic History of Nigeria: 19 th and 20 th Centuries (Enugu: Magnet Business Enteprises, 2001), pp. 145-147; A.G. Hopkins, An Economic History of West Africa (London: Longman Ltd., 1980), pp. 66-71, 111-112, 149- 151, 206-209, 284-285.

111. Spotlight on Ekiti 3, a pamphlet publication of the Ekiti government (undated).

112. Allan McPhee, p. 232.

113. B.J.E. Itsueli, Aspects of the Economic History of Etsako, 1800-1960, An Unpublished Ph.D Dissertation, Department of History, University of Nigeria, 1982, p. 299.

114. Daramola Akinsofe, 96 years; Interview conducted in Ikere-Ekiti on November 2, 2006.

115. Ibid.

116. Ibid.

117. Samuel Johnson, The History of the Yorubas…, p. 119.

118. Ibid.

119. Daramola Akinsafe, 2006.

120. Ibid.

121. Borishade Afuye, 90 years, a retired teacher and Deacon, Baptist Church, Igede-Ekiti. Interview conducted in Igede-Ekiti on July 8, 2006.

122. Ibid. 130

123. Itsueli, p. 304.

124. Njoku, 2001, p. 146; also see Njoku, 2001, pp. 146-149 for the development of modern currency in Nigeria.

125. N.A.I., Administrative Annuel Report, Ondo Prof. 4/1, 1914, p. 8.

126. Chief Lawrence Oluwatoba, the Orisawe of Igede-Ekiti.

127. Badejo Olalusi, a 94 year-old farmer and timber farmer in Ikole Ekiti. Interview conducted in Ikole in 2005. Also see Onwuka Njoku, 2001, p. 146.

128. Allan McPhee, The Economic Revolution…, pp. 245-246.

129. Badejo Olalusi, 2005.

130. Ibid.

131. For deeper discussion of Banking in West Africa, see A.G. Hopkins, An Economic History of West Africa (London: Longman Group Ltd., 1973), pp. 206-209.

132. Njoku, Economic History of Nigeria…, pp. 148-149.

133. Ibid.

134. Chief Niyi Oyebanjo, an 89 year-old retired Postmaster in Ado-Ekiti. Interview conducted in Ado-Ekiti on July 12, 2006.

135. Ibid.

136. Samuel Johnson, The History of the Yorubas…, p. 119.

137. A.G. Hopkins, An Economic History of West Africa. (London: Longman Ltd., 1980), p. 70.

138. Samuel Johnson, The History of the Yorubas…, p. 119.

139. Deacon A. Ogundele, a 74 year-old, businessman and cocoa farmer in Igede-Ekiti. Interview conducted on July 10, 2006 in Igede. 131

CHAPTER FOUR

AGRICULTURE, 1900 TO 1960

Agriculture had become the chief occupation of Ekiti long before the advent of the Europeans. During this pre-colonial period, it was mainly a subsistence agriculture. But during the colonial era, agriculture changed from subsistence to market economy. Farmers were encouraged to produce cash crops like timber, rubber, palm produce, cotton and cocoa for export. But unlike the situation in Ghana where the production of food crops declined considerably because of emphasis on cash crops, food crops product in Ekiti increased along with increase in the production of cash crops. 1 Ekiti became a fertile territory for the colonial administration because of its richness in agricultural exports which formed the basis of colonial exploitative interest.

Ekiti had abundant land for agriculture, despite the colonial land tenure policy which did not really affect the traditional land policy of the people.

Land Tenure

Land tenure, by a general definition, is the system of land ownership which involves the political, social and economic aspects of life, particularly regarding the use, control or ownership of land. 2 In colonial Ekiti, the land tenure system was not radically different from what it was in the pre-colonial period. And the same land tenure was not all that different from that of any other Yoruba ethnic group. However, much credit goes to the Yoruba educated elite who made sure, through well organized criticism, that the

Yoruba traditional system of land tenure was not unduly encroached upon or disrupted by the colonial administrations land policy as was the situation in 132

Gold Coast (Ghana) in the 19 th century and the French colonies in 1904. 3

These were periods when the colonial administrators considered some lands, or lands in their colonies, those of the state or government. 4

In Ekiti, the traditional system of land tenure was so strong and respected that the British administrators, inspite of some laws which people however rendered decorative, were incapable of changing people’s tradition.

The missionaries in Ekiti played a major role in this regard, particularly the

Roman Catholic and the Baptist missionaries who, in the 1920s especially, advised the District Officers about what the government stood to gain by respecting tradition; 5 that is, administering by negotiation or mutual agreement and not by imposition which the Ekiti people, by nature and tradition, detested.

Like in other Yoruba communities, land laws in the colonial Ekiti were very straightforward, simple and non-complex but very effective. 6

Traditionally, theoretically and symbolically, all lands belonged to the king who was the earthly representative of the Almighty God (Olodumare or

Onile, the real owner of lands). This position must not be taken to mean that the king owned people’s lands, as his private property. He even had no right to give somebody’s land to another person, except with the permission of the owner; and even then, this would be on a temporary basis. The Ekiti people were making use of their land without the permission of any king or chiefs who, as already discussed, were just the theoretical custodians of the land.

But the real position of the king became more prominently and indispensably recognized whenever there was a dispute over land between, for example, one 133 ethnic group and the other. In this case, the king, believing that part of his domain was under the threat of being taken away from him, would be in the forefront of the fight, or even war, to protect his land.

In a situation like this, all the chiefs, warriors, family heads, able bodied men, members of the hunters’ guild, traditional doctors or powerful herbalists as well as all those considered spiritually potent with strong medicinal powers would be called upon by the king to help defend the land.

The size of the land did not matter. It might just be a few yards. But as long as there was an infringement or encroachment by another village, town kingdom, and though the controversial land might belong to a family or an individual in a family, it was the duty of the whole town, to go to war on behalf of their king. In the same manner, the Ekiti people would be ready to fight any non-Ekiti group that tried to appropriate their land. As S. Johnson states, “this normally quiet and submissive people can be roused into violent actions of desperation if once they perceive that it is intended to deprive them of their land”. 7 Even as late as the early independence period, some Ekiti towns were at war with one another because of land disputes. 8 These wars included those between Ise and Emure towns and Igede and Ilawe towns in

1964. However, according to T.O. Elias in his comment on the Yoruba, land custom in general:

… the real unit of landholding is the family, and that the ascription of the ownership of land to the community or village is only accurate if viewed as a social aggregate. For even with the community of the village, actual occupation and control are decentralized, so to speak, the family, rather than the community or village, in fact exercises acts of ownership. The chief interest of the community or 134

village in the land is the purely social and political one of maintaining group solidarity. 9

From the above, one can see why the colonial government could not arrogate to itself any supreme ownership of land, particularly in the old

Western Region. Moreover, the traditional land tenure custom made many southern educated elite strongly criticize “The Land and Native Rights

Propagation of 1910”. 10 Not only that, the tenural nature of land in southern

Nigeria, particularly among the Yoruba, guided the colonial government in its

“The Native Lands Acquisition Proclamation of 1910” which made land acquisition by any alien possible only with a written approval by the government. 11 Not even the Public Lands Acquisition Ordinance, No. 88 of

1917, which had various amendments, devalued or ignored the land custom of the Ekiti generally. The colonial administration in fact showed sensitivity to people’s traditional attachment to land. In fact, the Public Lands Acquisition

Ordinance “recognizes communal right to land” 12 and “both individual proprietary rights and the right of absolute ownership rested by customary law in land-holding communities”. 13

Without doubt, in colonial Ekiti, land was customarily controlled by family heads who always made sure that all the male members of the family had enough portions of land for farming and for building houses. When a man dies, “his farms are inherited by his children, and so from father to son in perpetuity and like the house, are not subject to sale”. 14 And if all his children are females, the lands, “will pass on to the male relatives unless the daughters are capable of seeing the farm (land) kept up for their own benefit”.15 135

Traditional Ekiti land tenure did not alienate outsiders from acquiring land from a family, but this was done only on trust without any charge, apart from a return in the form of staple crops harvested from the land.

But there was a proviso when a land was given on loan. For example, no cash crops like kolanut, cocoa and rubber must be planted on such lands and the lands must not be transferred to another hand or even by another person without the consent of the family Head, especially. But after 1940, when some colonial activities seemed to make land more valuable, some families began to receive some gift for prayer, in the form of hot drinks or kolanuts on the lands so loaned out. At the end of the day however, such lands were returned to the owners.

But in some Yoruba and other areas, following the Acquisition

Ordinance, some lands were acquired “for public purposes subject to compensation awarded by the courts”. 16 However, colonial Ekiti did not really experience this situation. And this was probably why Ekiti was not known for any big industrial ventures. Ekiti, however, had its very unique, traditional attitude to land use which made any ordinance unnecessary. And this was people’s generosity in land donation for any communal needs; particularly for educational purposes. Christian missionaries recognized this situation and, knowing the people’s attitude to education, secured several acres of land all over Ekiti for church building and educational institutions, both primary and secondary, among others. In Ekiti, from around 1901 to

1920, the Roman Catholic and the Baptist freely secured a lot of land for church buildings, but with the approval of the kings or chiefs who “were very 136 proud to have new religious activities in their communities”. 17 But such lands, except in few cases, usually belonged to the community and not to any individual or particular household. But the lands given for such church projects were usually very small compared to those given for school buildings.

But while the lands for churches and missionary houses usually belonged to the communities, those for schools usually belonged to individual families or households. There were reasons for this. For example, between

1910 and 1920, many Ekiti kings, chiefs and parents were already attracted by and proud of the educational achievement of those Ekiti indigenes who came home from “some Yoruba cities like Eko (Lagos), Ibadan, Abeokuta,

Osogbo to become teachers, government interpreters… versed in Oyinbo

(English) language”. 18 And even those who fought in the First World War who could not “understand a word of English language came back to display very reasonable understanding of English” 19 to the envy of fellow Ekiti. This new experience, among others already discussed, induced in the kings, various families and the Ekiti communities generally, that love of “white man’s education which, at that time, naturally became a measure of social leadership, elitism and civilization”. 20

It was not surprising, therefore, that when in the late 1940s the Baptist

Mission wanted to build a secondary school in Ekiti, to follow that of

Abeokuta, many Ekiti towns were very willing to offer free land for this purpose. Igede Ekiti gave the Baptist Church a very big land area which eventually brought the Igede (later Ekiti) Baptist Boys’ High School to the 137 town in 1956. The land for this school was given freely, without any compensation, by the Aladesuru Ruling House of Igede. So also around the same period, in Ikere-Ekiti, the Omoyeni family gave the Catholic Mission several acres of land free to build a secondary school, Annunciation School,

Ikere-Ekiti. But in the Ikere situation, the Catholic Mission, without any request from the Omoyeni family, decided to train one boy free of charge; though with only tuition fee, while other sundry fees were paid by the family.

And again this was on the condition that the student performed well at the end of every year.

However, just before independence, many Ekiti elite began to criticize the generosity of Ekiti people regarding land allocation. In fact, the young generations, in many families, particularly those highly educated ones with university degrees, made fruitless moves to recover parts of the land earlier given away to religious missions. Invariably, as population increased, people were no more willing to give land out; also particularly considering how cocoa plantation had already made land more precious and demanding. By the early 1950s, especially, when the new political dispensation in the West, under Obafemi Awolowo, had encouraged the production of cash crops, every farmer saw the need for more land, for both staple and cash crops.

Ekiti farmers became more aggressive in their protection and acquisition of land mainly for agriculture purposes. However, having examined the land tenure system of colonial Ekiti, it is important to discuss the various cash crops that made colonial Ekiti agriculture very important. These cash crops 138 were rubber, palm kernel, palm oil, cocoa, kola, timber, tobacco, rice and cotton.

Rubber (Hevea Brasiliensis)

According to Chief Samuel Olajiga, after the Europeans had come to

Ondo Province, and signed the Peace Pact with them in 1893, their major concern was the production of rubber 21 which originated from Central

America in the Amazon rain forest around Para in Brazil. When it was introduced, the indigenous Ekiti farmers saw it as Para-rubber which was then the popular name for it. It was in great demand because when it was first developed by J.B. Dunlop in 1887 and latter in 1895 by Michelin, it was used for manufacturing tyres for bicycles and other wheeled transportation means of the period. 22 It should be noted that rubber was also used in various other ways as water-proofs and cable insulators used in the electrical industries. In fact, following the Industrial Revolution, Britain turned attention to rubber for manufacturing bicycles and other wheeled transporting systems of the period.

British merchants also encouraged the Ekiti farmers to produce more rubber for export by paying more for good rubber latex.

Method of Propagation

Annually, the Ekiti people used to plant rubber seeds, before the

Ministry of Agriculture taught the farmers a new method of planting, using selected hybrid seeds. The new method involved planting the rubber nursery near a stream or river covered with grass for it to germinate after 10 days. 23

The seedlings were then transferred to nurseries where they were collected by 139 farmers for planting in rows of 6 inches (15cm) apart. After seven months, the seedlings were budded and transferred to a field. This usually took 10 to

11 months or after growing up to about 3 inches. The rubber plants were planted 3.5 to 6.5 meters apart. 24 It should be made clear that planted rubber trees usually matured for tapping after seven to eight years after planting, depending on land or soil situation.

Tapping System

In the traditional Ekiti, the easiest and commonest method of tapping rubber, was to cut off the back of the rubber trees and allow the rubber liquid or sap to drop on, particularly, plantain, cocoyam or other leaves or wide calabashes on the ground. The sap was allowed to solidify and was then squeezed together into balls for sale. The latex was not allowed to touch the ground in order not to coagulate. 25 Between 1930 and 1940, when rubber production was already popular among the Ekiti, farmers had different approaches to rubber tapping. Some believed that good quality rubber could be obtained by tapping before 6a.m. or 1a.m. Some farmers, however, believed that rubber could be tapped at any convenient period of the day, particularly during day time when, it was believed, the rubber latex would solidify faster. It is important to note that many Ekiti farmers turned interest to rubber planting, particularly between 1925 to 1945, because of the less value attached to cocoa by the colonial government that time.

However, the lucrativeness of rubber, or high demand for this product in the early 1930s, made many farmers attach more importance to both the planting and tapping of rubber. But the rubber trees were usually inter- 140 planted, unlike cocoa frees, with other crops such as kolanut and cocoa plantations. That is, except in a few places, they were not planted together like cocoa trees. And this was because, according to Chief Olajiga of Ise, many farmers began to plant rubber in the 1920s more as an agricultural innovation without really knowing its real economic value. 26 But during the

Second World War, when Britain needed rubber products, particularly for war prosecution, the colonial government was made to encourage more rubber production.

And those farmers who had not shown serious interest in rubber planning had a change of attitude. What made the interest very convulsive was the presence of many “Edo or Benin farmers or traders who suddenly developed interest in rubber farming and began to teach many Ekiti farmers new methods of planting and tapping rubber”. 27 But the rush for rubber latex led to the production of low quality latex, especially through irregular tapping or over tapping. The situation became worse when it was discovered in the early 1940s that cassava water was being added to rubber latex, the problem that was believed to have been created by some Edo rubber farmers, according to Albert Ogunrinde. 28 A report by Colonel Hat Galloway in 1945 shows the decrease in rubber farming in Ekiti between 1940 and 1944 (see table 4.1).

141

Table 4.1: Annual Report of Rubber Production in Ekiti, 1940-1944 Year Production in ibs 1940 220,600 1941 105,420 1942 50,300 1943 510 1944 370 Source: N.A.I, File No. 35/2 Ministry of Agriculture Handing Over Notes in 1945.

From the above, one already notices that there was an accelerated decline in rubber production in Ekiti between 1940 and 1944. By the late 1950s, however, Ekiti farmers had totally neglected rubber production for a more lucrative cocoa farming.

Palm Produce

The production of palm oil and kernels was a major agricultural occupation of the Ekiti in the colonial period. Palm trees had various uses.

For example, the leaves were used as roofing materials and for broom making. They were also used for some ritualistic purposes, during religious worships or festivals. In fact, the Ekiti considered palm fronds as “dress of the Ogun deity”. Baskets were also produced with palm tree materials for various utilitarian and economic purposes. From palm trees, the Ekiti people got palm wine, as the only indigenous or local Ekiti wine, which boosted the economic position of both producers and sellers all year round. Palm oil also had almost unlimited domestic use. Palm kernels were used to produce various items like soap, medicinal ointments, pomade, proteinous food and animal feed, among others.29 The palm nut shells were also used for making 142 fire burn better while cooking. All the parts of the palm tree appear to be of utilitarian or economic values. Palm products were of such economic value that they provided the platform for the rise of many business elite in Ekiti, particularly before 1955 when Obafemi Awolowo made cocoa a new agricultural focus.

(a) Palm Kernel

Kernels were an important part of palm produce that the Ekiti farmers or people treasured for their economic and utilitarian purposes. Until the late

1940s, kernels were mainly obtained from wild palm trees in the forest or those palm trees scattered on farm lands. From the pre-colonial to the early colonial periods, palm kernels were harvested mainly for local consumption.

It was not until the 1930s that kernels, as will be seen later, were sold for export. The production of kernels greatly demanded women’s participation, particularly in the collection and cracking of palm fruits. Palm fruits were obtained in two ways: by picking under palm trees the dry palm fruits that naturally dropped down from unharvested ripe palm bunches and through ripe palm fruits that were already cut down for palm oil processing. Unlike kolanuts and cocoa which harvesting was seasonal, palm kernels were obtained all the year round. And again, the more palm oil production took place, the greater the opportunity to get kernels.

The gathering with cracking of palm nuts was a major agricultural occupation in Ekiti. Between 1920 and 1952, before free education was introduced to Ekiti, children, after school, were used to help their mothers to crack kernels at home while others had to go to their farms to pick kernel nuts 143 along with their mothers. Kernel production was a cheap, though laborious, agricultural preoccupation, in that it involved no mechanical contrivances.

Among the local farmers, all that were required were hard stones of different but handy sizes to crack the kernels. That is, one needed a small stone tablet for knocking the kernel and a big, flat tablet on which kernels were cracked.

Those in the rocky areas needed only small stone tablets since yards of stone surfaces were available as grounds for cracking.

As stated above, palm kernels, until the fourth decade of the colonial era, were produced mainly for domestic and medicinal purposes. They were also heavily used by the local industries to produce palm kernel pomade or body lotion called adin. Palm kernels were also very popularly used for traditional soap known as osedudu or black soap. This black soap was also commonly used for various protective spiritual purposes by both children and adults. The following reaction of Reverend O’Brian, in 1958, makes an interesting reading:

We have discovered that many of our students in (Catholic) secondary schools are habitually glued to the idea of bringing, in wraps, what they always describe as bathing soap. This practice, if not immediately discouraged, will definitely not only polute our Christian faith but also put these children in the dark, native tradition of their fathers. We have known, through various Confessions, that this so-called soap, known as Ose dudu (black soap), is, characteristic of its name, used for various paganistic purposes; for sharp memory or success in examination, for teachers’ favour and for protection from their wicked relations or witchcraft. 30

144

(b) Palm Oil (Elaeis Guineensis)

By tradition, harvesting palm nuts, or cutting down palm nuts from palm trees, was an exclusively male pre-occupation. But processing the palm nuts for palm oil was mainly the duty of women. As already stated, after the man had cut down the ripe nuts, women processed the fruits by boiling them in large containers until they were very soft. All palm oil processing or production usually took place in the farm, because of large quantity of kernel bunches, production method and long distance, from home, among others.

The Ekiti women did no use mortars and pestles, but legs and heavy, but easily handled, long sticks to pound the cooked nuts repeatedly in a very large circular mound called eku; usually constructed with clay and fibrous materials on a flat rocky ground.

After thorough pounding, palm kernel nuts would be automatically separated from the oily kernels’ fibres and removed form the eku, leaving only the fibres that were already soaked with untreated or yet to be processed oil. As this was going on, more water would be poured into the eku until water reached the knees of the women who were now ready to start wading forcefully in the already oil soaked water. Depending on the size of the circular mound, which could be bigger then a moderate parlour, it could take not less than four to six women to perform this task. As a result, raw thick oil would start rising to the surface of the pool. The oil would then be skimmed off.

Meanwhile, a large pot or tin drum, would be placed on fire, ready for cooking or boiling the raw palm oil. With palms, the accumulated oil would 145 be put inside bowls to be poured inside the tin drum on fire. The above oil and water pool process would be repeated many times until all the raw oil floating on the pool surface was transferred to the tin drum for boiling.

It must be noted that while processing the oil inside the water-oil pool, certain leaves would be dropped inside the pool to help thicken the raw oil and make it accumulate more quickly. According to Mama Elepo, a palm oil seller in Ilawe Ekiti, “things like these (leaves and shrubs) are also good to purify the boiled oil and make it finely thin on the surface”. 31 Also to Mama

Deborah, a palm oil seller at Oja Oba market in Ado Ekiti, “certain leaves, including the one known as witch catcher were put inside the water-oil pool to help ward off devilish hands which could affect the quality or the marketability of the finished palm oil”. 32 However, after the raw oil had been thoroughly boiled, for about three to four hours, depending on the quantity being boiled, it would be allowed to settle and cool. This way, all the impurities and dampish fibrous parts from which the final, purified oil had been released must have settled at the bottom of the drum, forming a mass of heavy rough pomade-like mixture.

The oil finally produced would be transferred into containers like pots and gourds for transportation to town for sale. Later, particularly in the early

1940s, clean kerosene tins, made possible by some European companies, were popularly used to load the oil for various markets. It was generally believed in the 1940s, that the palm oil product of Ekiti was heavily patronized for its refinement, painstaking methodical preparation and high grade, particularly the Flionis Brothers, John Holt agents and some buyers 146 from the Mid-West Area of Nigeria. According to the DO, Ekiti Division,

Mr. Kerr, in the addendum to his letter, dated 31, March 1943, to “The

Secretary, Western Provinces” which was also copied to the Resident, Ondo

Province, B.J.A. Mathews:

In Ekiti Division and its Northern areas, higher prices are being offered for palm oil because of its high and dependable grade associated with their usual not-in-a-hurry attitude to production. Perhaps not being, a heavy palm oil producer like the Benin and Onitsha regions has allowed Ekiti to more than anything else, take quality into primal consideration. It is my hope that this situation will remain that way… But my fear is that our European traders and their agents beyond the Ondo Province may eventually induce, through mass rush for Ekiti palm oil, the Ekiti natives into less quality product. 33

It is very important to point out that the palm trees, very moderately scattered all over the forest areas of Ekiti, were all wild trees; some of which were “hundreds of years old”, according to James Alofe, a cocoa farmer in

Igbara-Odo. To him, therefore, nobody could “claim credit for planting particular palm trees no matter how old the person is”. 34 It was not until the late 1940s that palm tree seedlings were being produced in Ibadan and sold to some farmers. And even then, this was not popular among Ekiti farmers who were ready to invest their energy on cocoa which was more lucrative.

Cocoa (Theobroma Cacao)

Without doubt, cocoa was the main economic backbone and the most lucrative cash crop of the Ekiti people. Its cultivation was also their main agricultural pre-occupation. The history of cocoa farming dates back to the 147 second decade of the 20 th century; when it was introduced to Ondo province but without the people’s knowledge of its economic importance. According to the 1920 Joint Annual Report, Ondo Province, by Captain A.W.

Dutterworth, the Resident for Ondo province, Mr. G.H. Findlay, Acting

District Officer, Ekiti Division and Mr. D.H. Carkeek, Acting District

Officer, Ondo Division:

The Ondos (including Ekiti neighbours) have turned their attention to the cultivation of cocoa, and it is hoped that the Agricultural Department will at some time in the future be able to send an Instructor to give the planters some practical instructions. 35

Copies of the full Annual Report were sent to the Conservators of Forests,

Mr. G. Wood and Captain L. Nichols who “later made an extensive tour of

Ekiti visiting every District…” 36 Cocoa is believed to have its origin around the Amazon River in South America, from where it found its way to some

West African countries in the nineteenth century. In the early twentieth century, countries like Togo, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Ghana and

Nigeria had made cocoa an export crop. 37 However, by the late 1930s, cocoa farming had reasonably become popular in various Ekiti towns like Ado,

Aramoko, Ikere, Ijero, Ikole, Igede, Iyin, Ilawe and Ise. Others were Igbara-

Oke, Igbara-Odo, Aisegba, Eyio, Efon, Ire, Igbemo, Awo, Emure and Ikoro, among others.

When cocoa was first introduced to Ekiti, the farmers hesitated planting it because there were other export crops competing for attention. But with the incentive given by the European firms like the John Holt Company 148 by paying more on cocoa than other cash crops, many farmers developed more interest in cocoa farming. In addition, the government encouraged cocoa farming by providing cocoa seedlings (Fig. 4.1) and fumigated equipment to the farmers in order to boost production and improve quality.

These seedlings were sold to farmers at a considerably low price. The seedlings were at times given to the farmers free of charge. In Ekiti, there was no Ministry of Agriculture and the nearest one was located far away in

Owo where some Ekiti farmers learnt cocoa planting and the use of fumigating equipment. However, a cocoa improvement society known as

Awon Egbe Idagba Soke Koko’ (The Society Aimed at Improving Cocoa

Cultivation) was established in the 1950s by the Ekiti cocoa farmers. The society was to see that farmers used modern methods to cultivate cocoa. It provided up-to-date information for farmers on how to benefit from government support. The society also defended farmers’ interest, particularly regarding cocoa price.

The colonial government attitude to agriculture, in a way, also gave a boost to cocoa farming in Ekiti. According to J.O. Ahazuem and Toyin

Falola:

British administrators devoted their time to persuading Nigerian peasants to produce crops for the European market. Consequently, new crops such as cocoa and groundnut were introduced into the agricultural system while the production of food crops and such other items like kolanut were for subsistence and internal trade. 38

149

It is important to note that the Ekiti farmers, like those in other parts of

Nigeria, were made the producers of raw materials like palm-oil for the benefits of the cosmopolitan areas of Nigeria.

The Development of Cocoa Production in Ekiti

Though cocoa was introduced to Ekiti very late, it quickly became the main agricultural product that eventually made Ekiti a notable factor in the

Nigerian economy. Some reasons were responsible for this. For example, the location of Ekiti in the rainforest zone created a favourable condition for cocoa production. Also, the quality of the soil in the Western Province was an advantage to engage in big-time cocoa farming. What equally encouraged cocoa production was the farmers’ ability to adopt the new methods of cocoa farming. Following the traditions in other Yoruba cities, the farmers joined cooperative organizations which could educate them in producing quality cocoa. Such notable organizations or cooperatives were located in Ado,

Ikole, Ikere, Aisegba, Ilawe, Iyin, Aramoko, Ijero, Ikoro, Igede and Omuo, just to mention a few.

These societies taught their members how to locate dangerous disease as well as other destructive pests in the cocoa pods. Table 4.2 shows the cooperative societies and membership. 150

Fig. 4.1: Cocoa seedlings © V.A. Oyenuga, Agriculture in Nigeria, 1967, p. 90.

Table 4.2: Cooperative Societies and Membership in 1950 Towns Located Membership Ado 60 Ise and Emure 70 Aisegba 50 Ikoro 40 Omuo (Omuo -Oke and Omuo -Odo) 60 Igede 40 Aramoko 50 Ilawe 50 Source: N.A.I., CSO, File No. 20/320/1, Administrative Annual Report on Agriculture, 1950, p. 5.

There was also an external factor for the development of cocoa in

Ekiti. The colonial government gave cocoa, the main export production, the greatest attention by encouraging the expansion of cocoa production. In

1956, for example, cocoa was given a boost by the government of the Ondo 151

Province by providing fumigating chemicals. The government also occasionally provided transport for the farmers to transport their cocoa to the produce buyers or buying agents. However by the 1950s, cocoa farming in

Ekiti, aided by the progressive activities of the Nigerian Cocoa Marketing

Board, which will be discussed later, had become so lucrative and popularly accepted that the occupation became synonymous with farming. And this brought the common saying: A farmer without cocoa farm is just like a woman who goes to the farm to fetch firewood.

Cocoa planting required special care for the seeds to germinate well.

In Ekiti, farmers, particularly form the 1930s to the early 1950s, used to plant the beans or seeds of the ripe cocoa pods direct in the soil, waiting patiently for their germination. Experience showed that many of these seeds did not germinate as expected while many, depending on the soil situation, germinated very well. But, by the 1950s, the Western Region government introduced cocoa seedlings which, as will be seen later, improved the cocoa farming of Ekiti farmers.

The cocoa tree grows vertically straight with trunk that invariably spreads out into various branches. Depending on the state of the soil and care, a cocoa tree can grow to 35 feet high with heavy green leaves. When properly treated or fumigated, cocoa trees begin to flower, very profusely, right from the bottom of the tree trunk to the apex of the upper tops of its branches. Though each flower suggests a fruit, not all flowers survive, but if about one tenth of the flowers mature, into pods or fruits, this is considered a 152 good yield (see Fig. 4.2). Good yield or fruiting is possible when fruiting cocoa trees are periodically sprayed with fungicide.

Cocoa pods are harvested when they are ripe and show orange or yellow colour. Harvesting cocoa has to be a very careful process. For example, a rough detachment of pods from the trunks or branches can adversely affect the future production of cocoa trees. For this reason, pods are carefully removed from cocoa trees with a knife, cutlass or any blade or sharp instrument capable of giving pods clean, rather than rough cuts on cocoa trees. The harvested pods are cut open one by one and the beans contained are removed and put under heated or very warm protective covers of plantain or banana leaves for fermentation. Cocoa can be fermented on plain rock surface or inside big baskets, depending on the size of the cocoa beans. After undergoing other processing, including drawing all the fluids released by the beans, the beans are dried under the sun. Care is always taken not to allow water or rain to touch the cocoa beans at this stage; otherwise, it will render them useless or make them produce very low grade.

Kola (Cola Nitida or Cola Acuminata)

Another important tree crop of the colonial Ekiti was kolanut tree.

Like cocoa, it had the economic value which made the crop agriculturally precious to the Ekiti farmers. Unlike cocoa, kola is indigenous to West

Africa, and richly abound in countries like Gambia, Nigeria, Ghana, Ivory

Coast, Liberia, Guinea, Cameroon and Sierra Leone, 39 the Republic of Benin,

Togo and Gabon. In Nigeria, kola was mainly produced in Western Nigeria, particularly by the Yoruba group. The Ekiti people were, according to Chief 153

Josiah Olugbade, “fanatical farmers of kolanuts which were their main tree crops before cocoa became very popular”. 40 There were two types of kolanuts: cola nitida (gbanja) and cola acuminata. 41 The Ekiti people produced the acuminata for domestic and ceremonial purposes and nitida for trade. Kola was easy to grow and maintain, unlike cocoa. Except in a few cases, kola trees were usually scattered all over the farm land where annual crops like yam, cassava, beans, cocoyam, melon, okra and others were not planted. They were planted in scattered formation within cocoa, orange, plantain and banana trees. But some Ekiti farmers who had more than enough land for farming had large separate farms for kolanut in addition to other separate large farms for cocoa.

In the colonial Ekiti, farmers planted kola from kola seeds, following the tradition of the pre-colonial period. It was the general or common practice to bite the bottom of the kolanut, opposite the area called “oju obi

(the eye of the kolanut) where the seed was to germinate, before planting it.

This was believed to make the kolanut germinate more quickly. But some farmers believed that the practice was to bring abundant fruiting and “longer productive life”. 42 But it should be noted that many kolanut trees grew on their own through accidental droppings on the ground or on locations where kolanuts were harvested or being eaten during relaxation in the farm. Such kolanut germinations were allowed to develop where they were located or replanted appropriately in other locations. 154

Fig. 4.2: Cocoa with good yield fruits © Introduction to Agriculture, p. 102.

Kola trees could grow as high as 40 feet to 50 feet, depending on soil fertility. It has smooth bark with straight trunk that branches out on top, spreading to several feet. 43 Also depending on the soil situation, a kolanut tree could start fruiting after five to six years. Kola trees fruit only through branches, clustering together into pods with star formation. And each pod could contain between 4 to 10 seeds of kolanuts. Kolanut trees do not usually fruit annually. They are generally very irregular in their fruiting. For example, while some trees fruit every other year, some fruit “every 3, 4 5 or 7 years”, depending on many factors, while their “life is generally put at between 70 and 100 years; though some kola trees die after about 30 years of fruiting”.44 155

It must be noted that the production of good quality kola starts from the harvesting and processing stages. This is because an unprofessional attitude to these stages would eventually lead to the production of poor or second grade nuts. For this reason, care was always taken not to make the sharp harvesting instrument, usually a curved knife fixed to a long pole, penetrate the seeds of the kola pods. Where accidentally this happened, such pod or pods would be separated and the nuts would be considered second grade.

Also during processing, pods were carefully opened with a sharp knife which must not touch the seeds, and the seeds would be removed very carefully.

After removing the seeds, they would be soaked in large bowls of water for some days for easy removal of the nuts’ white skins. After the skins had been carefully removed, the nuts would be thoroughly washed and allowed to dry.

After this, the kolanus would be carefully packed in fairly big baskets and methodically covered with particular leaves, including banana leaves. These kolanuts would be stored ready for marketing.

The colonial Ekiti people used kolanuts for various purposes. For example, they were used to welcome visitors but unlike the custom among the

Igbo, they were not socially ritualized among the Ekiti or Yoruba. Kolanut was also used for ritual and other therapeutic purposes among the Ekiti. It was used for divining by traditional doctors. In Ekiti, kolanuts were used during traditional marriage, land tenure or acquisition as well as the completion of apprenticeship. 45 It was usually given out as gifts, particularly to special visitors.

156

Timber

Ekiti, being in the rain forest zone, as already noted, was very rich in a variety of timber. Timber, therefore, was an important agricultural pre- occupation of Ekiti in the colonial period. Naturally, all the Ekiti areas were richly populated with different types of timber like iroko, abura, opepe, mahogany, afara, obese, agbonyin (agbain) and apa. Iroko was the most valuable timber in Ekiti as shown in a colonial administrative report on Ekiti:

“The Director of forests (F.R.Kay) has advised that iroko resources are being rapidly annihilated, that the species should be preserved as far as possible, and that agboin and apa are excellent substitutes for domestic purposes”. 46

To make sure that timber was not felled illegally and prematurely, the

Acting Resident in Ekiti, Mr. B.H. Lindsday, with the consent of the Ekiti

Chiefs, established, in the early 1970s, five forest reserves which were later demarcated by the forestry officers. 47 Before this period, the Department of

Agriculture had constituted, forestry staff for Ekiti, consisting of one

Assistant Ranger, one Forecaster, one 1 st Grade Forest Guard and six 2 nd

Grade Forest Guards. 48 These staff were under the DO and their duties included enforcing forestry regulations, prosecuting offenders and educating people about applications to the District Officer for permits to cut timber, among other duties. 49 And to discourage excessive cutting of timber, the colonial government made the cost of permit very high (Table 4.3).

The colonial government in Ekiti between 1918 and 1923 was very strict in enforcing the forestry regulations mainly because of the illegal activities or exploitation of some concessionaries like the British Timber 157

Company, Messrs MacNeil Scott, Miller Brothers, C.H.W. Kirstein Ltd., the

African Timber Company and the Executors or Robert Brown. 50 There was a strict law against cutting what was regarded as secondary timber. However, the Forestry staff or the DO relaxed the regulations, to some extent, for the

Ekiti chiefs and other local timber cutters. In this case, timbers could be cut in some areas but with the consent of the chiefs and with the official stamps of either the Ranger or the 1 st Grade Forest Guard.

Throughout the Ekiti towns and villages, considerable number of timber trees were cut and sliced into various sizes of planks in the farm by the pit-sawyers after several weeks of hard labour. This was particularly before the 1930s when Ekiti had insufficient road infrastructure to allow motor vehicles to transport the logs of timber to some designated sawmills in Ondo

Province. But between 1940 and 1950, with more roads, many high powered trucks began to easily penetrate many Ekiti towns and villages, transporting hundreds of timber to various locations within and outside Ekiti for processing in sawmills. It is good to know how planks were obtained from timber logs:

During this (colonial) period, axe was the major instrument used for felling trees by strong men. The tree was reduced into logs by the use of the hand operated saw (ayun) with one person at the end of the saw, supported by a stick and the saw was drawn alternatively in jig-saw pattern. As the cut deepened into the log, a wedge is put at the top of the log and hammered down to give space and provide free movement for the saw. A trench that was longer than the log and could comfortably accommodate the height of the sawyers was dug on the ground; two or three strong hard branches or stems of trees, that could carry the log were put 158

across the trenches and the log was rolled on then for comfortable sawing. 51

Some of the most prominent Ekiti pit-sawyers before 1960 were Ojo of Igede,

Joseph Olofe or Igbara-Odo, Ajibola of Ogotun, Olu Adaramola of Ido,

Akinsafe of Ikole, Oloruntoba Adegoke of Ilumoba, Fatunga of Aisegba and

Adaramola Alade as well as Apanisile Ajibola, of Ado-Ekiti. 52 In fact, the whole of Ekiti South was most popular for timber before 1960.

Table 4.3: Cost of Permit for Cutting Timber in Ekiti, 1932 Class of tree Number of Trees Amount First Class 1 £3:1:0 Second Class 1 £2:0:0 Third Class 1 £1:7:0 Fo urth Class 1 £0:6:0 Source: N.A.I., Administrative Report, Ondo Prof. ½, File No. Op. 64 9/5/1932, p. 32.

Fruit Trees

Before 1900, a number of fruit trees grew in the wild while some were domesticated. Fruit trees are also “permanent crops whose fruits can be eaten raw by man (and) supply the bulk of vitamins and minerals essential for healthy human growth”. 53 Some of the wild ones were pawpaw, cherry, palm tree, (already discussed), bitter kola, kolanut (already discussed), agbalumo and lime. These were in addition to the domesticated ones like plantain, banana and coconut (cocoas nucifera). But during the colonial period, many undomesticated fruit crops began to be domesticated though the encouragement of the Agriculture Department which was opened in Ado

Ekiti, the Ekiti District Headquarter. But before the colonial government 159 directly got involved in the production of fruit trees, many Christian missionaries had already started introducing new fruit trees to Ekiti and began to teach farmers how to domesticate wild fruit trees like agbalumo, orogbo

(bitter kola) and usin. Some of the newly introduced fruit trees were mangoes, oranges, tangerine, guava, grapes and “dwarf” banana.

Before 1920, these newly introduced fruit trees were rarely planted in the farms or in people’s private yards. They were commonly found in primary school compounds belonging to the Christian missions and around

Christian churches and residences of the Europeans and the Americans as well as missionary quarters which were usually located in secluded areas, far away from the indigenous people’s residences. Some of these new fruit trees were also found in government rest houses and few schools or college orchards where the planting of these fruits was being experimented. Such orchards were found in Ado-Ekiti, Igede-Ekiti, Ikole Ekiti and Ise-Ekiti before 1930. According to Mr. John Adedapo, a retired town clerk in Ado-

Ekiti:

When we were in the primary school in those days, many of us did not know how an orange tree looked like. These Oyinbos (white men) would occasionally bring some oranges to us, and we would be struggling to have just a taste… I can still remember that fried akara balls and oranges were used in the early years to make children enroll in school… You know our parents still believed that these Oyinbos wanted to sell us to slavery. 54

And according to Biodun Ojo of Igede Ekiti, it was in the early 1920s when he was sick that his mother, a staunch Baptist, took him to Oke-Esu, the

Missionary Residence in Igede-Ekiti, for free treatment. Oke-Esu, on a hill 160 and in the outskirt of Igede town, was the official residence of the Baptist

Missionaries who, in those days, were mainly from Nashville in the State of

Tenessee, U.S.A. It was at Oke-Esu that Mr. Ojo first saw orange and other fruit trees that surrounded the beautifully designed residence. 55

However by 1940, both the missionaries and colonial administrators had made the production of many fruit trees reasonably popular in Ekiti, though these were still largely restricted to the elitist areas of Ekiti communities. For example in Ado-Ekiti, the Divisional Headquarters, citrus, banana, pawpaw and pine apple, considered fruit trees by the Agriculture

Department, were generally located in the Senior District Officer’s compound, ADO’s compound, the Divisional Officer’s compound and the

Senior Service compound. The type and number of the fruit trees found in each expatriate’s compound were by 1934 well documented by the Agric

Department, Ado-Ekiti (see Table 4.4).

Table 4.4: Location and Number of Fruit Trees in Ado-Ekiti, 1934 Place Citrus Pine apple Banana Pawpaw SDO’s Compound 14 238 46 30 ADO’s Compound 9 - - - DO’s Compound 9 - - - Junior Services Compound 40 12 4 - Total 72 250 50 37 Source: N.A.I. Ekiti Div., Administrative Report, File No. 1070, 1934, p. 67.

The location of the fruit trees and the number were also well recorded

(see table 4.5) by the Agric. Department, that also periodically visited the 161 areas where the seedlings had been planted for proper monitoring. The rapid growth and popularity of these fruits encouraged the Agric. Department to make a recommendation to the Senior District Officer, in a letter Ref. No. ED

38/13 dated September 23, 1934, for “more fruit tree nurseries to be favourably located in those areas that are very promising to self-help projects and agricultural development”. 56

Table 4.5: “Origin” of fruit Trees Planted in Ado in Between 1930 and 1934 Place Citrus Pine apple Banana Pawpaw Ikare nursery 59 - - - Ado nursery 13 - - - Akure Government Farm - - - - W.R.P.D.B. Akure - - - - Source: N.A.I., Ekiti Div. 1/1, Administrative report, File No. 1070, 1934, p. 67.

By the end of the 1950s, Ekiti was already rich in a variety of fruit trees which were produced, particularly, in Ikare and Ado nurseries, thanks to

Agriculture Department. What became special to the Agriculture Department was the production of a variety of oranges which suddenly became sought after by pupils, college students and government workers. These varieties were green orange, tangerine, king orange, navel orange and grape (see Table

4.6). Parents were specially attracted to orange because young children liked it. But the problem with these orange varieties was that they could not germinate easily or would not germinate if planted. This was why, according to a report of the Agriculture Department, Ado, orange or its varieties mentioned above could be grown only through nursery seedlings. 162

Table 4.6: Number of Fruit Trees (Citrus) Found in Ekiti, 1950 Place Nigerian Tangerine King Navel Grape Green Trees Orange Orange Trees Orange Trees Trees Trees Ikare 44 - 5 10 - nursery Ado 9 2 - - 2 nursery Source: N.A.I., Ekiti Div. 1/7, Administrative Report, File No. 1070, 1954, p. 3.

However by 1960, the cultivation of various types of fruit trees had already become very popular among the Ekiti farmers, except the dwarf banana which was not popularly accepted or grown by the Ekiti farmers as a result of a taboo. This was because it was generally believed that the dwarfishness of this banana specie was due to witchcraft influence.

According to the belief, witches and wizards usually met around where this banana was planted; which invariably gave this banana tree stunted growth.

Not even the Agric. Department in Ado-Ekiti in its official counter-acting propaganda could easily “disabuse the farmers’ minds about such belief”. 57

Subsidiary Crops in Ekiti (Tobacco, Rice and Cotton)

Tobacco (Nicotiana Tabacum)

In the colonial period, the Ekiti economy also got a great boost with crops like tobacco, rice and cotton. Tobacco was largely planted in Ogotun and some towns in Ekiti West. In Ekiti North, the major producers of tobacco, particularly in the early 1920s, were Aiyede, Ishan and Ijero. By the

1940s, many Ekiti towns like Igede, Ado, Ikere, Aramoko, Ikole, Iyin, Ilawe,

Ise and Emure had become notable for growing tobacco, called taba or ewe 163 taba in Ekiti language. Tobacco, “when cured, is used for cigarettes, cigars, pipe tobacco, chewing tobacco or snuff by millions of people all over the world”. 58

Tobacco was a notable crop of the North Americans between the 17 th and 18 th centuries. And from North America, tobacco was exported to

Western Europe. In the early 1860s, the United States of America had become “the world’s largest producer” of this crop “followed by India”. 59 By

1910, tobacco had already been grown in Ekiti, but it was not until around

1920 that the crop became a popular agricultural crop. It was during this period that it was used mainly for local consumption by way of smoking and chewing. But perhaps the most popular use was seen among the elderly who used to grind the dry or mature tobacco into a paste, with little or no water, which they usually put on their tongues, particularly before sleeping at night.

The nicotine sensation of the tobacco paste, according to Chief Olu Adebayo, used to “relax the veins, thereby making the elderly people, men and women, wake up more soundly”. 60

In 1935, the Nigerian Tobacco Company Limited made its appearance in Nigeria and this development brought more energy and encouragement to the production of tobacco among the farmers in the Western Nigeria generally. The activities of this company brought more interest to tobacco growing. Tobacco seeds could be sown in nursery beds before transplanting.

These seeds could also be planted directly on the soil but with regular weeding. After the tobacco had matured, they were harvested and dried, usually by hanging them under roofs, away from sun. After the tobacco had 164 changed colour from green to yellow and then to dark brown, they were ready for use or sale.

Rice (Oryza sativa)

Rice (Oryza sativa), known in Yoruba as iresi, originated in the far

East, which had the largest consumers and producers of this crop. It was, in fact, the popular food of Asia. China was the largest producer of rice, followed by India. 61 Pakistan and Japan were also big producers of rice.

From these areas, rice production spread to the United States of America,

South America, Europe, Australia and Africa. 62 It was not until during the

Second World War that rice cultivation began in Nigeria. During the colonial period, two types of rice were located: swamp rice and upland rice. Swamp rice, which was in varieties, was planted in watery areas or swamps, while upland rice was grown directly in non-swampy soils. In Ekiti, the upland rice, which needed no water-flooded area to grow was more popularly grown by the farmers. By the 1940s, rice, according to Michael Arowolo of Igbemo, had been a fashionable or prestige food found commonly in the households of the elite, especially the “educated people (alakowe)”. 63

Rice, in terms of popularity and daily consumption, could not compete with yam, cassava, plantain, cocoyam and beans. In most Ekiti families, rice was an occasional food reserved only for festive occasions like traditional festivals, Easter and Christmas periods, marriage and child naming ceremonies. Rice was also always offered to very sick boys and girls to test the seriousness of their sickness. It was the desire of every young one to eat precious food like rice. If it was offered a sick child and the child refused, 165 parents would be seriously worried, concluding that the sickness must be a very serious one. It must be noted that, though rice was not consumed daily, the yearly consumption later increased significantly. By 1943, rice had become a popular agricultural pre-occupation of many Ekiti farmers.

For example, the Ekiti West had become famous for rice production, especially in Igbemo, the most popular Ekiti rice producing town, Erinjinyan,

Ikogosi, Awo, Ioropora, Efon, Osi, Okemesi and Ido Ajinare. There were also other rice producing towns like Afao, Ilu Omoba, Are, Iworoko, Aisegba and Ugbole. 64 Between 1944 and 1945, “rice growing continues to prosper and appreciable quantities have been exported to Ibadan for sale… upland rice is very popular and the acreage of this crop has considerably increased this year”. 65 In 1945, rice production was so promising that the Agriculture

Department began to teach farmers on how to improve their methods of cultivation. For example, they were taught how to sow rice in nursery plots before transplanting in the fields. According Pius Badejo, by 1950, many

Ekiti rice farmers had developed their own methods of planting, particularly upland rice. 66

After clearing the bush, a farmer would dig deep into the soil with a hoe. This would allow the soil to be made into a flat bed for even planting of rice seeds in rows of about four to six inches (10-15cm). The seeds were usually sown between April and May or between August and September. 67

Rice was harvested when the fruits were dry or very mature. The rice straws were cut and packed in bundles ready for drying. After drying for about four to five days, the rice straws were beaten or threashed with heavy sticks. 68 166

Some families preferred grounding the rice in a mortar instead of beating with sticks. After removing the outer layers, rice grains would be boiled very well and then stored in a cool place to dry very well before eating or selling. By

1960, Ekiti had been “a major producer of rice which the Action Group government of the Western Region had encouraged through its very successful agricultural policies”. 69

Cotton (Gossypium)

Cotton has been cultivated and has been in use in Africa from the earliest times. There are many varieties of cotton and some of these are indigenous to Africa. In fact, it is one of the oldest planted crops in both Asia and Africa. 70 In Northern Nigeria, particularly Kano, cotton trade was already popular by the 19 th century. Vasco da Gama, during his voyage around

Africa to Calcutta in 1497, confirmed that “the African people had been cultivating and spinning cotton for centuries” 71 though some species from

America were introduced to Nigeria by the Portuguese in the 17 th century. 72

By 1910, Ekiti farmers had generally developed interest in planting cotton. The various utilitarian functions of this plant made the farmers see it as economically very lucrative. Cotton seeds were usually planted after the second or third rain or during early rains. The seeds, according to Chief

Oloruntoba Olusawe of Igede-Ekiti, were planted just like maize but with little difference. The holes for planting the cotton seeds were made deeper and the number of seeds planted in each hole was more than those of maize.

While maize could be three or four grains in one hole, cotton could be between five and seven.73 This was because the farmers believed generally 167 that some of the cotton seeds might not germinate. And even if all germinated, some of them, about one or three, would be weeded out to allow proper growth.

Depending on the soil situation, cotton seeds usually took three to five days to germinate, and after about nine weeks the cotton plants could start flowering. Cotton plant, which could grow up to a height of 4½ feet, signaled maturity with pods or big bulbs which would eventually open up for white cottons to emerge. Cotton was usually harvested about six months after planting. Harvesting had good reasons for embracing cotton farming. As already hinted in the discussion under art and local industry, weaving was a very popular and lucrative pre-occupation of the Ekiti women generally.

Apart from its use of cotton for weaving cloth and other utilitarian or aesthetic materials, cotton seed was also used to produce cooking oil and oil for some medicinal concoctions.

Ekiti farmers preferred growing a particular specie of cotton which could not disturb the growth of other crops inter-planted near it. This specie was also very suitable for weaving. But in 1918, the Divisional Officer, through the Agricultural Department, preferred the growing of “Georgia cotton” which, he believed, was more suitable for export. Since cotton was

“grown by the farmers along with their yams (and other crops)”, 74 many farmers tried the Georgia cotton seeds but without getting good results. The cotton not only produced poor yields but also affected negatively the yields of other crops planted near it. By 1920, it was very clear that Ekiti farmers were not ready to continue planting the Georgia cotton, particularly when the news 168 began to circulate among the farmers that “the Alaiye (the king) of Efon received and planted the Georgia seed but his crop has been a failure”. 75

News of this situation came from other Ekiti commercial centers like Ado,

Ishan, Ikere and Ijero. The Ekiti D.O., Mr. G.H. Findlay, was very disturbed when he became aware of this situation and lamented that,

Attempts have been made to induce the farmers to grow Georgia Cotton but without success… This year, the policy has been changed… to make Georgia Seed a success in Ekiti, practical demonstration is required and continual propaganda work by the Agricultural Department in co-operation with the District Officer (is needed). 76

With the above government concern, the Ekiti farmers, while they did not abandon their local cotton seeds, were later taught the new methods of planting Georgia cotton seeds. Within a decade, the farmers became very adept in the cultivation of Geogia cotton. By 1955, Ekiti, as will be discussed under trade, had become a major producer and exporter of cotton.

Staple Food Production

The production of staple food in Ekiti in the colonial period was not all that different from the situation in the pre-colonial period, in spite of certain colonial influences. However, apart from yam, cocoyam and rice, which have been discussed earlier, the Ekiti were also very rich in the production of grain crops which were cultivated before colonization. Notable grain crops were kokondo and otili. Some factors were however responsible for this in the colonial period. These were the 1919 epidemic or influenza and the First 169

World War which caused the death of many farmers or sickness, thereby creating food shortage and making people turn to grain crops which well compensated for root crops. Mr. P. Donald, the Acting District Officer for

Ekiti, commented in his Annual Report of January 1932 on Agriculture:

The Honourable Divisional Officer may like to know that the Ekiti people who though were self- sufficient in root crop production, among others, before the majesty rule, have diversified their food crops. They have now shown increased interest in planting those crops which they had for years neglected because of the supremacy of yams which earned the people the nickname “pounded-yam- eaters”. Perhaps what created this situation were the unfortunate epidemic and the 1 st World War, all of which brought famine over a decade ago. Of course though to a little extent some farming innovations or propaganda by the government were also part of what now make Ekiti a good territory for root and grain crops”. 77

The above reaction clearly shows that Ekiti was able to fight food shortage with the cultivation of grains. This seems to contradict the belief that in the colonial period, Ekiti and other Yoruba groups in the west, lacked adequate food supply and therefore depended on “foreign sources’ to survive as echoed in Oladele Omishore (1991):

In the 1980s, Nigeria discovered that there were severe structural defects in the economy because of its dependence on foreign sources for food to nourish its rapidly growing population. It would seem that the beginning of this problem can be traced to the colonial experience with agriculture.78

The above assertion will definitely exclude Ekiti that produced more than enough staple food for its growing population. For example, the Ekiti people, who never depended on external sources for food, even saw Western 170 education as secondary to agriculture or farming, or as disturbing to farming. 79

This was why government and the missionaries found it difficult to get many pupils in school in Ekiti until the early 1920s. This period, Mr.

Eagleton of the Education Department, Lagos, on his visit to Ado-Ekiti, advised the Provincial Officer to “make all the schools in the interior start their lessons at noon, particularly in the farming seasons”. 80 This reaction was a follow-up to a letter from the Resident District Officer who was

“seriously disturbed” about ‘the sparse population of pupils who preferred to follow their parents to farm very early in the morning…”. 81 By 1928, particularly in the area now known as Irepodun/Ifelodun Local Government

Area of Ekiti State, education for over-aged boys and girls was introduced to supplement the existing one. The adult, evening, lessons began at around 2 p.m., after many people had returned from their farms, some kilometers away.

With this system, farming did not suffer as initially expected by parents. And in fact, farming became the pragmatic philosophy of the Ekiti people, believing that Western Education without farming was completely useless; as fanatically expressed in a very popular song which became an

“anthem” to be sung, very mandatorily every morning in schools before lessons began:

Iwe kiko

Lai si oko, ati ada

Koi pe o

Koi pe o 171

Ise agbe

Ise ile wa

Enikosise

Yio ma jale

Iwe kiko, etc.

English Translation

Western Education

Without hoes, and cutlasses (farming)

Is incomplete (insufficient for livelihood

Is incomplete (insufficient for livelihood)

Farming (agriculture)

Is our traditional/natural occupation

He who does not farm

Will eventually be a thief

Western Education, etc. 82

This was how the Ekiti people retained their farming tradition without jeopardizing their chances for the new, Western Educational system which they also embraced fanatically, particularly with the introduction of free education in the early 1950s by Obafemi Awolowo, the premier of Western

Region.

By the 1920s, because of the serious draught that affected the whole of

Yorubaland, and which brought famine, Ekiti farmers began to plant more cassava, which had not been a popular food among the people. This was unlike the situation with the Ondos and the Ijebus who made cassava one of 172 their main staple food. The Ekiti also during and after World War II began to cultivate water yam, esuru and other root crops along with the popular yam which also had varieties like white yam (isu funfun or usu fifun), olo or adan, iyan and isu afo. This was a way of fighting famine. According to a

Departmental and Miscellaneous report on Agriculture:

In the middle of the year, there was food shortage in the Province owing the draught. The Ekiti yam crop in particular was severely affected and repercussions of this were felt in the Ondo Division… a “grow more food” campaign was carried out by the Agricultural staff, and the farmers responded…. 83

However, to survive the famine, the Ekiti people had to grudgingly patronize those food crops which had not been traditionally favoured by the people. And these crops, as unpopular as they were, eventually became part of Ekiti root crop cultivation throughout the colonial period (see Table 4.7).

The opening of the school of Agriculture in Ibadan in 1927 and in Akure in

1942 as well as the influence of the Moor Plantation in Ibadan, to some extent, helped many Ekiti farmers, especially in Ado, Ifaki, Ikere, Ijero, Ikole and Igbara-Odo, among others, to develop interest in acquiring or giving more land areas for large scale root crop production. No wonder, Ekiti people were able to produce staple food so abundantly that they were able to sell the surplus in the major cities of Western Region in the 1940s.

While many Ekiti farmers were already being influenced by the new methods of crop production, taught by the trained agriculture students sent to many parts of Western Region, including Ekiti, some farmers rigidly held on to their age-old methods of farming. But on the whole, by 1945, agriculture in 173

Ekiti had generally experienced developmental changes brought about by improved farming methods, road and trade systems.

This discussion of staple food will be incomplete without mentioning other staple foods like plantain and the grain crops which were an integral part of Ekiti agriculture in the colonial period. Ekiti had many types of grain crops, but the main ones were maize, rice (already discussed) and beans (with many varieties. The varieties of local beans produced very abundantly in the colonial period included otili, kokondo or pakala and feregede (fiofio).

Melon and pepper were also commonly produced by all Ekiti farmers. They appeared to be more abundantly cultivated in Ekiti south, especially in

Ikogosi, Igbara-Odo, Igbara-Oke, Ogotun and Ilawe. Part of the Ekiti staple food cultivated during the colonial period were okra, walnut varieties of vegetables, or amaritus garden eggs, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, and groundnuts.

The colonial Ekiti considered grain crops generally as secondary staple food; which was why they were taken mainly as breakfast and, to some extent, as lunch. It was not in the culture of the Ekiti to use grains for dinner.

Root crops like yam and cocoyam were traditional staples. To an Ekiti man or woman, offering grains like beans or even rice to somebody for dinner was not only strange but also very unconventional and insulting. Beans, cooked or fried into akara (cake) balls, processed maize, in forms of ogi or eko (pap) and fried plantain or processed plantain, in form of amala with soup, were very popular food for breakfast.

174

Table 4.7: Root Crop Production and Locations, July 1950 Yam Cocoyam Cassava varieties All Ekiti All Ekiti towns, but mainly All Ekiti All Ekiti towns. in Ilawe, Igede, Iyin (Uyin), towns. towns. Cultivation- Ise, Emure, Ikere, Igbara- Cultivation- Cultivation- very vigorous Odo, Igbara-Oke, Aramoko, not vigorous fairly Ado, Ogotun, Ikole, Ijero, vigorous Ikogosi Igbemo, Ushi Ido- Ajinanre Awo, Ugbole, Iworoko, Afao, Are, etc. Cultivation very vigorous Source: N.A.I., Ondo Prof. ¼ File No. C040, 1950, p. 4.

For lunch, cooked or roasted yam or beans cooked with yam or pounded yam were also common food. To an average Ekiti, the most important meal was the dinner which, as already stated, must be pounded yam. Many families would even eat pounded yam two or three times a day.

Cassava product like garri or eba with soup was sparingly eaten and only for lunch.

The production of staple food crops largely depended on the traditional agricultural methods, based or the use of hoes and cutlasses as the main farming implements (Fig. 4.3). Shifting cultivation and burning continued to be the tradition, while the real traditional farmers feared or rejected the modern innovations. Not even the compulsory school farms, usually located at schools’ premises to educate pupils about new methods or techniques of farming, could change some of the farmers’ attitude. This was in spite of excellent yields, through application of manure or fertilizer, which was thought to be an indirect way to influence pupils’ parents.

However, Ekiti farmers had no problem producing more than enough staple food for consumption and even for sale, as already understood, 175 particularly when they had abundant labour force through fellow farmers, children and, later, migrant workers from the Middle Belt, Eastern Nigeria and the Mid-West. These migrant “laboures whose influx was very noticeable after the war (2nd World War) became a strong labour force in

Ekiti agriculture, especially when more school children began to have less time to farm with their parents”. 84 An Administrative Report on Agriculture in Ekiti in 1952 makes this clearer:

… not even the trained Agricultural Assistants posted to various farm centres in Ado, Ijero, Ikole and many other towns to carryout extension work could change the people’s traditional mode of farming. The farmers were not in a hurry to adopt modern farming methods to produce staple food. This is understandable since their own methods have also proved to be a big success; more so when hundreds of migrant workers have also been absorbed for various agricultural activities on various terms of agreement…. 85 176

Fig. 4.3: Farming Implements in the Colonial Ekiti. © Femi Oloidi, 2009.

These migrant workers were mainly the Igbos, the Igalas, the Ebiras, the

Itsekiris, the Urhobos, the Edos and some other ethnic groups from the

Middle Belt. Most of these workers who also specialized, or were made to specialize, in the production of various cash crops and staple food, usually 177 lived in the farm located far away from home. And because these migrant workers like to be close to their crops, they made the farms their settlements, coming to town occasionally during market days and Sundays. Most of these migrant workers in Ekiti brought their families, making their stay either prolonged or permanent.

Livestock

Livestock production method in colonial Ekiti was not all that different from that of the pre-colonial Nigeria, until the middle 1940s when livestock production was, to some extent, influenced by those trained in Agriculture schools. 86 But generally, throughout the colonial period, Ekiti farmers stuck very rigidly to their traditional way of livestock production. Their major livestock were goats, pigs, sheep, dogs, cats, fowls, ducks and poultry. Cattle rearing was not really part of Ekiti livestock production, apart from the livestock efforts of the Hausa/Fulani migrants in Ekiti.

The Ekiti women played major roles in livestock production. They were mainly responsible for the feeding, protection or care and sale of cattles.

Of course, the men also played supportive roles in this regard, particularly by providing, through farm products, feeding materials for the animals and birds.

Women were very sensitive to the condition of these livestock in that they knew when animals were sick, lean or lacked appetite for eating. They were very good in providing for the animals or birds, like fowls and ducks, effective preventive medicinal substances or anti-flu concoctions. Women were also quick to know whether or not the number of particular livestock was complete, particularly when animals came home in the evenings. They 178 were the ones who raised alarm when some of the livestock were missing, and the ones to find the reasons for this. Very rarely were animals stolen during this period.

In the colonial Ekiti, and even in other Yoruba groups, animals were not caged and restricted in their movements. They were allowed to move out freely beyond the owners’ immediate environment. That is, goats, sheep and fowls, among others, were reared “on free range system”. 87 These animals, particularly goats and more especially sheep, which were usually not molested “move in groups early in the morning to look for food (or additional food) and also return in groups… the fowls are allowed to be free in the house”. 88 Goats and fools could occasionally intrude, in a homely manner, into their owners’ private rooms, but were also quickly driven out also in a homely manner. But dogs were an exemption, because of their special domestic and human relationship with people; they could enter any room without restriction.

Even without providing special locations for their abode, particularly at night, these animals, especially goats and fowls, used to naturally find their permanent sleeping places around their owners’ houses or yards. On rare occasions would they be forced into their sleeping places at night. Depending on the designs of houses, animals were allowed to sleep either in the backyard or side yard of a house. Goats preferred loose wood structures or rough mud enclosures, covered on top against rain. Some slept in the open premises that were protected from rain. Fowls preferred sleeping in high or elevated places, but where these were not available, they would cluster together in some 179 loosely protected areas or open enclosures beside their owners’ houses.

Occasionally, fowls would also occupy spaces near goats at night. These animals, particularly fowls, were always the first to wake up in the morning.

There were, however, some dangers to livestock production in the colonial Ekiti. For example, the roaming culture of livestock exposed these animals to disease and theft. Occasionally, some of the animals would be killed accidentally by motor vehicles. And also occasionally, some embittered neighbours whose properties or food items had been destroyed or eaten up by these animals would, in annoyance, inflict physical injury on the animals.

Very rearly, however, some animals could also be poisoned for the above seasons.

But the most devastating danger to livestock in colonial Ekiti were the traditional mass killing of all the birds and animals seen on the streets during certain ceremonial or ritual occasions. The birds and animals included fowls, ducks, pigeons, goats, sheep, dogs and pigs. Some towns carried out certain traditional rites or activities when their kings died; some when particular powerful High Chiefs died or when strongly ritualistic festivals were being celebrated. On each occasion, using Igede-Ekiti as an example, whenever a king died, very early in the morning and for a number of days, all adults and grown up boys armed with big knives, clubs, cutlasses and other hunting objects would troop to the streets freely killing all sighted animals. These animals would be deposited at designated places where they would be roasted, cut into pieces and shared according to tradition. It is important, however, to know that before these killing activities took place, people would 180 be warned or notified so that they could keep their livestock indoor or off the streets for the mandated number of days.

Fowls were reared at home and also in the farms by men. Those reared in the farms were by far greater in number than those produced at home.

Though not all farmers practiced this, those engaged in it used to build thatched huts for these fowls for their night rest. They were usually so trained that only a few would not enter the huts immediately it was nightfall. But where there were short trees near the huts, some fowls would prefer sleeping on these trees. The hens usually laid eggs in save areas of the bush, but would eventually relocate to the huts when their hatched chicks became strong. The fowls produced in the farm were preferred for food by many to those reared at home.

Dogs, to the Ekiti people, were very useful animals. They were easily reared without difficulty within people’s yards. The opposite was the situation with pigs that were not allowed to come near entrances of houses not to talk about entering houses. They were usually accommodated in pigties or pushed to the distant backyard of houses where watery or muddy grounds were created for them. They were usually fed every morning. Pigs produced their piglets in make-shift enclosures or pigties where they would not be disturbed.

Great effort was made by the government, however, through the

Schools of Agriculture, to make the Ekiti farmers learn the modern methods of rearing pigs. But little interest was shown by these farmers, except a few who had, by virtue of their financial security, accepted, to some extent, to try 181 the newly introduced method. According to a government paper on

Agriculture:

Pig pens have been erected at the Government expense at these farm centres with the idea of providing pigs for sale to farmers instead of the present system of ordering pigs from Moor Plantation each time a farmer applies for one. Three quarter bred English pigs (a boar and a guilt) have been distributed to three farmers… all these animals have done well and the owners now have some very fine looking young pigs from their English sows and also some good looking half breeds from their native sows. 89

The above account can be considered an isolated situation, because, as already noted above, only very few elite farmers or some retired educated

Ekitis who had the land and the capital, were in a position to benefit from the above government agricultural policy. 90 People had no alternative than to stick to their traditional way of rearing pigs, and this was the situation throughout the colonial period.

In the colonial period, livestock could be possessed by inheritance.

They could be acquired directly as gifts from relations or friends. And they could be bought in the market. Animals or birds could also be given out to either an old man or woman within a particular age range for ablutionary reasons as demanded or prescribed by an oracle. All these methods of livestock acquisition confirmed sole ownership of animals on the owners.

But there was also another method of acquisition of animals known as agberansin or agba eransin and in the case of fowls agbadiyesin or agba adiye sin. In fact, this was livestock tenancy which made an owner give another person female animals like goat, sheep, dog, pig, hen or any other 182 female domestic animal. The receiver, in this case, had no full ownership of the animal.

This type of ownership was conditional or contractual, in that it demanded some terms of agreement between the giver and the receiver. Such animals were also given to those who could not afford the money to buy their own livestock. The type of livestock tenancy also varied in terms or condition. For example, the owner could demand the first female of a particular animal while the second female delivered would be for the receiver.

Some could demand at least two females and a male while the receiver would, after this, have the full ownership of the animal; though this particular condition was not common. In the case of dogs, puppies were shared with the owner having the greater number of the female ones in addition to at least one third of the male. Livestock tenancy could continue for several years without any side defaulting in agreement.

Livestock production was an integral part of daily living in the colonial

Ekiti. Many reasons have made this conclusion very valid. For example, it was one of the main sources of livelihood. According to J.H. Ellis, the

District Officer, Ekiti, and the Secretary to the Provincial Advisory

Committee on Development and Welfare:

The place of women in the economy of this Division (Ekiti) cannot be undermeasured. They form a uniting force that makes commerce not only alive but also productive. The women are at their best when negotiating prices in the market while selling, particularly, their livestock which is one of the main economy generating activities in this Division today. There is really no fixed price on any of the animals or birds sold. Price becomes fixed only after the buyers have paid. What is very 183

interesting about the livestock sale is that on many occasions, these women bring home to their husbands or brothers more than one and a half times the amount expected from them…91

Livestock, apart from being used for food, also played social functions.

For example, goats and fowls were part of dowries during marriage ceremonies. Animals and fowls were also ritual items during many festive or ceremonial occasions. Various religious functions, traditional and Christian, also made use of livestock. Particularly during Christian Bazaars, animals were freely “auctioned” for sale. Devotees of traditional religion equally made use of animals for various rites. In addition, animals were sacrificed for ritual purposes. Dogs were used for security or as guards, and were also used for hunting. Cats which, though, were not as popular as dogs, also played an important role of getting rid of all unwanted rats, lizards and even snakes that usually entered some homes.

Cats were also loved, like dogs, for their association with people.

Cattle rearing was not part of Ekiti livestock production, and in fact, it was not until the late 1940s that the government, through the employment of herdsmen and the activities of the agriculture schools, began to educate many

Ekiti elite farmers about the importance of rearing cattles but with little success. Through the agriculture assistants, village herding schemes were initiated in 1944 to encourage cattle rearing and herding. Herds were opened in many areas of Ondo Province, but people generally showed little enthusiasm for this. The government bought eight bulls for Akoko District 184 and seven for Ekiti Division in 1945. Many dwarf cattles were also bought for herding. According to a Miscellaneous Report on Agriculture:

Many of the herds in the North of Ekiti Division were well tended but there have been failures in the south mainly due to non-payment of the herdsmen. 92

Cattle rearing in colonial Ekiti was not generally popular among the farmers, particularly because it was considered the profession of the Fulanis or the Shuwa Arabs in Northern Nigeria who, during the colonial period, constantly brought to Ekiti Division lots of these cattle for people’s consumption. But many preferred to be butchers, and they were many in

Ekiti, particularly from the 1940s. Without doubt, the popularity of cattle rearing or herding was restricted to the government circles, or to the Schools of Agriculture in Ekiti Division or Ondo Province.

Without doubt, livestock was the least affected by the modernization of agriculture. Unlike other areas like crop production, which, to a very reasonable extent, adopted the new agricultural innovations to improve their farming methods, livestock production in Ekiti was not seriously affected by modern methods throughout the colonial period. Towards the end of the

1950s, there was massive training of agricultural assistants by many agriculture schools in the Western Nigeria. Some of these schools were in

Ilesha, Akure and Orin Ekiti.

The training had little success, since many of those who graduated from the agriculture poultry schools had no capital to raise their own poultry farm infrastructure. Even those of them who had an all-round training in 185 agriculture, particularly the mechanization of agriculture with the use of tractors, became redundant after more than two years of training. This, according to Oluwole Fatunla, one of those who went through the training successfully, was due to the “misapplication and wrong execution of the laudable agriculture policies of Chief Obafemi Awolowo”. 93

However, Ekiti agriculture during the colonial period was very promising, in spite of some unpredictable problems which temporarily challenged this situation. Farming largely depended on hoe and cutlass, though mechanized agriculture, to some extent, reasonably affected the production of cash crops. But it must be understood that the colonial administration exploited the Ekiti’s agricultural and forest products to promote the economy of the European countries which desperately wanted

Ekiti’s raw materials for various British industries. 94 186

REFERENCES

1. J.B. Webster and A.A. Boachen, etc., The Revolutionary years: West Africa since 1800. (London: Longman Group Ltd., 1980), p. 229.

2. H.A. Oluwasanmi, Agriculture in Nigerian Economy. (London: Oxford University Press, 1966), p. 23.

3. J.B. Webster and A.A. Boahem, The Revolutionary Years: West Africa since 1800. (London: Longman, 1967), p. 233.

4. Ibid., pp. 245-346.

5. Interview with A. Ogundele, 74 years; a Deacon and successful farmer. Interview conducted in Igede on July 10, 2006.

6. S. Johnson, The History of the Yoruba: From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the British Protectorate. (London: C.S.S. (CMS), 1921), p. 95.

7. S. Johnson, The History of the Yorubas…, p. 96.

8. See F.J. Oloidi, Power Struggle in Isokan Local Government, 1965- 1993, an Unpublished M.A. Thesis, Department of History and International Studies, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, 1998.

9. T.O. Elias, Nigeria Land Law and Custom, 1951, as Quoted by G.J.A. Ojo, : A Geographical Analysis. (London: University of London Press Ltd., 1971), p. 57.

10. H.A. Oluwasanmi, Agriculture in Nigeria Economy, p. 38.

11. Ibid.

12. Ibid., p. 39.

13. Ibid.

14. S. Johnson, The History of the Yorubas…, p. 96.

15. Ibid.

16. Benedict J.E. Itsueli, Aspects of the Economic History of Etsako, 1800- 1960, an Unpublished Ph.D Dissertation, Department of History, U.N.N., 1982, p. 72.

17. A. Ogundele, 2006.

18. Chief Jacob Onileowo, 76 years and a successful farmer in Igede Ekiti: Interview conducted on July 12, 2006 in Igede. 187

19. Chief Bade Adeyeye, a retired Social Worker Executive and Chief of his District in Iyin-Ekiti. Interview conducted in Iyin on July 13, 1999.

20. Ibid.

21. Samuel Olajiga, Traditional Chief in Ise-Ekiti, 65 years. Interview conducted on August 6, 2007.

22. Ibid.

23. See V.A. Oyenuga, Agriculture in Nigeria. (Rome: Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 1967), pp. 112-124.

24. Ibid.

25. Nigerian Educational Research, Agriculture for Secondary School. (Ibadan: Ibadan University Press, PLC, 1991), pp. 20-25.

26. Olajiga, 2007.

27. Albert Ogunrinde, 78 years, a retired Agriculture Officer in Akure. Interview conducted on November 20, 2007 in Akure.

28. Ibid.

29. Also See Onwuka Njoku, Economic History of Nigeria: 19 th and 20 th Centuries. (Enugu: Magnet Business Enterprises, 2001), pp. 71-72.

30. Private Document of Michael Bodunde, 79 Years, a former Church Warden, Catholic Church, Ado-Ekiti.

31. Mama Elepo, 84 years; former palm oil seller in Igede-Ekiti. Interview conducted with her in Igede on March 4, 2006.

32. Mama Deborah, 68 Years; a palm oil seller in Ado-Ekiti. Interview conducted with her in Ado-Ekiti on April 8, 2006.

33. N.A.I. Administrative Report, Ondo Prof. ¼ File No. OC 29, 1291/431, March 30, 1943, p. 39.

34. James Alofe, 71 years, a Cocoa Farmer in Igbara-Odo. Interview conducted in his son’s house in Akure on May 20, 2008.

35. N.A.I. Administrative Annual Report, File No. D72, Ondo Prof. 4/1, 1920, p. 47.

36. Ibid; though the word is now used for both the cocoa tree and the pods or fruits, the word cocoa was initially used for cocoa free alone.

37. Introduction to Agriculture , p. 102. 188

38. Toyin Falola (ed.), Britain and Nigeria: Exploitation or Development? (London: Zed Books Ltd., 1987), p. 80.

39. Introduction to Agriculture, p. 116.

40. Chief Josiah Olugbade, an 88 year-old former Produce Buyer in Igede- Ekiti. Interview conducted with him on July 11, 2008 in Igede-Ekiti.

41. Introduction to Agriculture, p. 117.

42. Chief Olugbade, 2008.

43. Introduction to Agriculture, p. 116.

44. Ibid., p. 118.

45. For more Information on Kola, See Babatunde Agiri, “The Introduction of Nitida Kola into Nigerian Agriculture, 1880-1920”. African Economic History, No. 3, Spring, 1997, pp. 1-14.

46. N.A.I. Administrative Report, Ondo Prof. ½ File No. 0164, 9/5/1932, p. 3.

47. N.A.I. Ondo Prof. 4/1, Annual Report (Miscellaneous), 1923, p. 69.

48. N.A.I. Administrative Annual Report, Ondo Prof. 4/1, File No. 0 29, 1923, p. 52.

49. Ibid.

50. Ibid., p. 51.

51. S.O. Olaitan and C. Idowu (eds.) Omuo-Oke: Yesterday and Today. (Nsukka: Ndudim Printing and Publishing Company, 2002), p. 95.

52. N.A.I. Administrative Report (Supplement A), Ondo Prof. ½ File No. op. 64, 9/5/1932, p. 3a.

53. Introduction to Agriculture, p. 69.

54. John Adedapo, 88 years, a retired Town Clerk in Ado-Ekiti. Interview conducted on October 7, 2006 in Ado-Ekiti.

55. Biodun Ojo, 80 years, a retired school teacher in Igede-Ekiti. Interview conducted on July 9, 2006 in Igede-Ekiti.

56. N.A.I. Administrative Report, Ekiti: Div. ½, File No. 1070, 1934, p. 17.

57. N.A.I. Ondo Prof. 4/1 File No. CO 30 Annual Report, 1920-1921, p. 39. Also see Ondo Prof. 4/1 Annual Report, 1923, p. 145. 189

58. V.A. Oyenuga, Agriculture in Nigeria. (London: University of London Press), p. 124.

59. Ibid.

60. Chief Olu Adebayo, 79 years, a retired carpenter in Iyin Ekiti. Interview conducted in Iyin on July 8, 2006.

61. V.A. Oyenuga, Agriculture in Nigeria, p. 188.

62. Ibid.

63. Michael Arowolo, 80 years; a retired school teacher in Ilawe-Ekiti. Interview conducted on June 16, 2006 in Ilawe.

64. N.A.I. Administrative Report, Ondo Prof. 4/1, 1945, p. 12.

65. Ibid.

66. Pius Badejo, 69, years, a rice farmer in Igebmo-Ekiti. Interview conducted on February 12, 2007 in Igbemo.

67. Introduction to Agriculture, p. 86.

68. Ibid., p. 87.

69. Pius Badejo, 2007.

70. Also See Onwuka Njoku, Economic History of Nigeria…, p. 60.

71. V.A. Oyenuga, Agriculture in Nigeria, p. 106.

72. Ibid.

73. Olusawe, 2006; also See Oyenuga, 1967, pp. 107, 110-111.

74. N.A.I., Ondo Prof. 4/1 File No. CO 49, Annual Report, 1920-1921, p. 39.

75. Ibid.

76. Ibid.

77. N.A.I., Ondo Prof. 4/1, Annual Report, 1932, p. 63.

78. Oladele Omishore, The Challenges of Nigeria’s Economic Reform, 1991, p. 8.

79. Pius Olofin, 79 years, a former School Headmaster in Igede-Ekiti. Interview conducted on July 16, 2006 in Igede.

80. N.A.I., Ondo Prof. 1/4 File No. OP 23, 1925, p. 7. 190

81. N.A.I., Ondo Prof. 1/4 File No. CO 49, 1924, p. 42.

82. The pupils in Ekiti primary schools were always made to sing this song every morning in the Assembly before lessons started.

83. N.A.I., Ondo Prof. 4/1 File No. E28 (Miscellaneous), 1925, p. 13.

84. Chief Samuel Akomolafe, L.G.A. Caretaker, An Address presented to Officials of the Irepodun/Ifelodun L.G.A., Ekiti State, 2008.

85. N.A.I., Ekiti Div. 1/4, Administrative Report, 1952, p. 31.

86. The Discussion on Livestock here has heavily relied on interviews with very many men and women in Igede, Iyin, Ilawe, Aramoko and Ado- Ekiti between 2006 and 2008.

87. Olaitan and Idown, 2002, p. 90.

88. Ibid.

89. N.A.I., Ondo Prof. 4/1 File No. CO 70, 1952, p. 2.

90. Oluwole Fatunla, 65 years, a former trained Agric. Officer. Interview conducted in Lagos May 8, 2008.

91. N.A.I., Ondo Prof. 41/3, File No. 02. A (Miscellaneous), 15/7/1944, p. 17.

92. N.A.I., Ondo Prof. 4/1, 1944/1945, p. 13.

93. Fatunla, 2008.

94. Falola (ed.), 1987, p. 87. 191

CHAPTER FIVE

ART AND CRAFT INDUSTRY, 1900-1960

The Ekiti people were well known and respected for their various types of art and industry during the colonial period. The colonial administration in

Yorubaland also capitalized on this in a way that helped boost the economy of the people. The art types can be grouped into carving, body and wall decorations while the industrial ones, which are also, and in fact, applied arts or craft art, are pottery, textiles, embroidery, mat making, beading, cane and wood works, basketry, calabash carving and blacksmithing.

Wood Carving

The wood carving tradition of Ekiti which was very dynamic during the pre-colonial period acquired more professional vigour and economic viability in the colonial period. This was in spite of the initial culturally suppressive attitude of the Christian missionaries to the traditional art culture of Ekiti. 1 According to William Fagg, “of all the African tribes (ethnic groups) which have produced sculpture, the Yoruba are by far the most numerous … they are also the most prolific in art of all the (African) tribes

(groups)”. 2 And to him, the Yoruba “have produced more sculptures

(carvings)… than any other” African ethnic groups. 3 This clearly shows that

Ekiti, being a typically Yoruba society, was also very fertile in the production of various forms of art in the colonial period.

The aspects or types of carving that made a significant contribution to

Ekiti economy, particularly between 1900 and 1940, included those art works 192 that were used for religious, social, political, domestic or utilitarian purposes.

Being the period that the Ekiti people were still greatly involved in their traditional indigenous religious practices, various images were purchased for religious or ritual purposes. There were religious images produced for, or bought by, either the communities, heads of family or individuals for their gods, deities, various bush, water, mountain and rock spirits as well as spirits of the dead. According to Michael Olawale, a herbalist from Iyin-Ekiti, these sacred images were neither sold openly in the market nor just produced by artists at will, since they had to be commissioned privately by patrons and at a very high cost. 4

The above images were produced mainly for the cult of ,

Sango, the god of thunder and legality; Ifa, the god of divination; Esu, the god of creativity also referred to as “Trouble-maker god” and Ibeji, the spirit of the dead twins. But unlike some religious images, the carvings of Ibeji were sold openly, in various Ekiti markets in their hundreds, since they also performed social functions. According to Iya Alaje of Oke-kere in Ikere-

Ekiti, also popularly known as Iya Oniwosiwosi (seller of assorted goods), a set of two Ibeji carving cost five pence in 1945, the year she had her twin babies while one cost three pence, and this according to her, depended on the popularity of the carvers. 5

Unlike the wood carvings produced for secular purposes, the wood carvings for cultic or religious functions could be very expensive for some reasons. Such art images when in use were not quickly disposed of, because they could serve generations of devotees, therefore becoming once in a life 193 time commission. A lot of propitiatory sacrifices were usually made by the carvers to ward off what the artists regarded as possible attack from the spirits which the images were to depict. Many of these religious images were produced secretly or in isolation since, according to Chief L. Olusawe, who is now a born again Christian, “it was a desecration of worship to let the uninitiated eyes see an idol (a carved wood figure) that represented gods or deities”. 6 In addition, many religious images were produced by the artists who were far away from where these figures would be used. All the above reasons made the traditional carvers charge very exorbitantly for their labour.

According to Chief M. Adelakin of Ise-Ekiti, also corroborating what

Reverend Father John McCarthy said in 1958, in Ado-Ekiti, “artists were a group of the richest people in this Division (Ekiti) before the cocoa boom”. 7

Many of these traditional carvers “built very big houses known as petesi

(storey building) because of the money made from art”. 8

According to Chief Ajayi, what made the economic conditions of many artists, and therefore their families and other dependents, very promising was, among other things, the prevailing taboo or “spiritual or ritual code and belief that the prices of some commissioned religious art images must not be negotiated in order not to decrease the spiritual energy or life force which such images possessed”. 9 Even today, this belief still exists among many traditional priests, chiefs, kings and shrine devotees all over Ekiti. What this meant was that a person commissioning a piece of art would not and never attempt to negotiate the first price demanded by an artist in his own spiritual or ritual interest. But to Chief Ajayi, the traditional carvers were also aware 194 of the danger of offending the gods, and were always very careful not to cheat their patrons.

Though, between 1920 and 1940, especially, in Ekiti, serious and punitive Christian evangelization was experienced by the people, particularly from the Baptist and Roman Catholic Churches (RCM). The Ekiti kingship tradition was so strong that it was very difficult for Christianity to eliminate or even seriously weaken all the cultural practices that required the use of art images and related ritual objects produced by the traditional artists. This cultural resilience ensured the economic sustenance of the carvers and the craftsmen generally. In the early 1930s, Reverend Father Lodgel of the RCM in Oshogbo, in the present , was one of the two-man delegation to

Ado Ekiti to help assess how the Ekiti people were responding to Roman

Catholic liturgical doctrines. The report of this delegation, while lauding the efforts of the local catechists and the Reverend Fathers in charge, stressed how the situation would have been more promising if “these (traditional religious) adherents who heavily patronize the daily production of idols and other profane images are carefully induced for conversion… and alternative careers found for these native carvers, particularly, those who produce pagan images”. 10

It was very clear that the Christian missionaries were fighting a lost cultural/religious battle, considering the economic importance of wood carving tradition. Though, as already stated, the pre-colonial Ekiti had professional wood carvers who depended largely on their art careers, it was not until 1895 when Captain Ambrose, the first British administrator, came to 195

Ikere-Ekiti that the carvers of Ekiti clearly saw or realized how profitable carving could be. 11 What happened was that when Captain Ambrose and his aids came to the palace of the Ogoga, the king of Ikere, they were amazed and even shocked by the great number of highly aesthetic images, especially carved houseposts, doors and free standing carved images that profusely decorated the palace. 12 According to Professor G.O. Ojo:

As a general rule … temples … palaces and … compounds of Chiefs (kings) were distinguished from others by their elaborately carved doors which were quite massive and often made from a solid piece of the trunk or the buttress of tree. The objects represented usually cover a wide range of aspects of Yoruba life and experiences. A notable example of a Yoruba sculptured door… is that of the palace of Ogoga of Ikere… now in the British Museum…. 13

However, like a wild fire, the report sent to Britain about the palace art embellishment as well as the wood images seen in the palaces later visited by

Captain Ambrose and his group attracted many European anthropologists, ethnographers or scholars to Ekiti. And by 1900, many areas of Ekiti, particularly Igede, Efon, Otun, Osi Igbemo, Ire, Ogotun, Ikole, Ise and Emure had been opened not only to the European administrators and missionaries but also to other tourists looking for what they considered “fine pieces of pagan images which they began to collect freely (or) at prices that were very attractive to many devotees and carvers”. 14

Christian evangelization, which condemned the production and use of images, encouraged traditional religious devotees to do away with their age- old images which were regarded as idols by the missionaries. Igede-Ekiti was 196 a good example of their experience. There in 1902, the Baptist missionaries form Illinois, U.S.A., tried very vigorously to eliminate all the traditional religious practices that accommodated the use of images. The king of the town, Oba Aladesaru the 1 st , while allowing his people to embrace the new religion, refused to destroy the wood sculptures in his palace. This was a bold action since Igede had already been seen as the Headquarter of Baptist

Church in Ondo province. 15 The implication of the above missionary activities or attitude to art images was that they naturally opened the wood carvings of Ekiti to the European and American art lovers or collectors. This had the unintended effect of boosting rather than diminish the carving tradition as expected by the Christian missionaries. 16

Between 1910 and 1920, the Ekiti people had overwhelmingly accepted Christianity, though many refused to accept the new faith and rigidly clung to their religious tradition. But again, the vast majority of the

Christian converts refused to totally abandon their tradition, and so became worshippers of two religions. By 1925, the Ekiti traditional wood carvers and other craftsmen had become the economic beneficiaries of this position. The more traditional art images were condemned, the more these were advertised by default, thus making the images more popularly attractive to foreign “art hunters”. Before 1930, some Ekiti traditional carvers had been known internationally for their artistic efforts and were financially well rewarded for these. And the economic benefit of this situation led to the increase in art apprenticeship all over Ekiti. 197

It is instructive that the carved door panel of Olowe of Ise in Ekiti was exhibited at “the British Empire exhibition held in London in 1924”. 17 The news of this achievement also encouraged other carvers to devote more attention to their art traditions. According to Gabriel Babalola:

Before Awolowo made cocoa the number one agric product in the early 1950s, when he was Head of Government Business (later Premier) in Western Region, the artists were some of the few people who could easily boast of having one hundred pounds (now two hundred Naira). You know in those days, fifty to sixty pounds could build a house. And in fact, one having one hundred pounds can be compared to today’s millionaire. And this is true. My daughter, apart from some traders and farmers blessed with very large land for farming, only few people were richer than the carvers. 18

In fact, these carvers were not only rich, they were also well known far beyond the old Ekiti Division. Some of these very popular artists who undoubtedly contributed to Ekiti economy were Olowe of Ise-Ekiti who died in 1938, Agbonbiafe from Efon-Alaiye-Ekiti, Areogun (also Arowogun) of

Osi-Ekiti who died in 1954, Agunna of the Igbira near Ikole-Ekiti and

Bamgboye of Odo-Owa. The excerpt of a letter from father Sean O,

Mahoney to Father Patrick Kelly in 1946 affirms the economic importance of the artists/carvers in the Ekiti economy during the colonial period. It says,

… our experiences in this (Ekiti) land have shown that the Catholic Church must re-examine its position about its attitude to what we have regarded as pagan idols ... which we have, for long, rebuked the people for. Not all the images produced in Ekiti have pagan intentions… Aspects of Ekiti art should been embraced.

Father Carroll and I have also discovered that the wood carving profession plays a very vital and 198

noticeable role in the economic life of the Ekiti people, since, it has obviously become very powerfully attractive to foreign collectors and, naturally, the kings and powerful chiefs who see a highly artistically decorative court (palace) as symbol of power and prestige. …The Superior Father, it has also been discovered in Ado, Ikole, Efon, Ikere, Ilawe, Ise and Otun, plus other areas, that major church and Sunday contributors are from the families of wood carvers. The attached with asterics is a proof…. It is our belief that the idea presented here will receive the Superior’s understanding consideration in the interest of our provincial evangelism. 19

The above letter as well as other “consultative actions” confirmed the necessity to accept traditional artistic practices without pagan liturgy. This gave new and greater economic importance to art. Father Patrick Kelly eventually “decided to establish a Centre to study, among other things, the adaptation of African Crafts to Christian uses”. 20 Not only that, he “chose a site of this centre” in 1947 and placed this in Oye-Ekiti under Father K.

Carroll. 21 Carroll was able to recruit or employ many carvers for the Oye

Centre which was later popularly known as Oye School. Many of them were popular Ekiti carvers as well as other Ekiti neighbours.

Those from Ekiti, already mentioned above, were Areogun who was born around 1880; Bandele, the son of Areogun, and Lamidi Fakeye (Figs.1-

2), the apprentice of Bandele who was born in 1925 and died in December

2009. Two of Bandele’s children expectedly became part of the school.

Though Areogun, because of his age, was not directly employed by the

School, he was given heavy contracts to produce Christian works for Oye

School. 22 In addition, four of Areogun’s apprentices, Abuleogun, Osamuko, 199

Ogungbe and Arowogun also indirectly beame part of the Oye School, and they made good money through contracts from Oye School. Other Ekiti carvers, whose services were employed to boost the political and economic objectives of the Catholic Church in Ekiti in particular and in other Yoruba area in general, included Agbonbiafe, Olowe and Agunna. One of the few carvers employed from outside Ekiti by the Oye School was Otooro of who worked for a short period for the school. According to Otooro, he could not completely abandon his equally lucrative farming for the Oye School. He just wanted to make extra money through the school to invest in his farm. 200

Fig. 5.1: Carved Figure by Lamidi Fakeye © Kevin Carroll, 1967, p. 115. 201

Fig. 5.2: Mary in Heaven by Fakeye © Kevin Carroll, 1967, p. 114. 202

However, with the institution of the Oye Art Centre, which was also popularly referred to as Oye Experiment, the economy of Ekiti took a more productive turn. For example, many of the earlier rebuked, denounced or rejected traditional artists were immediately recognized, employed and paid by the same people who had earlier rejected them. The carvers were also allowed to buy wood for the centre in addition to the ones commissioned out to people in different towns. These were experts in locating good wood for carving. Many of those given these contracts also employed the paid services of others in villages and towns. At times, these villagers also secured the help of others who were equally paid for carrying wood from the interior or forests to the road. Form these forests, many were also paid for carrying wood to various locations where they would be transported finally to Oye-Ekiti.

This was how the Oye Art Centre generated businesses, and therefore money, for the carvers, wood fetchers, escorts who were usually hunters, wood cutters, wood head carriers, local truckers and professional motor drivers who had to transport many heavy woods to Oye from very distant places. Of course, many farmers were usually paid heavy compensations for the occasional destruction which wood cutting had caused to their farms. All these revenue sources were in addition to the salaries, and stipends in some cases, which those employed by the Oye Centre were receiving. This is not forgetting, however, that the employed carvers, apart form working for the

Catholic Mission, were also allowed to work for and sell works to many kings, chiefs, rich individuals and European art collectors. Many Ekiti traditional religious devotees also privately or secretly commissioned ritual or 203 shrine wood images to some Oye carvers who were to also keep some of their patrons secret. Such works were used for various mystic and spiritual purposes. And this was why, according to Kevin Carroll, “there are many thousands of Yoruba carvings in villages, not usually seen by the causal resident or visitor”. 23

By 1949, the Oye wood carving centre had acquired fame far beyond its Roman Catholic denomination and had acquired such national image and production that it was almost difficult for the Centre to meet up with various official commissions, not to talk of the private ones. 1949 to 1957, thus, marked the beginning of new and greater economic attraction to the Oye

Centre, and Ekiti benefitted enormously from this economic development, particularly through greater flow of cash among various art stake holders and their relations. For according to Kevin Carroll, in 1949, the Bishop of Ondo

Province, “Bishop T. Hughes asked us (the Oye centre) to make examples of our work to be sent to Rome for the 1950 Holy Year Exhibition of Mission

Art”. 24 With the financial support of Western Catholic Church, the Oye wood images were sent to Rome where, accordingly, they were exhibited. This was after they had been first exhibited locally in Ibadan and Lagos with the assistance of the British Council.

People, particularly those who strongly rejected any form of Yoruba carved images, were surprised and even disturbed about the way biblical themes had been interpreted with the traditional Yoruba features. For example, Christ, Mary, Joseph and other Biblical figures were represented as

Yoruba people; with traditional Yoruba dresses and postures. What is more, 204 these images were carved stylistically with body proportions usually given to the carved Yoruba gods. Imagine Mary carrying little Jesus on her back with girdle or Mary with well plaited hair? But these people had no alternative than to accept their new Christian imageries which within a short period became part of Roman Catholic liturgy not only in Ekiti or in Nigeria but also all over the world. According to Father Onih, through Father McLoughlin of

Annunciation School, Ikere-Ekiti, the Olubadan (king) of Ibadan and many of his chiefs saw the exhibition of the images with amazement and high regard.

The exhibition was overwhelmingly viewed by “thousands of Christians from other denominations, Muslims and numerous school children; some mainly for curiosity reasons”. 25 These exhibitions became an economic triumph not only to the Ekiti carvers, the Roman Catholics, particularly in Ekiti, but also to the Ekiti people generally.

For example, the exhibitions had so much advertised the products of the Oye Centre that, various unprecedented commissions began to flow in the centre. Besides, many traditional Ekiti carvers who had taken carving as occasional occupation came back strongly to be a part of this economy generating venture. In addition, many parents who had been dissuaded by the

Christians missionaries from allowing their children to engage in art and craft work began to change their minds, because of the career opportunities this held out. “Imagine the Otun people”, according to Arowolo “commissioning the son of my friend, now dead, to produce two palace posts that cost Forty

Pounds in 1953 – though not yet a big time Ekiti carver?” 26 205

1951 to 1956 can be considered a golden era of wood carving tradition in Ekiti, especially for the carvers of the Oye School. The Oye School found it difficult to cope with the flood of commissions from Catholic Secondary

Schools, Catholic Teachers’ Colleges, tertiary institutions, government agencies, town unions, Catholic churches, foreign collectors, powerful kings and chiefs. For example, works were produced for Annunciation Secondary

School, Ikere, Aquinas College, Akure, St. Augustine’s College, Ikere, St.

Joseph’s College, Ondo, Mary Immaculate College, Ado-Ekiti, St. Peter’s

Colege, Akure and Corpus Christi College, Usi, among others. These works wee usually found in the chapels, libraries and open spaces regarded as holy in these institutions. Nearly all the big Catholic Churches in the major

Yoruba towns patronized the Oye and other Ekiti carvers.

These included St. Patrick’s Church, Ado-Ekiti, Catholic Cathedral,

Akure, St. Mathew’s Church, Ondo, St. Paul’s Church, Yaba, Lagos and the

Major Seminary in Ibadan. In addition, through Father O’Mahomey and father Kevin Carroll, carved doors and other wood works were produced by the Oye Art Centre “for the Catholic Cahpel at Ibadan University (and)

Ibadan Cathedral”, 27 between 1954 and 1956. The “Catholic community of

Ikoro Ekiti was the first African community to ask our (Oye) carvers to carve

Christian work”. 28 A lot of works produced by Oye carvers were also bought by the Catholic Mission and taken to Rome for liturgical purposes. But the

Oye informal art school still continued to be inundated with commissions, particularly between 1953 and 1956. Since the Oye Centre was also already 206 noted for its very gigantic carved house posts, which were generally figurative, the government became attracted by their architectural grandeur.

For example, there were “some orders for large posts from Kenneth

Murray, Head of the Department of (Nigeria) Antiquities, and Bernard Fagg of Jos Museum”. 29 With a huge amount of money contributed by the community, the Oye centre also “produced large posts for the palace at Illa and for a pagan temple which the Antiquities Department intended to preserve at Epe”. 30 One of the most expensive commissions were the “very large pillars and doors for the Edena gate-house of the palace of the Oni of

Ife, the religious head of the ”. 31 The economy generating potential of wood carving in Ekiti was unlimited, particularly through the Oye

Art Centre. For example, according to Father Carroll:

… orders (for wood carving) had come to us from Europeans… (and when) African leaders gained control of the internal administration of the Region (Western Region)… they were not reluctant to pay for traditional art-work when it was suggested by the architects. In 1956, Lamidi Fakeye… was given contracts to carve doors, chairs, and thrones for the (Western) House of Assembly and the House of Chiefs in Ibadan, and a door and pillars for the Premier’s office. He also carved large pillars for the Independence Exhibition of 1960. 32

Lamidi later turned out to be the most internationalized of the Oye school products even though he was an apprentice to Bandele of the same Art

Centre. While some of these carvers were with the Oye Centre, they were at the same time encouraged to have their own private carving workshops with many aids employed to help in working on commissions. 33 Lamidi Fakeye who later had a branch of his workshop in Ibadan, employed many carvers to 207 assist him in his numerous art contracts. Most of the carved works of Lamidi were “for the Americans”. 34 However, by 1960, the wood carvers of not only

Oye but also of Ekiti generally had made significant contributions to the economy of Ekiti, and this was well acknowledged by Father Carroll:

Since wood carving profession has changed to a large extent over the years from a strict devotion to pagan worship to the service of Christianity, the modern courts (palaces), foreign clients and the government agencies, etc., the value of art has appreciated dramatically and has helped create some new Ekiti modern elite, more than what cocoa, the main economic product of Ekiti, would have done for these people… though cocoa is no doubt the main and most valuable economic product of Ekiti, I am saying that if it is possible for the traditional carvers to equal the number, of, or outnumber present cocoa farmers, wood carving would have definitely been the main economic product of Ekiti, particularly because of foreign patronage. Believe it or not, though with no official statistics at our disposal, our direct knowledge or involvement shows clearly that every carver around us makes not less than £2,000 (two thousand pounds) a year… more than a salary of 4 university graduates… remember that cocoa is seasonal… everyday is the season of a wood carver in today’s Nigeria. 35

This is not an overstatement because even as late as the middle 1960s, the salary of a University graduate was not up to £800 (eight hundred pounds) a year. But wood carving was just one aspect of art and craft industry that played a great role in Ekiti economy.

Textile Production

Textile, particularly weaving, dyeing, was another economic venture of

Ekiti during the colonial period. In spite of European influences, “the Ekiti 208 district had a great variety of old crafts… still carried on (in the 1950s) by men and women”. 36 And in fact, “a visitor to the district would notice the… upright looms of the women standing against the walls of their cottages”. 37

Without doubt, textile products were more widely patronized by the people than carved images. Some reasons were responsible for this. For example, the cost of producing a carved image, no matter how small, was so prohibitive that only the elite or cult devotees could afford this. But textile materials were generally cheap and affordable to the rich and the poor. They were used for various daily activities; day and night as well as indoor and outdoor.

These materials were indispensable to people’s daily living. Because of this heavy patronage, textile products were integral to the economy of the Ekiti people.

In Ekiti, textile production was an essentially women’s profession, while an insignificant number of men indulged in weaving and traditional form of dry cleaning which will be explained later. This is saying that in

Ekiti, textile production was almost entirely women’s preoccupation. As already explained, textile was already part of Ekiti’s industry before colonization. But in the colonial period, some aspects of textile acquired additional technique, particularly weaving with narrow loom which was, however, not very popular among the people. There were three main specialized areas of textile production in Ekiti during the colonial period: weaving, which was the most popular, tie and dye and dyeing. There were also two types of weaving: weaving on vertical or up-right broad loom and weaving on a narrow loom. 209

Weaving takes place when threads are placed across, over and under other threads by hand or hand aided object to produce a fabric. Tie and dye defines the knotting of all areas of white or plain fabric inn small units with threads before dyeing in, usually, indigo colour. Dyeing is the immersion of fabric in a dye-stuff, substance or liquid that gives the fabric dark blue or indigo colouration. Broad loom, used only by women, is a wide upright or vertical wooden support placed against a wall with two vertical wooden supports which allow wide strips of fabric to be woven. Narrow loom, foot powered wooden equipment, used only by men, is used outdoor to weave only narrow strips of fabric by extending the warps or threads several metres away in front of the weaver.

The narrow loom was used to produce stripes of woven cloth that would be joined together to make a complete clothe. This type of loom is a double heddle with about 4 to 6 inches narrow-band and with a horizontal treadle. When asked why this type of weaving was not popular among Ekiti men, inspite of its highly marketable products, the son of a popular weaver of the 1930s in Igbara-Oke, Ekiti, Chief Samuel Olowokere, responded vividly.

His father who learnt the trade in Ilorin, in the present Kwara State, in the

1920s, introduced the weaving technique “to our people when cocoa plantation was just becoming a new lucrative preoccupation, therefore making weaving unattractive to men”. 38

He said people used to come to his father to commission “aso oke (elite traditional cloth) for marriage and various cultural reasons (purposes)”. 39 His father had many apprentices from within and outside his town, but within a 210 few years after cocoa had appreciated in value, “these young men abandoned their trade for cocoa farming”. 40 Other informants from Ado-Ekiti and Igede-

Ekiti also narrated similar stories about the Ekiti men and low weaving interest in the colonial period. 41

However, it is important to know that the rich tradition of textile products, brought about by weaving, made cotton production a very notable part of Ekiti agriculture, particularly “between 1910 and 1950 when new colonial educational and administrative experiences made formal, uniform, dressing in schools, police force, medical centres and sections of the P.W.D.

(Public Works Department) very compulsory”. 42 Since the people could not afford buying imported clothes which were very expensive, “cotton planting which thrived very well in Ekiti was encouraged by the DOs to provide the essential raw materials for the women weavers to meet the great demand for local woven clothes”; 43 particularly since the government also approved the use of local designs.

Cotton was not difficult to harvest, and it was not heavy to carry; it was very lucrative for its economic importance. But, it must be harvested in time to avoid destruction by fierce winds “which in those days could blow off a whole cotton plantation within a shot time”. 44 The abundant availability of sources of local materials like cotton, raffia, plants, vegetable ropes and ashes encouraged more women to engage in weaving in Ekiti in the colonial period.

And this was why the Oye school, according to Kevin Carroll, employed women who were skilled in weaving to produce “ornamental cloths for 211

Church fabrics on their upright broad looms, using African techniques and patterns”. 45

Weaving was the most popular aspect of traditional arts and industry in the colonial period. For this reason in all Ekiti towns and villages, nearly every household had a (female) weaver whose duty was to “produce the local woven clothes called pokiti (cloths made form local materials) for the general domestic, social and educational needs”. 46 According to John Babajide of

Aramoko-Ekiti, though the prices of woven fabrics were generally affordable or low, some reasons could make prices of these fabrics very high. 47 For example, the commissions received for urgent delivery, particularly to meet the resumption dates for school children, used to cost more than those commissions without deadline. In addition, requests from the Christian missions and government agencies were also charged more than those from the local people, neighbours and other townmates, because it was the belief that these institutions had the financial resources to buy fabrics at the given price.

Woven cloths were not only used as uniforms for primary school pupils and some government workers, they were also made for farmers, construction workers, hunters, among others. In fact, weaving was one of the most popular professions that greatly improved many people’s economic condition in the colonial period, because like food, it was indispensable to daily needs. What further accelerated the demand for woven products were the introduction of Western education which made the demand for this craft very high; particularly between 1910 and 1950. Also in Fig. 5.3, it is seen 212 that the pupils in this 1946 picture wore the traditional pokiti (woven) clothes.

Imagine the number of the primary school pupils in all the primary schools in

Ekiti wearing these home made clothes? Without doubt, the Ekiti weavers, who also had their own guilds or associations, contributed immensely to the economic development of Ekiti, particularly before the middle 1950s. This was when the colonial influences had not seriously saturated the people’s ways of life.

The cost of producing woven cloths differed from one town to another and from one weaver to another. During this research, it was difficult to know the exact cost of a pokiti uniform for one pupil, but it was easy to know the cost of a woven (pokiti) cover cloth. For example in 1934, the cost of a woven cover cloth of 4 to six yards ranged from two shillings, six pence

(2/6 a), to three shillings, as reflected in the 1934 document of Babajide’s senior brother in 1934. As should be expected, all woven cloths with particularly decorative or intricate designs were more expensive that those without designs. But in this category, according to Akinbode, those with just horizontal line decorations were less expensive than those with some geometric and vegetable or organic motifs which were usually or specifically commissioned by the Ekiti elite like the kings, chiefs, big-time farmers and traders who used these cloths to sew very big, expensive and flamboyant garments called agbada or gbariye, which clearly separated them socially from the those of the commoners or even middle class.

Traditionally, woven garments were, during the colonial period, very popular with, and even indispensable to, all social and cultural activities of 213 the Ekiti people. They were the status symbols during marriage, funeral and several ceremonial activities of the people. One can now see how weavers contributed in no small measure to the economic life of the Ekiti people during the colonial period. But there was another economically generating aspect of woven textiles. This was the art of embroidery.

Embroidery

At the end of the fifth decade, there was effort by Egbe Omo

(Association of the Descendants of Oduduwa) to promote and decolonize certain aspects of Yoruba culture. A new style of dress, with elaborate embroidery, thus emerged among the Yoruba political and educated elite.

Mary Ekiti elite, including kings and chiefs, were part of this development; probably with the influence of their Kaba northern neighbours whose craftsmen were masters in “elaborate and expensive embroidery”. 48 The tradition of embroidery was so popular and prestigious among the Ekiti that it became a measure of status in any social gathering.49 The more elaborate and intricate or visually complex the embroidery designs were, the more expensive the dress and the more prestige and recognition one acquired in a social function. The embroiders had their own guild in many Ekiti towns, usually known as Egbe Onijakan (Association of Cloth Embroiders). 50 Their contributions to the Ekiti economy of the colonial period cannot be down played.

214

Dyeing

Dyeing was another popular craft industry that contributed to Ekiti economy, particularly the Adire, also known as pattern-dyeing, “practised almost universally by the Yoruba wherever they are found….” 51 It is said that the Yoruba people “are the finest practitioners of pattern-dyeing (adire or tye and dye)”. 52 It was not surprising, therefore that the Ekiti women of the colonial period gave continuity to the trade. Though the number of dyers was not as great as the number of weavers, the dyeing practitioners abounded in every town and village in Ekiti, particularly “between 1930 and 1945 when many of the earlier pokiti dresses had already shown obvious evidence of fading, especially the pokiti cover clothes, farming dresses or professional dresses and cult or shrine entrance blinds”. 53 Though dyeing was a profession on its own, tie and dye was a specialty within this profession.

Fig. 5.3: Pupils of St. Benedict’s Primary School, Igede-Ekiti in their traditional woven uniform in 1946. © Akin Oloidi 215

There were two types of adire (tie and dye): the adire eleso (adire with cotton seeds or small stones) and adire eleko (adire with cassava flour).

Before dyeing the tie and dye cloth.

… design is created by pleating, folding, or twisting the material, sewing or tying it in place with raffia and then dyeing it in indigo vats. After the cloth is dry, the stitching is removed, exposing the design that was protected by folding twisting, and sewing. 54

The adire eleko required painting certain designs or patterns on a white cloth with starch obtained from cassava flour. When the areas already covered with cassava had dried very well, the cloth would be dyed. After dyeing, the starch areas which the dye could not penetrate would be removed or flaked off to get the required patterns already created with starch 55 (See Figs. 5.4 –

5.5).

There is no doubt that the highly indigotic, coloured and beautifully patterned Ekiti adire cloths were heavily patronized by the people for various social, ceremonial, domestic and cultural purposes. It must be stressed, however, that not all the adire designers were dyers; many of them were only tie and dye designers who needed the services of the dyers, the main dying professionals, to complete their tie and dye art. Before Nigerian independence, some of the most popular dyers in Ekiti were Mama Fatunla of

Igede Ekiti, Iya Alaro Oge of Ise, Iya Rachael Atinuke of Ado and Eye

Bolarinwa of Igbara Odo, who were active professional dyers, particularly between the 1940s and the 1950s.

216

Fig. 5.4: Tie and Dye Cloth (Adire) © Thelma R. Newman, 1974, p. 71.

217

Fig. 5.5: Tie and Dye Cloth (Adire variety) © Thelma R. Newman, 1974, p. 77.

Pottery

Just like textile craft already discussed, pottery was a very lucrative profession of, mainly, the Ekiti women, and it was in the forefront of Ekiti commerce in the colonial period. 56 There were potters as well as pot sellers who were not potters but pot marketers, buying products from the potters and taking the pottery products from town to town for sale. Ekiti was popular for pottery making in the colonial period, and the land was very fertile for clay prospecting. Some of the Ekiti towns that were very notable for pottery 218 making before Nigeria’s independence included Ara, Obo, Aiyede, Ara-Ikole,

Afao, Igbaro-odo, Afao-Ikere, Isan, Ilafon, and Ilemeso. 57 The economic significance of pottery in Ekiti is easily seen in the variety of pottery wares produced or the variety of functions that pottery performed in the daily life of the people.

The Ekiti pottery in the colonial period could be classified as follows: oru, ape, isasun, age, ajere, agbada and amum (Fig. 2.5). The oru, also called isa, has narrow neck with small mouth and also several shapes or designs.

Some oru are undecorated while some are profusely ornamented with floral and geometrical motifs or patterns. In the colonial era, there were oru oba

(water pot for kings), oru agbo (medicinal, concoction pot), oru obutun

(wedding pot), oru awo (special medicine pot for a master herbalist) and oru omi (water pot). 58 According Awosina, oru, with its mouth and balanced base was used in the pre-colonial and colonial Ekiti for keeping water and other herbal ingredients for bathing children suffering from convulsion. 59

Ape, also known as ikoko had many types, depending on the function each variety performs. Ape which was also used with hides as musical instrument could be hemispherical “with or without neck (and) with wide or small mouth”. 60 They were generally used for cooking yam, amala (plantain flower) and beans. The isasun also had many types. This type was shaped as a bowl, with shoulder and rim and at times produced with a lid. Isasun was used for cooking soup and herbal medicine. Age was also commonly used for rituals. Highly decorative vessel with a handle, or handles was usually used as a kettle for water. Ajere, a variation of oru, was perforated and used 219 as a colander for washing the seeds of beans and melon. It was also used for smoking meat, fish and other edible materials. Agbada was a big bowl- shaped vessel with a very wide mouth. It was used for frying garri, akara and some other food stuffs. Amun, also called Ikoko, was usually large with or without big mouths. They were used for water storage.

During the colonial period, potters and pot sellers used to hire head carriers to carry different types of pottery wares form various pottery centres to market. In Ekiti, every town had its market days which, usually, would not clash with the market days of other towns. In these markets, different types of pottery wares were sold for various utilitarian and other purposes. The fact that pottery wares were fragile and easily perishable made the trade very lucrative to the potters. It is not surprising therefore that Gabriel Ojo has featured pottery, as well as other local industries discussed in this research, as forming the backbone of “rural economics” in Ekiti and other Yoruba areas. 61

Mat Weaving

Mat weaving was another source of income in Ekiti during the colonial period. Like the other local industries already discussed, mat making was so integral to people’s daily needs in Ekiti that the mat makers “used to hire labour to make them meet the demands of traders or businessmen and women who used to buy mats in bundles for sale in areas even beyond Ekiti Division in those days”. 62 During the colonial period, the Ekiti people were well known for their dynamic tradition of mat making and the towns known for this craft were well known even to the primary school pupils in the colonial 220 era. The most famous producers were Ipoti, Okemesi, Efon-Alaye, Erin Oke,

Erinmo, Ipetu, Ogotun and Ikogosi. 63

Generally, the mats were made from the phrynium, sarcophrynium and cyperus articulates plants. 64 The durability and beauty of the mats depended on the materials used. Depending on function, some types of grass like sedge were also used for mat making in addition to some parts of palm trees. Mats were also graded according to design, material and function. Ekiti people also displayed their craftsmanship and artistry with a high level of decorative patterns which were meant to attract the elite consumers. These patterns were made by “interlacing warps and wefts which are dyed in different colours”. 65

The mat-weavers were greatly patronized mainly because of the various functions which mats generally performed in the society. They were also patronized by many people “for export to neighbouring territories. 66

Mats served several purposes and this made them indispensable to the people. From the pre-colonial to the colonial periods, mats were used in every home as bedspread. The size of family determined the number of mats needed, and this was about four or five by a family for sleeping and relaxation. The mats for sitting by a family also could not be less than four.

Mats, especially those woven with the pitch material, were also used for drying various agricultural products like cocoa, rice, beans, maize, melon and for preserving various types of vegetables. In the early 20 th century, when the

Christian missionaries began their evangelization, “mats were bought in large numbers and used as seats under thatched sheds which in those days served as 221 churches”. 67 The same mats were also used as seats even as late as the 1920s in primary schools all over Ekiti.

In kings’ palaces, specially woven mats were used as a symbol of nobility or for elitist purposes. In the middle 1930s, the palaces of the Ewi

(king) of Ado-Ekiti, the Onire of Ire and the Alaiye of Efon, among others, had several decorative mats on the walls where palace drums and other musical instruments were kept or stored. And also in some palaces like those in Ifaki, Otun, Ikere and Ire, special mats were used as “red carpets” for kings walking from their courtyards to their thrones. Mats were readily and easily available for sale in open markets, while many, especially the expensive decorative ones, could also be purchased form the itinerant traders who went from house to house and from town to town to market and sell the mat products. Mat-weaving was a lucrative industry that greatly contributed to the economy of Ekiti in the colonial period.

Basketry

Basketry, like the other craft preoccupation of the Ekiti people, was a very common and fascinating industry that serviced nearly all the people’s needs. Basketry, which is the art of weaving un-spun fibers, usually from palm trees, into baskets by the basket makers, was a male occupation among the Ekiti. In fact, basket making was practised by the young and the old.

Children learned it at an early age either by association or family heritage.

Basketry was, thus, one of the easiest crafts to learn during the colonial period. And it also required cheap tools like knife and cutlass to produce, and the materials needed were equally easily available. 222

It is not easy to know how basket making began among the Ekiti. But it was a creative physical activity that was transferred from one generation to the other. But universally, it is believed that the oldest baskets, through radiocarbon dating, are about 10,000 to 12,000 years old, according to

Catherine Erdly. 68 However generally, the art of basketry was learnt in one’s family by association which was why, unlike other local industries in Ekiti, there was no guild for basket makers.

Western education, especially between 1930 and 1960, which made the interest in agriculture very mandatory, also made the use of basket more mandatory or absolutely essential. According to Chief Adelana of Igede

Ekiti; “after closing from school, about 12.30 to 1 p.m. children used to go and meet their parents in their farms and returned from the farms, at about 4 p.m or 5 p.m to settle down for the production of baskets till about 7 p.m”. 69

This situation has made it very clear that basket production was a part-time pre-occupation among the young and the old in Ekiti.

Before 1960, when there were three terms in a calendar year, each primary pupil was made to submit for assessment at least one craft work, which was usually a decorative basket. This practice encouraged craftsmanship and creativity, since each pupil always tried to out-do the other by producing particularly well designed or, at times, coloured baskets which could impress the Handwork teachers. At the end of every year, before

Christmas, these baskets and other items like decorative brooms were sold in the market to generate fund for schools. A lot of pupils helped to improve the 223 financial condition of their parents through basket weaving in the colonial period.

Basket making was very lucrative before independence, because baskets were used for various purposes. For example, as regards agriculture, baskets were used to carry farm produce like yam, cassava, beans, cocoa, plantain and maize. Baskets were also used to store shrine or medicinal objects in various homes, or on behalf of community or town. They were used to store personal valuables or precious properties like clothes, jewelries and other domestic functions. Those baskets that were aesthetically embellished with decorations, including dyes, were used for some social activities such as carrying gifts during coronation and marriage ceremonies.

Such baskets varied in size and structure and were very portable.

Some baskets served as handbags, and musical rattles. Baskets were used as dryers, pot or soup support and as protector for kegs of palmwine.

They were also used as cages for fowls and as sieves during garri, maize and cassava preparation. Baskets of particular shape or design were used to trap fish. Generally, baskets were used in the colonial Ekiti for social, religious, ritual, domestic and agricultural purposes. All these made basketry a very important source of revenue. It is against this backdrop that Chukwunyere stresses that,

Baskets serve as a source of revenue. Basketry in any form is the kind of product every family makes use of. Therefore they are a source of revenue. As patronage increases, so are more hands needed to make the baskets which create employment for people. 70

224

The economic contribution of basketry to the colonial Ekiti cannot be undervalued, for this industry helped to improve the economic conditions of the people.

Blacksmithing

Before external influences, the Ekiti had been known for the tradition of blacksmithing which made it possible for the people to have basic tools for farming and other activities. Ekiti, known for its rocky environment in some areas, provided blacksmiths with “resistant boulders and rocks, mainly granite, for use as anvils and whetstones”. 71 Thus the people were able to produce locally smelted iron as raw material for smithing works. 72 Part of the raw materials used, among others, were palm-kernel shells, charcoal and coconut shells for fuel. Others included “huge blocks of stone used as anvils, smooth-surfaced smaller stones employed as whetstones; bellows constructed with wooden pipes, goat or sheep skin and bamboo sticks, pincers and such other tools made formerly from locally smelted iron”. 73

Since farmers and hunters relied heavily on the products of the forge, blacksmiths were well patronized for their products. They produced all the basic and major tools of farming like hoes and cutlasses, all of a variety of designs and sizes (see Fig. 4.3). The tools used by the adults were different in size from those used by the young boys. Traps of different designs and sizes were also produced for farmers for trapping rats, big animals like lion, leopards, deers, antelopes and dragon snakes. 74 Perhaps the most popular trap was the flat and light iron trap called alupe which nearly every home had in 225 rooms or food stores to trap and kill the rats that used to eat foodstuffs and damage properties.

But a very important product of the Ekiti blacksmiths was what was called dane-gun or sakabula in Ekiti dialect. By 1902, many hunters had already been known for the high number of big and dangerous animals they had killed, particularly for commercial purposes. One of these was Ogidiolu, the Master Hunter, who, according to the story, never returned home from his last hunting expedition after years of hunting artistry. There was also

Atamatase (he who does not miss his target) of Ado-Ekiti who was regarded as having an extraordinary medicinal power. However, apart from the above products of Ekiti blacksmiths of the colonial period, many other works were produced, particularly for religious and domestic use. Some of these were edan rods, iron figurines produced mainly for the Ogboni society. Various iron anklets and rings were also ritual or scared objects which were often commissioned from the blacksmiths. Of cause, nearly every house had an axe or axes for slashing wood. One can now imagine the number of axes that were used for domestic works in the colonial period.

The tradition of blacksmithing seemed to witness a change in the late

1930s when a group of blacksmiths from Awka, Eastern Nigeria, came to

Ekiti to professionalize. One of these, Godwin Okafor, earlier discussed, was based in Igede Ekiti where he eventually made his permanent home. Okafor who later became known as Awka (many people did not even know his real name) brought innovation and richness to the blacksmith tradition of Igede, 226 the same way his fellow “Akwa” changed the face of the profession in other

Ekiti towns. According to Chief A. Akande,

These Isobos (name given to anybody from Eastern region) came and began to make heavy duty guns that could kill 2 or 3 animals at once. They were the first to seriously start producing knife, cutlasses, hoes and others in large quantity for sale. Look at Awka (Okafor), he is small in stature but stronger than many around us. He was the person who first started producing short, rather than the usual long, guns here. Not only that, these Awka people (Okafor has his brothers and sons with him) performed their smithing artistry by producing, for the first time, double barrel guns… that could kill a whole district if there is war…. 75

With the presence of the Awka blacksmiths in Ekiti, many Ekiti people were encouraged to take to this trade, particularly for its economic benefits.

Throughout the colonial period, the Ekiti people relied heavily and mainly on the tools and instruments produced by the blacksmiths for their various trades and activities. There were many other minor craft industries which helped boost the economy of Ekiti in the colonial period. Some of these were fibre furnishing, beading, cane works and body decoration. Each of these had its fruitful economic effect on the Ekiti society, since these craft industries were also heavily patronized by the people. No doubt, the role of art and craft industries cannot be forgotten in the economy of Ekiti, particularly between

1900 and 1960. 227

REFERENCES

1. See Ola Oloidi, “Constraints on the Growth and Development of Modern Nigerian Art in the Colonial Period”. Nsukka Journal of Humanities, Vol. 1, No. 1, pp. 66-73.

2. Kevin Carroll, Yoruba Religious Carving…, 1967, p. IX.

3 Ibid.

4. Michael Olawale, 80 years, a herbalist in 80 years, Iyin Ekiti. Interview conducted on July 3, 2007.

5. Iya Alaje, over 80 years; interview conducted on April 10, 2005 in Ikere-Ekiti.

6. Chief L. Olusawe; interview with the 78 year-old son of a master carver in Igede-Ekiti, February 8, 2006.

7. Interview with Chief M. Adelakin, the son of a wood carver in Ise- Ekiti. Interview conducted on July 10, 2007.

8. Ibid.

9. Interview with Chief Bayo Ajayi, 71 years of Ire-Ekiti on March 10, 2005.

10. Daniel Biebuyck (ed.), Tradition and Creativity in Tribal Art. (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1969), p. 56.

11. See Biebuyck, 1969, Tradition and Creativity…, pp. 55-57 for more elaboration.

12. G.A. Ojo, Yoruba Culture: A Geographical Analysis. (London: University of London Press, 1966), p. 242.

13. Olusawe, 2006; some priests, chiefs and shrine devotees sold many shrine images and commissioned carvers for their replacement.

14. Bascom, W.R. and M.J. Herskovits (eds.), Continuity and Change in African Culture (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1959 ).

15. Interview with Chief R.O. Ojo, 84 years, of Igede on October 10, 2005.

16. Ibid.

17. Biebuyck (ed.), Tradition and Creativity…, p. 55.

18. Mr. Gabriel Babalola, 86 years, retired Post Master in Ado-Ekiti. Interview conducted in November 4, 2005. 228

19. Letter from Father Sean O’Mahomey to Father Patrick Kelly, the Provincial Superior of Irish Province of the African Missions Society dated March 7, 1946. Copy of Document from the Catholic Church, Ado-Ekiti.

20. Kevin Carroll, Yoruba Religious Carving…, 1967, p. 1.

21. Ibid.

22. Ibid., p. 84.

23. Ibid., p. 85.

24. Ibid., p. 6.

25. The Independent, 1961, a publication of Roman Catholic Church (Newspaper).

26. Interview with Mr. Arowolo, G., c. 92 years old, from Otun but based in Lagos. Interview conducted with him on February 16, 2005.

27. Kevin Carroll, Yoruba Religious Carving…, p. 11.

28. Ibid.

29. Ibid., p. 7.

30. Ibid., p. 11.

31. Ibid.

32. Ibid., p. 11.

33. Kevin Carroll, “New Art Tradition of Ekiti”, a Foreword to the Exhibition of Lamidi Fakeye, Oye Ekiti, 1955.

34. Kevin Carroll, “New Art Tradition…,” p. 11.

35. Kenneth C. Murray “Yoruba Carving in Transition, Notes on Nigeria’s Antiquities”, Unpublished Manuscript, National Museum, Lagos, 1958.

36. Kevin Carroll, Yoruba Religious Carving…, p. 1.

37. Ibid.

38. Chief S. Olowokere of Igbara-Oke; over 80 years, Interview conducted on August 10, 2007.

39. Ibid.

40. Ibid. 229

41. See Thelma R. Newman, Contemporary African Arts and Crafts. (New York: Crown Publishers, Inc., 1974), p. 61.

42. Mr. Remond Akinbode, 84years, a retired foreman with the U.A.C., Lagos. Interview conducted on April 14, 2005 in Shomolu, Lagos.

43. Ibid.

44. Ibid.

45. Kevin Carroll, Yoruba Religious Carving…, p. 3.

46. John Babajide, 76 years, from Aramoko Ekiti. A Retired School Headmaster. Interview Conducted on August 13, 2004; also his private document of 1934.

47. Ibid.

48. Dare Ajidahun, “The Textile Art of Ekiti: Types and Symbols”, A Term Paper, Department of Fine and Applied Arts, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, 1979, p. 11.

49. Newman, Contemporary African Arts…, 1974, pp. 124-125.

50. Ajidahun, 1979, p. 16.

51. William Fagg (ed.), The Living Arts of Nigeria. (London: Studio Vista Publishers, 1971), p. 8.

52. Ibid.

53. Ajidahun, p. 17.

54. Newman, Contemporary African Arts…, 1974, p. 69.

55. Ibid., pp. 73-77.

56. A.S. Adeyeye, “Exploring the Stacked and Bundled Traditional Pots of Ekiti State for Conceptual Ceramic Forms and Ideas”, M.F.A. Seminar Paper, May, 2008, Department of Fine and Applied Arts, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, p. 9.

57. Ibid., p. 11.

58. Ibid., pp. 11-20.

59. See I.O. Awosina, “Pottery in Yorubaland: Igbara-Odo and Ara Ekiti as a case study”, Unpublished B.A. Thesis, Department of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, 1984.

60. Adeyeye, 2008, p. 14. 230

61. See G.A. Ojo, Yoruba Culture…, pp. 80-103; 236-268.

62. Interview with “Mama Ajike” of Ikole Ekiti; over 70 years and a former mat weaver; July 2, 2007.

63. See G.A. Ojo, Yoruba Culture…, p. 88.

64. Ibid.

65. Ibid.

66. Ibid.

67. Reverend Jacob Agbede, over 70 years and a retired teacher, Igede- Ekiti. Interview conducted on March 2, 2006.

68. Helen Chukwunkere, “Traditional Basketry in Igboland”, The Guardian, September 27, 2008, p. 42.

69. Jacob Agbebi, 2004.

70. Helen Chukwunyere, p. 42.

71. G.A. Ojo, Yoruba Culture…, p. 93.

72. Ibid., p. 99.

73. Ibid.

74. Ibid., p. 36.

75. Daramola Akande, 84 years, a cocoa farmer and former hunter, Interview conducted in Igede-Ekiti in June, 2006. 231

CHAPTER SIX

TRADE FROM 1900 TO 1960

In 1851, Lagos was annexed as a British colony, and this made the

British officials extend their political interests to the hinterland. The Ekiti

Parapo Wars also provided reasons for the British to penetrate the Ekiti territory, according to them, in order to put an end to the wars. In addition, the British, also in their struggle to stop slave trade, had an uninhibited opportunity to have total control over Yorubaland, including Ekiti. 1 Thus, by

1893, it was easy for the British to bring to an end the various wars which did affect the economic, political and social lives of the people. The First World

War of 1914 to 1918, which was an embarrassment to the British interest in

Yorubaland, particularly, at the time, seriously affected external trade. It did not really affect the domestic or internal trade activities. In fact, very unbelievably, the domestic trade flourished as usual, and helped the Ekiti “to give moral and financial support for the War”. 2

During the First World War, the British successfully brought to an end local wars in order to further promote local trade, particularly through local markets that were the backbone of local economy. It was through these markets that many Ekiti able-bodied men were ale to pay the government levies for the war efforts. It is important, therefore to discuss Ekiti trade during the colonial period, but before this, it is necessary to examine the Ekiti market systems during this period.

232

MARKET SYSTEMS

In colonial Ekiti, and in other Nigeria’s ethnic groups, market was the engine of commerce and the soul of people’s economic activities and growth.

This role of market has not changed till today. But in the context of this discussion, market should be seen as a specially designated site where selling and buying, or exchange of goods, take place between traders and consumers. 3 It can also be any location where buying and selling regularly take place.

Market Functions

According to B.W. Hodder and U.I. Ukwu, the Ekiti markets, like other markets in Yorubaland, are more than economic gatherings or establishment because they were “associated with several non-economic aspects of Yoruba culture”. 4 That is, a market serves other functions. For example, it was an information centre where people, particularly from neighbouring towns, gathered information, consciously or unconsciously, about various social, religious and political events in Ekiti generally.

A market could also be an entertaining arena where local musicians, singers and jesters perform for gifts. And of course, it was generally believed that a market could be a therapeutic place for those who needed healing or spiritual ablution. For example, according Chief Bola Ojo, women looking for the fruits of the womb could be directed by traditional doctors to sweep any area of the market as part of spiritual cleasing. 5 The leaves that dropped from any market tree as well as market pebbles or sand were of medicinal significance to the traditional doctors.6 This is why Hodder and Ukwu 233 believe that “most Yoruba markets are associated with some fetish”, 7 since spirits were “believed to meet and even to live in trees in or around the market places”. 8 Sacrifices were also made to “these market spirits for the peace and tranquility of the town”. 9

A market, in Ekiti, was used for unusual town meetings that required large or community attendance; particularly meetings on child kidnapping, controvercial death or incursion of another town on the community’s land. In addition “offenders were punished or executed” in the market. 10 It was

“believed that a madman could be cured if he had not wandered through the market”. 11 Markets were also used by Christians and Muslims for preaching, while festivals or masquerade activities equally took place in the market areas.

Periodic Markets

All over Ekiti, in the colonial period, periodic markets predominated.

In fact, it was not until the early 1940s that the only daily market in Ekiti began. This was the Oja Oba (Kings Market) in Ado-Ekiti. The Ekiti, unlike other language or ethnic groups, operated a 5-5-day (Ojo marun marun) market; making about six or seven market days a month. In every town, market days were rigidly fixed. That is, a market day that fell on a particular day, like Tuesday for example, could not be changed to any other day for any reason. Market periodicity was so structured that markets in the neighbouring areas would not clash with one another. This was due to what Hodder and

Ukwu describes as “a ring system… composed of a complete and integrated sequence of markets taking place over… periods”.12 Each town had its 234 periodic markets on the days that were different from those of other towns so as to avoid clashes, and in order to allow traders to participate fully in the neighbouring periodic markets. Occasionally, periodic markets could clash, but this situation occurred only between periodic markets or towns that were not close to, therefore distant from, each other. Depending on the commodities that the sellers and the consumers wanted to sell and buy, respectively, where there was this overlap, the alternative was to attend markets that were closest to them and where their trade interests could be best satisfied. What the above discussion shows is that, like in some other

Nigerian groups, “within a market ring, the markets nearest to each other would not hold on the same or consecutive days”, 13 so as to facilitate commerce.

Types of Market

In colonial Ekiti, there were four types of market: open air, premises, shop and road side markets. The open air market also had two types: the major and minor or support market. The major markets were usually big in size and found near kings’ palaces. Early in the colonial Ekiti, many churches and mosques were located near major markets to allow easier propagation of their doctrines. Major markets were those that attracted the neighbouring and distant towns to them because of their rich or greater varieties of consumer goods. Mainly made up of women, the population of major markets, depending also on the population of the towns, ranged from about two thousand to about ten thousand; and about one-third of each market population coming from other towns. The major markets, also known in 235 many Ekiti towns as king’s markets, were the ones most attractive to both local and distant trade. They were the main arenas for commerce.

In fact, it was in the major market that unlimited varieties of local foodstuffs were sold. These were in addition to all products of local industries. Women, particularly, travelled to various Ekiti major weekly markets to purchase these products. For example, mat traders travelled to the mat weaving centres like Ipoti, Ogotun and Are to buy, in large quantity, mats which they sold in other Ekiti markets. Some mat weavers sometimes sold their products in other towns by themselves. Pottery wares which were very common trade commodities in the colonial Ekiti were also sold the same way.

Pottery wares produced mainly in Ara and few other Ekiti towns, were also sold in Ekiti markets. These pottery products were bought at the production locations and then carried by headcarriers to other locations for sale. Since the pottery products were very indispensable to domestic and other needs, trade in them prospered greatly in the colonial Ekiti, particularly when foreign and competing products, like aluminum pots, plates, bowls and buckets were not yet common.

Also, woven textiles, which were very easy to carry and transport and which were commonly produced in every Ekiti town, were very important articles of internal trade in the colonial Ekiti. These were cloths produced with both narrow and broad looms. Those produced with narrow looms were usually sold by men, while those woven on the broad looms were sold by women. These woven textiles were carried on market days to various Ekiti towns for sale. 236

Apart from major markets, there were also minor or support markets.

Unlike the major markets, minor markets could be sited at any area but, usually on streets within a town. However, there were two types of minor or support markets in many towns. One was used occasionally and the other was also weekly like the major market. The occasional one was made functional only when a king died, and this would be for a specified duration. It could also be used as a result of sectional or collective rebellion or protest against a king. That is, it was an abomination to make such market functional unless the above reasons incited it. The minor weekly market was always functional, like the major market, but with far less “marketing capacity in terms of size, population, popularity and commodities”. 14

But there was another type of market; premises market, a very popular form of market in colonial Ekiti. This type, found in some house premises on major streets, was in use from the evening till night, particularly by women who were occupied with other businesses from morning till noon or evening.

The items sold in the premises market were common food items like salt, matches, palm oil, pepper, dry fish or crayfish as well as soap and other domestic items. Another type of market emerged in the colonial period, namely the “shop market” where several goods, including stationeries, were sold. This innovation began around the 1920s when several imported

European goods, and when educational materials, were becoming part of the people’s essential needs. With this type of shop market, particularly in big towns, many landlords converted some rooms in their buildings into shops, particularly for rent or commercial reasons. 237

The least popular type of market in colonial Ekiti was the roadside market which usually took place on the roads, also farm roads, that linked one town to the other. On these roads, goods could be spread on the ground for sale. They could also be bought directly on the roads from the sellers who were yet to get to their designated market compartments. Such buyers used to resell in the main markets the products bought this way; since the products were generally cheaper in price when bought on the road. However, in colonial Ekiti, a town could have up to ten markets, both major and minor.

The more strategically located a town was, the more commercially viable it was and therefore, the more markets it was likely to have. Such towns included Ado, Ikere, Ilawe and Ikole. Each of these towns, including Igede, had not less than three neighbouring towns bordering it. Towards the end of colonization, and with increase in population, many weekly markets became daily, especially in the urban towns.

Market Organization

The colonial Ekiti markets, as regards physical layout, were demarcated and allocated according to commercial commodities.

Commodities had separate locations which allowed easy location by the consumers. These commodities could be sold on bare ground without shade, but traditionally, market goods were sold under shades of either trees, thatched roofs, tents or stalls supported with stakes, bamboo trees or other wooden materials. Each stall or allotted space for a particular product was known as iso. There were, therefore, different iso for yam, cassava, palm oil, vegetables, meat, goat, fowls and cloths, for instance. In the early colonial 238 period, the Ekiti markets had no tradition of modern stall system “apart from some thatched and easily collapsible or fragile sheds”. 15

The modern stall system was introduced to Ado-Ekiti in 1940, and in

1941, it had spread to other towns like Ikere, Emure Ise, Ijero, Igede, Iyin,

Aramoko, Ilawe, Ifaki, Igbemo, Igbaro-Odo and Omuo. The Ekiti DO conceived the idea of building modern stalls in 1931, but after a prolonged debate, the idea was dropped for lack of fund. For this reason, stalls were not built in most Ekiti towns by government until the late 1940s. This was when it was agreed, at a meeting chaired by the DO, R.E. Brown, in Ado-Ekiti in

1947, that stalls should be built, particularly for economic, reasons. That is,

It was agreed that if the suggested sum of £25,000 (#50,000) is for the erection of market-stalls, then as far as possible this should be a revenue earning project, reasonable rent being charged for each stall. 16

From 1948, therefore, because government realized that a lot of money could be generated from stall rentage, many stalls were built by government in many towns, particularly those with large population.

Though not all Ekiti towns enjoyed this modern market system, the stalls suddenly became a productive and well cherished market culture for domestic trade. For example, goods, particularly perishable ones, that were earlier spread on the ground were more appropriately shaded by or accommodated in stalls, thereby making the goods retain their freshness for a longer period. And traders who used to vacate the market early because of the blazing sun during the dry season and the soaking rain during the rains could stay longer in the market to sell their goods. 239

This was very promising, because those who would not have been able to go to market, for one reason or the other to purchase their needs, could easily take advantage of the longer time made possible by the stall system.

But, perhaps, more importantly, the stall system saved many Ekiti traders the burden of carrying their goods home at the close of each market, or, in the case of daily market, everyday. Such goods were left in the stalls guarded by market security guards or night watchmen.

However, since markets were predominantly populated by women, the leadership of every market was under a woman Chief known as Iyaloja or Iya

Oloja (the Mother of the Market). 17 In some towns, she was called Iya Alaje.

She supervised over the affairs of the market which included price control, settling of dispute, security and sanitation. Under the Iyaloja , there were supposed to be peace, material prosperity, order and market security through the services of night watchmen known as olode. She must also see to the keeping of market’s sanitary law which made it mandatory for all sellers to clean up their sheds or stalls before vacating market. 18 Her position was so powerful that all trade associations that generally made up each market respected and obeyed her instructions which were also supported by the king who conferred on her the chieftaincy title of Iyaloja . However, having examined the Ekiti markets in the colonial period, it is now necessary to discuss trade in Ekiti during this period. There were two types of trade during the colonial period: the domestic or internal and the external.

240

DOMESTIC TRADE

In the context of this study, domestic, also internal or local, trade should be understood as trade within Ekiti and between Ekiti and its immediate neighbours as well as other groups in Nigeria. Five types of traders were responsible for the domestic trade of Ekiti between 1900 and

1960, and each category contributed to the economic activities of this period.

These were the petty or small scale traders, market traders, shop keepers, off- market traders and long distance traders.

Petty Traders

Petty traders carried out their businesses at home, usually in the premises of their houses where passers-by could easily notice their trade products. Goods sold by these traders needed no advertisement as such, because some people in the neighbourhood were already aware of them. She continued; there was no time restriction for sale, and even children could be sent, late at night, to purchase needed items from these traders. Petty trading needed very little capital to operate. Some kiosks could be constructed for the goods while many preferred displaying their products inside metal or basket trays on elevated objects like tables or unused kerosene tins. The common items sold by the petty traders were dry fish or meat, powder, needle and thread, mirror, comb, pencil, salt, sugar, pepper, palm oil and chewing stick. Others included melon, sweets, matches, sponge, soap and onion as well as body lotion. Occasionally, petty traders made their products mobile by telling their children to hawk them at night on the nearby streets. Such advertised products were “mainly kerosene and matches that were usually 241 loudly advertised in beautiful, tonal sing-song version” 19 It is important to note that petty traders were mainly women.

Market Traders

Market traders were those who regularly brought their consumer goods for sale in the market. They had their permanent isos, sheds, which were clearly compartmentalized to show individual allotted spaces and separate locations for different market commodities. Market traders, particularly women, who also formed about two-third of a market population, were mostly housewives who usually brought either products from their husbands’ farms, or those bought by them, to the market for sale. Unlike the petty traders, market traders had more capital to engage in their trade businesses.

Though the market traders were generally retailers, many were wholesalers or both. The Ekiti market women, according to Johnson Wald, the DO, were great psychologists who knew how to attract or lure customers to themselves. 20 Johnson continued:

Even a well known nagging woman changes her nature when it comes to market trade. With utmost facial expressiveness, she very politely attracts a customer with sharp and polite statement, with a smile… “ekaa bo o, ejoo, ebawa wobi” (welcome, please kindly take a look at my shed or products). Customers generally became victims…21

By the late 1930s, more men had become market traders, and many of these came from neighbouring towns to sell items like cutlasses, axes, guns, hunting traps and carved or decorated calabashes. 22 From distant areas were also Hausa and Fulani men who began to sell sugar cane, beads, Arabian 242 perfumes, leather bags, goats, cattles and various medicinal concoctions. In the late 1940s, the number of Igbo market traders increased, and with bicycles, they sold their products in various weekly markets in Ekiti. By the early 1950s, more men had become market traders, though the population of market women also began to increase. Many of these market men came from distant areas like Ibadan, Oyo, Ilesha, Osogbo, Abeokuta and Ilorin. They traded in woven cloths, embroidered caps, velvet cloths, salt and various craft works. However, there seemed to be no limit to the number of goods sold by market traders in colonial Ekiti. The goods for sale included a variety of cooked foods by the indigenous traders who also traded in almost all available farm, local and foreign industrial products.

Traditionally and customarily, in the late 1930s, goods meant for sale were carried by family members from home or farm to the central or major markets on their heads. But with the introduction of motor and other forms of transportation systems in the 1940s, market traders had a faster and easier mode of transporting their goods. Very dominant in the trade were farm products as well as utilitarian domestic goods. Most notable among these were rice, vegetables, yam (Dioscorea cayenensis), kolanut, palm oil, cassava

(Manihot utilissima), groundnuts (Arachis hypogaea), Okra (Hibiscus esculentus), maize (Zea mays) and melon (cucumis melo). Others were plantain (Musearadiscaca), banana (Musa sapientum), pawpaw (carica papaya), tomato (Licoperiscum esculentum) and pineapple (Ananas sativus), among others. 23 Other trade products were cloths as well as various textile materials, art and craft works, educational materials, farm tools, hunting tools, 243 domestic utilitarian objects, decorative objects, assorted herbs, baskets, mats, pottery wares, calabashes and gourds. These were in addition to numerous imported products which were sold in the market, particularly by the Igbo traders in the 1950s.

The commercial activities of the market traders were controlled by some taboos. For example, to dose away in the market was believed to be a sign of impending bad luck in business. 24 It was also taken to be against the law of orisa oja, the god of the market. 25 To quarrel with anyone before leaving home or on the way to market was considered a bad omen to business. And it was unacceptable for a customer to give money to a market trader with a left hand. This was not only seen as a pollution of business, it was also considered a sign of witchcraft. 26

Shop Keepers

Unlike shop market which began in Ekiti in the 1920s, shop keeping became part of Ekiti domestic trade in the 1940s, particularly with the influence of big time shop keepers like the U.A.C. and John Holt companies.

Shop market was different from shop keeping in that while shop market, like a stall, contained goods which were ordinarily found in the open market and in small quantity, shop keeping had a great quantity of goods in stock. Unlike shop market traders, shop keepers needed a large capital which made them wholesale buyers. 27 The shop keepers were usually middlemen who were also credit worthy. Many of these shop keepers, particularly in Ado-Ekiti,

Ikere, Ifaki, Omuo, Igede, Ilawe, Aramoko, Ise, Ikole and Iyin for example, acquired their stock of goods especially from the U.A.C. and John Holt. 244

The goods were mainly imported materials like cloths, building, cooking, farming and educational materials and other manufactured goods. It must be stated that some shop markets transformed into shop keeping in the

1940s when there was enough capital for the owners of the shop market to make this possible. By the 1950s, shop keeping had become a very popular part of Ekiti domestic trade. Rather than stocking and selling mainly industrial products, shop keeping extended its acquisition to cover provisions and foodstuffs like rice, beans, flour, which were being sold in bags. There were also provisional shops. Various shops also opened for cash crops like cocoa and palm kernels. The shop keepers usually sold their goods to small scale traders, retailers and other consumers.

Off-Market Traders

There was another dimension to Ekiti trade in some agricultural products, particularly between 1930 and 1960. This, according to Yoloye of

Ado-Ekiti, was known as “off market trade system” where the products for trading were not, or never, brought to market but left unharvested in the farm for buyers’ own assessment and price negotiation. 28 The farm products that were involved in this type of trade were usually or mainly cocoyam and cassava. And those involved in this type of trade were usually big time women traders “who had secured enough capital that could make them take any trade risk”. 29 What happened was that some cocoyam or cassava farmers would, on request, take some dealers in these products to their farms which could be some kilometers away from town. The cocoyam or cassava plantation could occupy acres of land or several plots of land. The trade 245 arrangement was unwritten but was based on trust. Yet commercial default in this trade pact business was very rare. According to Chief Oluwatoba

Olusawe of Igede-Ekiti, this practice appeared unique to, or practised by, the

Ekiti farmers. 30

Ekiti farmers planted more of, cocoyam which was easier to “farm” than yam. Naturally, therefore, trade activities centred on cocoyam which also sold faster in Ekiti than yam. Traders used to go to neighbouring towns to buy off cocoyam plantations even before maturity. 31 With this, both weeding and harvesting became the duty of the buyers. Cocoyam trade in

Ekiti could not be underestimated when considering the economy of Ekiti before independence. Because in the colonial period, it was cocoyam of Ekiti, not yam, that made the Ekiti people a “pounded yam” society. As stated above, cassava was another farm product that was sold off-market, like cocoyam, in an unharvested stage. But because the Ekiti people ate little of cassava products, most of the cassava yields were sold to traders, both within and outside each town. The traders would transport them to Ondo and Ijebu regions where cassava products were more heavily patronized and accepted as a staple food.

Long Distance Trade

Long distance trade (LDT) was the transaction of trade businesses far beyond the trader’s local environment. Such trade took the trader several kilometers outside his home base. 32 It was, therefore, a commercial venture that made the distance, or itinerant, trader transact trade business in “diverse communities and territories with varying cultures and political systems”. 33 246

LDT can also be seen as trade which required long distances between towns.

34 According to Onwuka Njoku, LDT has its unique characteristics. For example, LDT has to contend with problems of “transportation, security, living accommodation and storage facilities; it is a male dominated trade, unlike the local trade that is dominated by women; LDT is for a full-time professional trader and very essentially, it requires a lot of capital to embark on. 35

In Ekiti, the history of LDT can be traced to the late 19 th century after the Kiriji war. Between 1890 and 1900, many Ekiti men were labourers in

Agbabu, Ijebu, Abeokuta and Ibadan. While in Ibadan, Abeokuta and Ijebu, these labourers were mainly farm workers, and in Agbabu, they were log carriers or pullers. The Ekiti labourers used to be given occasional casual leave to visit their wifes and other relations in Ekiti. In the process of visiting, the labourers realized that more money could be made by trading in commodities that were needed both in Ekiti and their new stations. This was how the labourers began to use the money realized in their stations to buy goods, including the much needed “cutlasses and salt which they sold at home. 36 On their way back to their stations, the labourers would also buy items like traditional black soap, woven cloths, large quantity of maize paste called egute or aadun as well as different types of dried bush meat. Hides of animals like leopard, deer, antelope, alligator were also taken out of Ekiti for sale. This was how “some of them developed a taste for trade” and eventually they became itinerant traders rather than labourers. 37 247

By 1908, many Ekiti men working on the new rail road in Osogbo attracted some Ekiti men to the lucrativeness of palm kernel in Osogbo. For this reason, the Ekiti farmers “began to carry palm kernel to Oshogbo and as usual returned with cutlasses and salt”. 38 From Osogbo, the farmers would also buy clothing materials like trousers and singlets as well hand bags and trinklets which were also sold in Ekiti. LDT in palm kernel and other goods between Ekiti, Osogbo and Ibadan, between 1910 and the late 1920s, was usually carried out on foot; and this required three to four days journey with resting allowance on the trade route. 39 But the farthest LDT in Ekiti took place in the early 1930s when many Ekitis, particularly from Okemesi and

Ido Ajinare from Ekiti North-West, travelled to Gold Coast (Ghana) to work in the gold mine. One of these was Oladokun, from Okemesi, who, apart form learning tailoring and photography, came back with a variety of jewelries which the Ekiti women were rushing to buy. 40 Eventually, some

Ekiti traders, seeing the commercial success of selling jewelries, began to travel to Gold Coast, which, at that time, was known as Oke Okun or

Overseas, to trade in gold.

In the 1930s, LDT was already a prominent aspect of Ekiti trade.

Particularly with the emergence of bicycles, trade in woven cloths, particularly those woven on narrow loom, became more popular and lucrative, and trade in them boomed between Ekiti, Oyo and Ibadan people.

With bicycles, many male traders were also able to transport their materials, particularly “between 1932 and 1940, to other very far away communities in

Ilesha and Osogbo for sale”. 41 Because of the mobility the bicycles provided, 248 these long distance cloth sellers started the tradition of selling on credit; since they had the easy means of going back to their customers to collect their money.

There were other items which were also indispensable to, and in fact an integral part of, LDT in the colonial Ekiti in the 1950s. These were items that were “a must for sale and buying”, according to the present Iyaloja of Igede

Ekiti, Chief (Mrs.) Ifeloro Ijaodola. 42 For example, salt was usually bought by

Ekiti rich traders in large quantities from the present Oyo State. Distributors from some Ekiti towns would go to dealers in Ado to collect the salt and sell to their customers who would also sell this in the markets. Egute (maize paste from corn) was another trade product that was heavily patronized by

Ibadan and Oyo children and adults. It could be in a powder or flour form or mixed with palm oil and salt to have a very delicious taste. In those days,

“egute (usually wrapped in fresh plantain leaves) were very common food items sent by parents or friends to their people in Lagos and Ibadan (among other cities) in Western Region”. 43 Many Ekiti women took advantage of this and regularly transported the food item to Ibadan and Lagos.

Another Ekiti product that attracted LDT was the traditional soap called osedudu (black soap) which was always produced by women. Many

Ekiti towns were known for the production of this traditional soap, and each town could have not less than four to five producers. But it is important to know that even these few soap makers could produce enough soap for the needs of the neighbouring towns. This is to say that the few but highly professional Ekiti soap makers were able to mass produce sufficient soap to 249 meet the needs of Ekiti and the neighbouring as well as distant peoples. One must also recognize that soap was used for purposes other than bathing and laundry. It was used for spiritual or herbological purposes, which was why it was always bought in large quantities by the traditional doctors or herbalists, particularly in Ijebu, Abeokuta and Ilesha. For this reason, both male and female Ekiti traders were transporting the soap to the above cities for sale.

According to Iya Olose (soap maker) of Iyin Ekiti, customers used to come periodically from Ilorin (in the present Kwara State) and Benin (in ) to collect large quantities of her soap. 44

Perhaps plantain was the most popular agricultural product sought after by the long distance traders, and it appeared that the lorry transport favoured plantain trade more in colonial Ekiti or in the 1950s. This was because numerous plantain traders who were earlier employing the services of head carriers for long distance trade began to hire these vehicles, though by booking well in advance. Plantain traders who could not negotiate with farmers on farm locations would go from one market to the other within the week and buy plantain in heaps. The piles of plantain would be loaded in a lorry for transportation to, particularly Lagos, Ibadan and other big cities in the old Western Region. Some of the lorries usually used for plantain transportation carried the inscriptions “Babu Iri Allah” “No King as God”,

“Allah De”, “Why Worry”, “Ai Ma Siko”, “Ola Oluwa” and “Anu Oluwa”.

These lorries were popularly known and identified by the inscriptions written very boldly on them, usually with very attractive bright yellow, white and red colours. 45 250

The trade in plantain boomed because plantain was heavily bought in the cities by women who fried or rosted the ripe ones for sale on road sides.

The fried ones were known as dodo while the roasted ones were called boli.

Various professionals and government workers saw these as cheap and quicker substitute for lunch.

Kolanut was another important commodity for LDT in Ekiti . Between

1920 and 1940 particularly, Ekiti Division, according to Administrative

Report on agriculture, was filled with countless, Hausa traders hungrily looking for kolanuts to buy. According to the report:

These generally slim tall elegant Hausa traders, usually known as goro-gbanja (words used by them to advertise their intension to buy kolanuts), with sacks and well sheathed sharp knives hidden in their upper arms, and at times with short native guns move from house to house buying all available kolanuts (preferably gbanja). With little scattered Ekiti words or language, these Hausa traders have made themselves very familiar to people, even children who are always the first to announce their presence with “goro-gbanja has come”. Their trade routes outside the Ekiti Division are not easily known but they usually come through either Ilorin. Kabba, Lokoja from the North or Shagamu, Ife, Ilesha on the Lagos axis. 46

The above is corroborated by Chief Oluwafemi Ojo of Igede-Ekiti who gave detailed and important information on the operations of these Hausa kolanut buyers before 1960. Ojo, whose father was a big-time kolanut farmer, narrated how these Hausas usually had what can be called Area

Mallams, or Hausa Heads, whose house were made, but not always, the

“depots” for these kolanuts that awaited evacuation to other centres. From these centres, they were carried by head to where they would be transported 251 to the North for sale. 47 According to Ojo, the kolanuts bought in Igede and other areas were packed either in baskets or bags and taken to Oshogbo through Aramoko, Ilesha and Ile-Ife. From Oshogbo, these kolanuts were transported to Ibadan from where they were taken to the North by train. But by the 1950s, kolanuts were being transported to either Oshogbo, Ibadan or

Lagos by lorries. At the same period, the kolanuts bought by the Hausa traders in Ikole, Ifaki, Omuo and other towns in the same geographical locations were transported to Lokoja by road through Kabba. From Lokoja the kolanuts were transported to Baro where they were transported by train to various locations in the North. 48

However, depending on where the Hausa kolanut traders had their depots, kolanuts were generally transported by train from Lagos, Abeokuta,

Ibadan and Ilorin to Zungeru. From Zungeru they would be taken by train to

Kano through Minna, Kaduna and Zaria. But shortly before independence, motor vehicles were used to support train in the transportation of kolanuts to the North. It is very interesting to know that nearly all the names of the

Hausa kolanut traders of the 1950s in Ekiti are still vividly remembered by

Alhaji Musa, an eighty-two-year old cattle dealer from Kano whose father,

Mallam Momondu (Muhammed) was the Head of the Hausa community and

Area Mallam in Igede in the 1950s (see table 6.1). According to Musa, “I know all these people since the same Hausa traders who bought kola in Ikere,

Ise, Ikole, Iworoko and Ado, for example, also came to Igede for the same business”. 49

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Table 6.1: Names of some Hausa Kolanut Buyers in Ekiti 1945-1960 Name Place/Area of Origin Age Mallam Aminu Sokoto Around 65 Soudu Unknown Around 67 Mallam Bidda Kano Around 40 Yinusa Kaduna Around 40 Rasaki (Rasak) Unknown Around 65 Musa Zaria Around 70 Monmodu (Mohammed) Kano Around 70 Umaru Kano Around 30 Abu Kafanchan Around 40 Ahmadu (Ahmed) Kano Around 30 Sanusi Unkown Around 70 Sule Sokoto Around 30 Goto (Goggo) Nasarawa Around 50 Aliyu Zaia Around 40 Mallam Sokoto Sokoto Around 60 Adamu Sokoto Around 50 Li Kafanchan Around 60 Goro Biu Kano Around 65 Saliu Kaduna Around 40 Tofa Kano Around 40 Sanni (Sani) Unknown Around 60 Bello Unknown Around 50 Yaya Zaria Around 40 Yakubu Unknown Around 40 Seriki Katsina Around 70 Hassan Sokoto Around 60 Daladi (Danladi) Unknown Around 30 Mamunu (Mamman) Kano Around 50 Shehu Katsina Around 60 Salisu Unknown Around 30 Gambari Sokoto Around 60 Source: Oral and Arabic records of Alhaji Musa’s family in Igede- Ekiti as kept by Musa’s father Mallam Monmodu (Muhammed) in the 1950s.

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Organization of Trade

Local trade in colonial Ekiti had many organizational structures, some of which have already been indirectly examined in our discussion. It is, however, important to now discuss these in detail for proper understanding. If trade is here understood as a business transaction that involves the exchange of products or goods for money or commodities, then the community, clan, family and individuals should be seen as responsible for various organizational features of the colonial Ekiti local trade. This is because all trade features were organized through these social levels. For example, the market system, which has been elaborately discussed, came about as a result of community’s, or town’s, determination to evolve an enduring and most popular form of trade. That is, trade in Ekiti was so organized that market days in, particularly, neighbouring and even distant towns were fixed in a way that would not bring any clash in market periods. This was to allow maximum trade transactions between different towns. But this is not saying that occasionally some markets, especially between two distant towns, did not take place simultaneously. The community and individuals also created room for intra-marketing and inter-marketing systems of trade. Intra-marketing explains the commercial activities of buying goods from a section or sections of a particular market and moving to a section or sections of the same market to sell the same products for profit.

Such people, usually women, depended on the available market commodities for their trade transactions, without bringing any trade product either from their houses or farms. The bigger a market space the more 254 thriving intra-marketing was, because the stall of the intra-marketer used to be reasonably distant from where the intra-marketer bought her goods. But, at times, distance made no difference because those who sold goods to the intra-marketers must have made their own profits, not minding whether or not the intra-marketers sold at higher prices or had their stalls near their own. In fact, some market women used to sell off their products this way so as to allow them attend to other businesses at home.

But intra-marketing also became very popular with men who specialized in buying light or easily carried market goods from the market and selling the same products by parading them throughout the market. The products usually bought and sold were beads, earrings, necklaces, knives, cutlasses and other farming instruments as well as decorative mats, carved calabashes, children’s wares, cosmetics, musical instruments and other utilitarian goods. To quickly sell their products, these intra-marketers, usually made use of rattles and bells to attract customers. Trade in the colonial Ekiti was also organized in such a way that allowed inter-marketing.

Since market periods were spaced so that there would be no clashes in the market days of the neighbouring towns, inter-market trade was able to thrive and this became a very popular form of commerce. This was because, the inter-marketers regularly bought some goods in one market for sale in another, usually neighbouring, market where these products were in great demand. That is, a trader could go to a neighbouring or a distant market, with or without goods, to buy products which would be marketed in another town 255 or market. There was also LDT which has already been discussed. This was an important and prominent part of the colonial Ekiti organization of trade.

Trade in Ekiti was organized in such a way as to take into consideration the role or the contribution of children; what was popularly known as children marketing. Children marketing “which was of great help to parents, particularly women”, was a regular feature of colonial Ekiti trade, particularly before 1953. 50 Children were made to sell certain domestic or utilitarian items either very early in the morning or late in the evening in the quarters or street not very far away from their homes. In the morning, they were made to sell food items like eko or agidi, moimoi (moyin moyin), cooked beans, maize paste, akara, fried yam, garri, sugar as well as adin (palm kernel pomade), chewing sticks and sponges. In the evening, items children were made to sell included palm oil, matches, kerosene, salt, pepper, melon, crayfish, okro and tomatoes. 51 These children were usually made to wake up early around 6 a.m., to carry out their trade activities and return home within

30 or 40 minutes. They must all return home before 7 a.m. so as to prepare for and get to school at 8 a.m. Children who were involved in this type of trade always rigidly kept to time, particularly because their areas of trade operation were close to their houses”. 52

Trade was also well organized in colonial Ekiti by giving special attention to trade specialization. For example, some towns, communities, clans and families were known for the production and supply of “particular local foodstuffs and industrial products, and thus the people knew which market to visit for their rare but special purchases”. 53 Such towns that 256 acquired the status of trade specialization, particularly in rice, tobacco, pottery and mat weaving have been discussed in chapters four and five.

However, some other foodstuffs and industrial products also made many towns specialization centres. For example, the production of black soap was one of the main industrial occupations of the following towns, among others:

Ilawe, Iyin, Igede, Aramoko, Ifaki, Ado, Ire, Igbaro-Odo, Omuo and Awo.

These towns produced a large quantity of soap which were being patronized not only by the Ekiti people but also by traders from outside Ekiti. 54

Ijero, Ado, Isan, Ikere, Emure, Efon, Ilawe, Igede, Ikoro, Ijan and

Igbemo, among others, were known for the production of ogiri, the paste produced with cotton seeds popularly used for preparing soup. The more popular soup ingredient, iru, from shea butter tree, was a common industrial product of Omuo, Omuo-Oke, Ikole, Ilasa, Ise, Ilumoba, Otun, Igogo, Ido,

Aiyedun and Ogotun. Omuo, Ilasa, Ise, Ogbese, Arigidi, Ikole, Iyin, Ijes-Isu,

Gogo, Igede and Ijan were popular centres of eko, pap, from maize. 55 One of the most sought after food items, usually eaten as snacks, was egute or adun.

The towns that specialized in producing this highly marketable maize paste, which can be in powder or solid form, were Efon, Ikole, Aramoko and Ikoro.

In terms of trade, it was the tradition in the colonial Ekiti for many traders to periodically travel to particular towns to buy, in large quantity, the above products which they would in turn market in other towns.

And even within a town, trade organization was clearly seen in the way people respected and rigidly accepted trade specialization within some families and clans. That is, in every town, some families were known as 257 either soap makers (olose) , meat sellers (ologun or eleran), palm kernel oil producers (aladin), cloth dyers (alaro), body scarifyers (alabe), tatooist

(olonan), face markers (akola) or herbalists/traditional doctors (onisegun).

Each of these professions or trade continued to grow in the respective families or clans because it was transferred, or given continuity, from one generation to another.

Trade Technique

Trade in colonial Ekiti had its very effective technique that “initially attracted the attention of we Europeans”. 56 In Ekiti, there was the saying that a real successful trader was one who was very adept in price negotiation and a very patient seller. 57 This makes it necessary to discuss the culture of haggling, an interesting aspect of local trade in Ekiti. According to Johnson

Wald, the ADO in Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti women, particularly, were professional price negotiators, which was why many traders and buyers spent considerably long hours in the market, “trying to outwit and outsmart one another”. 58 As he observed,

Price negotiation in Ekiti market usually starts with a very gentle and familiar greeting from a buyer which, in fact, indicates the buyer’s intention to buy from a seller. The seller also responds with an equally, but more familiar, reaction that also shows her readiness or eagerness to sell. But this market friendship may not advance beyond this stage since, depending on the buyer/seller’s tolerance, price negotiation can degenerate into hot exchanges or quarrel which can also suddenly change into friendship. A buyer can pretend to hurriedly walk away from a seller only to be called back politely by the seller with or without the seller’s shift in her price position… without doubt, both sellers and buyers in Ekiti market are 258

naturally gifted in the art of price negotiation. They are wonderful psychologists in commerce. 59

The above description was especially apt, particularly in negotiating price of non-agricultural products or goods, or when non-perishable products were involved. Ekiti sellers, like others in other Yoruba ethnic groups, usually deliberately jacked up prices of their goods when buyers first approached them. This was because they knew that stiff negotiation awaited them from the buyers while pricing; they knew that no matter how low the prices were, buyers would still price them down. Prices were thus negotiated until there was agreed settlement. But the beauty of haggling, generally, was that at the end, both the seller and the buyer usually went home smiling and satisfied. One must not however forget that a particular taboo was associated with haggling, and the sellers were very fanatically obedient to this. It was a taboo that the first buyer who approached a seller to buy goods must be definitely allowed to buy the goods, no matter how low the person had priced; believing that if the person was not allowed to buy such goods, the seller would not make sales for the day. The first buyer, according to the Ekiti sellers, always “brought good luck for the seller”.60 That first money was considered good-luck money. But in a situation where a seller must, for one or more very valid reasons, refuse to sell to the first bidder or customer, the seller would, also by tradition, politely request the customer to please just touch her right palm with any amount in her possession before leaving the seller’s stall. 259

It was never in the culture of the Ekiti people to pay for any commodity at the first price given by a seller. This was why when Patterson and Zochonis (PZ) opened a shop at Ado-Ekiti in the 1940s, with each of the goods in the shop already marked with a price, which, of course, could not be negotiated, it became very strange to the people. This new development eventually produced the saying, particularly when other European companies followed this tradition, that “he who goes to a European shop to buy something has gone there to buy gold or money”. 61 But by the early 1950s with increase in literacy, the Ekiti people had got used to this tradition.

But one can still wonder why there were no significant differences between the price of one seller and the other. This is where occupational, market or professional associations became most relevant to the Ekiti domestic trade of the colonial period.

Trade Organizations and Trade Control

Without doubt, professional associations or organizations were an integral part of local trade in colonial Ekiti. These professional organizations were responsible for fixing prices for their members who would then use their judgement to go either a little higher or lower. The number of trade organizations was almost as many as the number of trade commodities, both agricultural and industrial. 62 For example in Ado-Ekiti alone, in 1936, there were associations of weavers, dyers (egbe alaro), wood cavers (egbe agbena), cloth sellers (egbe alaso), palm wine sellers (egbe elemu), meat sellers (egbe ologun), butchers (egbe alapata) and soap makers (egbe olose). These were in addition to others like blacksmiths guild (egbe alagbede), herbs or 260 medicine sellers association (egbe elegbogi) , association of assorted goods sellers (egbe oniwosiwosi), association of embroiders (egbe onijakan) and bead workers association (egbe alayun).

These associations made trade in the colonial Ekiti thrive very well.

But associations were not formed in Ekiti for those industrial products and other trade commodities that were usually commonly produced by each family or household, unlike the above mentioned ones. These commodities were baskets, yam, cassava, plantain, cocoyam, okro, among others. It was the responsibility of every trade organization to check or prevent any problem that might affect good trade relations among members. These organizations were to enforce, through their leaders, the rules governing them. The leaders of these organizations were greatly respected, and their positions as leaders were for life; unless grave offences which could make people reject them were committed by them.

Trade associations were to see that good quality products were sold.

They also made sure that association members did not buy stolen goods for sale. To avoid dispute or disagreement among various trade organizations, members were always warmed by their leaders not to accept apprentices that already belonged to other members without first clearing with the masters of these apprentices. In the colonial Ekiti, associations had a law that no member should, for any reason, show interest in any trade agreement of another member, and any trade disagreement in association membership should be reported to the leader of an association instead of going to the king who, though traditionally and symbolically, was the head of all the 261 association heads. It was the association head who would decide whether or not a trade dispute should be taken to the king for settlement.

Funding

In the colonial Ekiti, traders were able to raise the capital to finance their various trade activities through many sources. The amount needed for business transactions also depended on the nature and type of trade the traders engaged in. Some men depended entirely on their farm products to finance other businesses without borrowing money from anybody. These were usually big-time farmers with many aids like their wives, children and relations working with them. By the 1930s, many of these farmers had had diversified businesses that elevated them to the position of financiers who were able to lend money to young men, “particularly newly graduated trade apprentices who needed money to begin their own businesses”. 63 While some of these financiers got some interests on the borrowed money or loan,

“many waved this either for matrimonial, lineage, fraternity or religious reasons”. 64 In fact, some financiers for these same reasons, among others, got only half or part of the amount given out back while, in some cases, these financiers refused to take any amount back from their debtors. Chief Akinola of Okekere, Ikere-Ekiti, Clement Aladesuru of Afin quarters, Igede-Ekiti and

Chief Solomon Olajiga of Ise-Ekiti were good examples of these kind gestures in the 1940s. 65

Many Ekiti women were also able to raise capitals for their trade through gains from the sales of their husbands’ farm products particularly in the market. It must be understood that these women who were naturally 262 gifted in the art of commerce, were not cheating their husbands. Rather, they usually sold their market products more than the price dictated by their husbands, giving them the opportunity to make their own gains. Through this practice, many Ekiti women were able to build their own business ventures.

Another means of sourcing money for trading was through a professional money collector known as alajo. Alajo was somebody, man or woman, who was already known in the community for very sond moral quality; loyal, trustworthy, honest or reliable and not greedy. 66 An alajo was known for his or her punctuality and the ability to meet all appointments without any disappointment. People made daily contributions to alajo for at least one month before any contributor could ask for his money. There was no fixed amount for this daily contribution, but “usually it was not less than one penny in the 1920s”. 67 But generally the amount usually collected from contributors ranged from I penny to 3 pence in the 1920s. And by the 1930s and 1940s, according to Madam Atinuke Ojo, a retired nurse whose mother was a professional money collector, contributions ranged from 3 pence to one shilling. 68 Throughout the colonial period, this money saving tradition was very popular, and it helped a lot of people in their economic ventures.

A contributor could not ask for his money until after 30 days the contributor had given his money to the collector. That is, 30 days counting began the day a contributor gave money to the collector. The interest the collector received an individual’s collection was very small. But this did not disturb the collector because he was already making much money from these collections either through lending or investing it in his or her own business. 263

With this alajo system of the colonial period, which the ADO, Ado-Ekiti, described as “Trust Fund” in 1942, many people were able to “transact their various trade or economic activities”. 69 There was also another form of ajo which was practised mainly by women on a weekly basis. Once week, particularly the last day of the week, now known as Sunday, meetings of either trade or household associations used to take place in the houses of the associations’ leaders. During each of the meetings, members usually contributed unspecified amount which could be demanded, on requested for, by a contributor at any time. This type of ajo was compulsory saving, and from the associations’ collections, members also borrowed money for their various businesses.

There was also the tradition of money lending from the professional money lenders. Though many Ekiti traders patronized this system to achieve their economic objectives, it was the least popular and most feared of all other means of funding commercial activities. There were some reasons for this.

The interest demanded by money lenders could be excessively high. A money lender could be very uncompromising and uncooperative if there was a failed agreement. Borrowers could suffer materially and emotionally if they failed to pay the money lenders at the fixed time. Many borrowers, therefore debtors, were brought to the kings, or sued to court, for failure to pay back debts. But inspite of these negative effects of money lending, the system thrived in the colonial Ekiti, because it was patronized more especially by many long Distance Traders who “desperately needed additional fund to meet their needs”. 70 264

Iwofa, “one who serves another periodically in lieu of the interest on money lent”, 71 was another method of borrowing money in the colonial Ekiti.

It was the service compulsorily rendered to replace payment of interest on the money borrowed. An iwofa thus performed various duties for the money lender until full payment was made by the debtor. An iwofa could be a boy, girl, man or woman who was made to perform the duties demanded by the money lender. These duties could include working in the farm, running errands and doing domestic work. 72 It must also be noted that an iwofa was usually made to enter “into a recurrent sixth day service”, which however did not indicate that he or she would be considered a slave. 73 Samuel Johnson has clearly explained why iwofa is different from pawning. According to him:

The term Iwofa has no equivalent in English. …It is one in service for interest. It has been mistranslated a “pawn” by those who fancied they saw a resemblance to it in that system, and are trying to identify everything native with those that are foreign, and consequently, as in other similar cases, much mischief has been done thereby. … It has also been compired to slavery by those ignorant of the legal conditions ruling the system; but an Iwofa is a free man (person). 74

One of the most popular sources of funding in colonial Ekiti was esusu, a traditional Ekiti credit association organized either by kinsmen or friends who knew one another very intimately. 75 Esusu required a fixed amount, collectively agreed upon, to be contributed weekly by each member at a fixed time and place. 76 The treasurer of each association known as akapo was responsible for keeping the money collected under the supervision of the 265 association’s leader, president, known as olori egbe. The money collected from members were given back to members rotationally, also following the rigid laws of each association. With esusu practice, many people were able to finance their business ventures or trade activities, mainly because the money collected through esusu was usually a lump sum.

EXTERNAL TRADE

In the colonial period, Ekiti contributed in no small measure to

Nigeria’s external trade through cash crops and timber. External trade as should be understood in this study means any trade transaction between the

Nigerian and foreign traders; between the Ekiti people and those outside the

Nigerian shores like the Europeans and the Americans. In fact, according to

Onwuka Njoku it is a trade that “flowed from Nigeria to the wider world, and vice versa”. 77 However, before examining the Ekiti external trade commodities, it is important to briefly discuss the imperialist nature of external trade in colonial Ekiti.

External Trade and European Imperialism

Walter I. Ofonagoro’s book, Trade and Imperialism in Southern

Nigeria, 1881 to 1929, has clearly exposed British hypocrisy about her infrastructural development in Southern Nigeria. It has sufficiently explained how the colonial occupation or administration, economic reorganization, demonetization of traditional currencies and prosecution of various infrastructural projects, among others, were to serve the exploitative interest 266 of the colonial, and therefore the British, government. The Ekiti colonial economy was an extension of this colonial, imperialist exploitation. 78

Imperialism, according to Ofonagoro, and in the context of this study, is the colonial, or British, cultural and economic invasion of people’s territory, thereby exercising total economic control over the territory and the people in a way that makes the people play secondary and subservient role in economic and socio-political matters. 79 In Ekiti, like in other areas of Nigeria or Africa, this imperialist exploitation, according to Onwuka Njoku, brought

“inequality of exchange between the imperial power, Britain, and her

Nigerian colony”, including Ekiti. 80 And of course, the colonial intention was exposed very early by Lord Lugard who, according to Njoku, emphatically stated that the primary motive of Britain in Africa was economic; that is, looking for territories where food and raw materials for industries could be made available for Europe. 81 Ade Alade in “The Economic Basis of

Imperialism” has equally unmasked Britain’s economic objective in Africa, also through Lord Lugard’s statement that the expansionist policy of Britain was the surest way of fostering the growth of British trade. 82

As regards external trade, all the above scholars, among others, have revealed how the colonial administration totally dominated or controlled all trade activities, giving the Nigerian producers no alternative than to be subservient to the British economic dictation. Not only that, according to O.

Njoku, external trade seriously brought unequal exchange between the

Nigerian producers and the European traders. 83 For example, among other things, Ekiti traders were side-lined by foreign exporters who made sure that 267 the economic intricacies of trade were not made open to local traders. While the expatriate traders had more than enough capital to operate big businesses, the Ekiti traders, like other local traders in Nigeria, could only operate small scale businesses because of insufficient capital. 84

And in fact, while in Britain there was more than enough capital for industrialization or development, there was no capital investment in Ekiti.

This exploitative action of Britain is what O. Njoku has described as introduction of “industrial capitalism” instead of “mercantile capitalism”. 85

Labour was very cheap and the salary or wages paid for this labour was scandalously low; thereby allowing the colonial government and its capitalist agents to build up their capital for the development of Britain. That is, there was too much profit, part of which the imperialist administration could not even use “to at least lay the foundation for industrial development of Ekiti

Division”. 86

In addition, in exchange for the enormity of exports to Britain, various manufactured products like building material, farm tools, gun powder, guns, textiles, hot drinks and salt were imported to Ekiti. The implication of this unequal trade exchange was that the heavy importation of European goods not only made Ekiti a consumerist society but also systematically discouraged and eventually killed the industrial spirit of the people. That is, various local industries that were thriving before colonization became inactive instead of being developed by the colonial administration. As regards external trade in colonial Ekiti, it was the European affair all the way, particularly when the imperialist administration had the total power to fix prices of commodities 268 and plan the economic strategies that eventually disadvantaged the Ekiti people. But what were these Ekiti trade commodities that served as raw materials for British industries? An examination of these is necessary.

Trade Commodities

The colonial Ekiti was very rich in export products that, as above discussed, gave the colonial government the exclusive dominance over, or monopoly of, external trade. These export products were rubber, cocoa, palm oil, palm kernel, timber, cotton, tobacco and kolanuts. As can be seen in an earlier discussion, rubber was, by the early 1940s, a very lucrative part of

Ekiti agriculture. According to Richard Bulles, whose grandfather adopted his surname from a John Holt’s rubber merchant in Benin in the 1920s, the Ondo

Province was probably second to what one could call the Benin Province, or later Midwestern Nigeria, in the production of rubber.

Cocoa, the most valuable and the main cash crop of Ekiti, was also the main export and economy generating crop of the people in the colonial period. According to a government report of 1943:

Cocoa is a plantation crop and (that) has no outlet except market; when a cocoa farmer reaps his harvest, he will… sell his output either directly or through a middleman to an exporting firm; it seems a matter of little importance to the farmer which firm buys his particular cocoa since all firms pay the same price but he will certainly sell it. 87

Palm oil was another external trade commodity of Ekiti. Between 1900 and

1930, trade in palm oil was mostly local since palm oil was mostly used for local consumption. But from the 1930s the rush to buy it for export made the 269

Ekiti people focus more attention on this commodity. Palm oil production was not restricted to particular towns, nearly all the colonial Ekiti towns specialized in its production. Palm oil production had no particular season, because it was produced throughout the year, depending on when palm fruit matured.

As already discussed under agriculture, palm kernel production in Ekiti was already a very popular and important agricultural preoccupation before colonization. This was so because a large population of the people depended on it for various domestic, cosmetic and therapeutic reasons. Colonialism, therefore, came only to aid its popularity and incited more production of this crop with its aggressive demand as an exportable cash crop. According to

Madam Tinuola Ojo of Iyin-Ekiti whose mother was popularly known as Iya elekuro (kernel’s seller) in the 1930s, people could not just understand why some “strangers” would be going from house to house, begging people for kernels to buy no matter how small these were. 88 “They said the white people needed these for many things and would pay 4 pence per cup of kernels”, she said. 89 The above reaction is confirmed by what will be discussed later about the situation in the 1940s.

Between 1900 and 1920, kernels were used mainly for domestic purposes. This was because the crop had not really attracted external buyers.

Unlike palm oil which was very complex and laborious to produce, kernels were cheaper to produce though with some physical effort. Besides, as already explained under agriculture in chapter four, it was an agricultural activity that involved, or were opened to, both the young and the old. What 270 the production needed were patience, painstaking search for kernel nuts in the bush underneath wild palm trees; in the case where kernel nuts were not obtained from palm oil local factories. The production also needed painstaking cracking of the nuts one by one to extract the kernels. These were the production activities which nearly all the Ekiti children grew up with. By 1938, however, it was clear that, because of the continued high demand, kernels had become a steady source of economic satisfaction, particularly to the poor farmers. Chief Anibaba has also made this situation more explicit:

Could you believe that because of only 2 pence, demanded for handwork in school some children were forced to permanently stop their primary education? This was in the 1920s and even during our time, the same thing happened. Because some parents could not afford this additional 2 pence to the annual fees (about 5 shillings) already paid for each child. But kernels saved the situation for many children and parents. All the parents did was to tell the children to go and pick kernel nuts for two days in the farm and crack for sale at the nearest produce stores. For these two days’ job, a child could make up to 6 pence or more. There was always this ready market for kernels…. 90

Without doubt, timber business was a major agricultural occupation of many Ekiti farmers. In fact, it was the only occupation that had, for long, been waiting for external trade; in that, timber heavily populated Ekiti. Before colonialism, or before contact with the Europeans, timber, which was usually felled with fire, was used for producing mortar, pestle, bowls and other domestic utensils. The only equipment for cutting timber were axe, cutlass 271 and knife. Because of this, the products of timber took a long time to produce.

In the early 1940s, Ekiti Division was still very rich in timber despite

“the incessant felling of different types of timber. 91 The decade marked the beginning of a golden age for external trade in timber in Ekiti Division; a situation that continued up to 1960 and beyond. Ekiti was seen as the richest in all types of timber, particularly those considered first class, like Iroko. The colonial government, having regarded timber as “a key industry in Ondo

Province”, had earlier sent samples of what they considered secondary timbers “to England for analysis and test for use as veneers, furniture and other purposes” for the development of further export trade. 92 The result showed that all grades of timber, from grade 1 to grade 4, were needed for export to Europe, particularly “to replace those (other timbers) imported from

America and elsewhere”. 93 The emergence of sawmills in Ekiti led to accelerated exportation of timber products. Sawmills could not easily stop the pit-saw method of cutting logs since this was also heavily patronized by local people who needed planks for building.

Before the introduction of modern sawmills, according to Deborah

Ajayi, 82 years old and one of the former head carriers of timber planks, it was a laborious and hard job to transport the planks already sawed by the pitsawers from usually a distant location in the farm to the town for onward transportation to other locations outside the town.94 Ajayi continued:

After the lagilagi (pitsawers) had completed their work… slicing with a giant saw a big log of timber into planks, which could be between 100 and 200 or more, depending on the size of the timber, we 272

women, would be hired to carry these to the designated location in the town. The money paid for one trip depended on some factors: the age of the carrier, the distance or location, the number of planks carried in a trip and the grade or weight of each plank. The more planks one carried, the more money one received; generally between two pence and four pence per one plank carried. And this was dangerous because a friend of mine almost died because, in an attempt to make more money per one trip, she overloaded herself with many planks. 95

However, the modern sawmills made it very necessary for the timbers to be brought from the farm by timber vehicles, agbegilodo, to the sawmills where they were sliced with electrically powered saws, completing within a few days what used to take the pitsawers weeks.

Cotton, which was another cash product for external trade, had been planted and traded locally by the Ekiti before the British rule. And like the cotton grown in other areas of Ondo Province, particularly Owo, Ekiti cotton by 1920 “is extensively grown and the wearing of cloth is carried on all through the Division”. 96 What is more, it was “undoubtedly the best” while the cloths produced with it were taken to areas as distant as Warri where there was “an increasing demand for them on account of their excellent weaving properties”. 97 By 1923, it was very clear that the farmers always liked to sell their cotton to local weavers, both men and women, who were always ready to buy off their products for their weaving trade. This situation continued for over a decade until the colonial government, under pressure from the UK advised the European firms dealing in cotton trade to increase, “very generously the amount they were paying the cotton growers in order to attract 273 patronage advantage to them”. 98 This strategy worked in that many of the

Ekiti farmers began to sell their cotton to the highest bidder; thus marking the beginning of realistic external trade in Ekiti cotton.

Tobacco as an export cash crop was grown very extensively in many parts of Ekiti, particularly in the 1920s. In fact, it was “plentiful in the North of Ekiti” and part of Western Ekiti like Ogotun, Igbara-Odo and Igbara-

Oke. 99 Tobacco planting as an important agricultural product of Ekiti dates back to 1910 when it was entirely produced for domestic consumption. The

1930s to 1940s were, no doubt, periods of mass cultivation of tobacco by many Ekiti farmers because there was great demand for it and the price was very attractive.

Kolanut was also an important cash crop exported from Ekiti. The

Ekiti people had two types of kolanut: the acuminata and nitida kola. Though kolanut trade in the colonial period was also domestic because of the trade between Ekiti and Northern Nigeria, the trade was also external because kolanuts were also exported to destinations outside Nigeria. Kola nitida which the Yoruba people called gbanja or goro was produced mainly in

Southerwestern Nigeria with Ekiti Division “accounting for more than one quarter of the total production of this ever growing crop in the Western

Colony” 100 By 1933, it was clear that both kola nitida and kola acuminata had become an important Ekiti export crop.

Export Commodity: Buyers, Evacuation and Trade Control

The external trade in the colonial Ekiti, irrespective of trade commodities, was based on three structures: the indigenous farmers or 274 producers, the buyers known as the middlemen or buying agents and the

European firms or exporters who were also the big-time buyers of the Ekiti agricultural products. According to O. Njoku, there were different categories of middlemen who performed two main functions. For example, and as was the situation in colonial Ekiti, the middlemen were those who dealt directly with the farmers by buying their products either in their farms or in their various towns. 101 The middlemen were also responsible for the distribution of imported European products to various Ekiti towns; but in this discussion, only the role of the middlemen as buyers will be examined.

In fact, the role of the middlemen was indispensable to the external trade of the colonial Ekiti. This was what the European capitalist or big firms did not initially realize when they thought that they could trade directly with the farmers without the help of the middlemen; believing that by doing this they would make more profit. 102 These European firms later realized that they, in fact, needed the services of the middlemen who were also buying agents, since it was not possible for the European middlemen to penetrate various remote locations where export products were readily available. This was how the initial harassment of the middlemen by the expatriate capitalists stopped. They were forced to, therefore, rely exclusively on the services of the Nigerian middlemen. 103

It is good to point out that there were rural and urban middlemen whose activities were complimentary to each other. However, it was the responsibility of a middleman to buy products in small or large quantities from different places and store in a shop until they formed a bulk. It was at 275 this stage that “sorting, blending, grading and bulking of produce in sufficiently sizeable quantities” took place before transferring to designated

European depots or trading firms for sale. 104 But it is good to point out that the two World Wars created problems for the middlemen in Ekiti, and other

Nigerian Divisions, because of low export demand and therefore low prices for commodities, thereby reducing the activities of the middlemen. 105

However, rubber trade in Ekiti perhaps gave the middlemen the greatest problem mainly because, unlike other Ekiti export commodities, it was not easily available in large quantity because only few Ekiti farmers engaged in rubber farming. That is, many middlemen had to travel deep into the Ekiti hinterland or farm locations and at times without success, to buy rubber latex directly from the farmers. According Richard Bulles, a trader, shop owner and a middleman in Ekiti, the price of grade one rubber latex in

Benin determined the price in Ondo Province which included Ekiti state, particularly between 1940 and 1950. 106 Also to him, no quantity of good quality latex was rejected no matter how small this was.

Ado-Ekiti, being the administrative and financial headquarters of Ekiti, was the evacuating centre where all the good quality rubber latex was packaged in bundles and transported to either Ibadan or Lagos en route to

Europe. The big companies responsible for this rubber trade included the

UAC and John Holt. 107 Most of the rubber latex was shipped to England where, in return, rubber products like tyres, toys, insulating materials and other synthetic products were brought to Nigeria for sale. However, rubber trade in Ekiti was short lived, but this was a gradual process that began in 276

1945. For example, apart from the low quality necessitated by the rush to meet demand, which, in turn, made the rubber trade attract very low price, to the discouragement of the farmers, many Ekiti farmers turned attention to cocoa production which they saw as signaling more economic promise.

Without doubt, the rubber trade in Ekiti carried out between the Ekiti farmers, the local or the Nigerian middlemen and the European merchants, between

1940 and 1950, contributed to the external trade of Ekiti in the colonial period.

However, 1920 marked the beginning of serious trade in cocoa in the colonial Ekiti. By 1922, there had emerged private buying stations and more middlemen at Ikere, Ikoro, Igede, Ise, Ilawe, Igbara Odo, Efon Alaye, Ilu

Omoba in addition to the existing one in Ado Ekiti. But a few of these stations did not have the required equipment and therefore had to engage the services of other buyers by transferring their cocoa to their bigger stations. 108

1923 experienced the biggest and unprecedented boost in cocoa price. Cocoa

“price was very good, averaging about £26 (twenty six pounds) per ton”. 109

By 1930, there was hardly a farmer in Ekiti without cocoa plantation; big or small.

Between 1930 and 1945, the cocoa produced in Ekiti, or Ondo

Division which included Ekiti, was the most sought after for its quality which, according to government report, as released by Mr. Cocks, the

Inspector of Produce, was most suitable for export. Also according to Mr.

Cocks:

277

The quality of cocoa produced in Ondo Division (including Ekiti) is very high, and reports show it to be easily the best in Nigeria. There are however… a large quantity of last year’s Main and Light Crop Cocoa stored in the district, evacuation being held up owing to shortage of transport. 110

The golden age of cocoa trade in Ekiti began in the late 1940s with the institution of the Nigerian Cocoa Marketing Board. The Board brought trade control, thereby regulating the activities of the produce buyers, among other things. For example, no cocoa buying agent could operate without getting clearance from the Nigerian Cocoa Marketing Board through issuance of license. In fact, all buying agents by 1952 were to obtain application forms as the first step towards obtaining license (see Table 6.2).

Before the Marketing Board took control of trade, foreign firms like

UAC, John Holt, Flionis Brothers, G.B. Oliphant Ltd, A.G. Leventist

Company Ltd, Paterson and Zochonis Company Ltd., among others had the monopoly of cocoa trade. They also, to a large extent, dictate the price of cocoa for the whole of Western Region. Though there were very few indigenous buying agents before 1950, their activities were easily influenced by the foreign buying agents. But with the Nigerian Cocoa Marketing Board taking control, more indigenous buying agents emerged. Though they were not more than one-quarter of the number of licensed buyers, the foreign companies were still dominating. Of all the licensed buying agents, Lagos had 16; Ibadan, 8; Ondo (including Ekiti) had 2; Abeokuta, 1; Ijebu Ode, 1;

Benin city, 1; Ife, 1 and Ilesha 1; all totalling 31 for the entire Western 278

Region. 114 With respect to buying of cocoa, the functions of the licensed buying agents were to:

(a) Purchase at buying stations at not less than the minimum prices.

(b) Arrange for inspection in accordance with the regulations and to bag to

the standard weight as required by paragraph 16.

(c) Finance purchases and provide suitable storage until time of shipment.

(d) Make returns of graded purchases and graded stocks as the Board or its

duly authorized executive may require.

(e) Arrange for conveyance to port by approved routes without delay.

(f) Comply with regulations and instructions regarding check weighing

and inspection at ports.

(g) Arrange for delivery of cocoa to ocean vessel in accordance with

shipping instructions given by the Board or its duly authorized

executive.

(h) Hand without delay shipping documents as required to the Board or its

duly authorized executive.

(i) Insure against all risks, except certain risks specifically excepted up to

the time of shipment on board ocean-going vessel or delivery into

Board stores in accordance with Board instructions.

279

Table 6.2: Nigerian Cocoa Marketing Board Application Form for Admission as Buying Agent under the Cocoa Marketing Scheme Question Answer 1. PARTICULARS OF APPLICANT a. Name in full………………………………………. Nationality ……………………………………….. b. If firm, state whether (i) individual trading as firm (ii) partnership (iii) private company (iv) limited company c. Has the company been registered under Registration of Business Names Ordinance? d. If individual trading as firm state how long established e. If partnership (i) give full details of all partners, including nationality in each case (ii) state how long established f. If private company state (i) when and where incorporated (ii) names and nationality of all directors (iii) registered office g. If limited company, state (i) when and where incorporated (ii) names and nationality of all directors (iii) registered office 2. ADDRESS (a) address of main office in Nigeria (b) addresses of Branch offices (if any). If none state none 3. KNOWLEDGE OF COCOA TRADE Applicant’s previous experience in handling cocoa should be detailed fully here: 4. PURCHASES (a) what tonnage of cocoa you purchase in 1949/50 1950/51 1951/52? (b) to whom did you sell the cocoa you purchased in 1951/52? 280

(c) what quantity of cocoa do you estimate you will buy in the 1952/53 season? 5. CONTAINERS (a) What is your present stock of NEW bags? (b) What is your stock of twine? 6. CAPITAL (a) If individual or partnership state available resources for due in cocoa trade (b) If private or limited company state (i) authorized capital (ii) paid up capital (iii) available resources for use in cocoa trade (c) Give the name of your bankers 7. STORAGE (a) What stores do you own (i) in gazetted inspection stations? (ii) in other stations? (Give location & capacity in each case) (b) What stores do you rent (i) In gazetted inspection stations? (ii) In other stations? (Give locations, capacity & from whom rented in each case) 8. EVALUATION OF PRODUCE What arrangements can you make to arrange for evacuation of cocoa? (a) by rail? (b) by road? (c) by water? 9. SHIPPING DOCUMENTS How will you ensure the accurate and prompt submission of shipping documents? 10. GENERAL (a) What is your buying staff? 281

(b) What is your clerical staff? (c) How many labourers to handle produce do you employ? (Give details for each store declared under 7) (d) Do you engage in any other commercial activities – if so, what? (e) Are you applying for admission to any other marketing scheme, if so, which? I/we declare that the answers given by me/us to the above mentioned are, to the best of my/our knowledge and belief, true. I/we understand that the making of any false statement in this connection will automatically mean that my/our application will not be considered: or if any authority to act as a buying agent under the cocoa Marketing Scheme has been granted on the basis of such false statement, then that authority will automatically be revoked.

Signed this ………… day of ……… at …………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………. Source: N.A.I., EKITI DIV. 1/1, File No. S38, 19/4/1952, pp. 243-246.

The two licensed agents for Ekiti, within Ondo Province, were the

Flionis Brothers and Samuel Akinbolaji Oladapo Company. But the Cocoa

Board did not place any restriction on areas of operation for the buying agents. Various laws guiding cocoa sale had already been fully known to all the Ekiti farmers by 1950 for the production of good quality cocoa, and even before the laws, as already explained, the Ekiti people were producing very good quality cocoa. And during this period, nearly all the major Ekiti towns had local produce buyers, buying directly from farmers who could not afford 282 to take their products in the approved buying stations. But the farmers who had the necessary transportation, or who happened to be near one of the buying stations, usually sold directly to these stations. The approved stations for Ekiti were in Ado, Ara, Ijero, Ikere, Ikole, Ikoro and Ikole. 112

To protect the quality of cocoa, the Cocoa Marketing Board made it compulsory for all buying agents to use new bags issued by the Board for cocoa packing after grading. According to A.H. Young, Director of

Marketing and Export, it was mandatory for the licensed agents to use the new bags because, “bags that have been previously used for service purposes cannot be regarded as new bags as required by paragraph 16 of the

Memoranda”. 113 The bags must be marked accordingly (Fig. 6.1).

Fig. 6.1: Diagrammatic specimens and marking methods of new cocoa bags issued by Cocoa Marketing Board for the Licensed Buying Agents.

Source: N.A.I., Ekiti Div. 1/1 File No. S38, 19/4/1950 (Circular Instruction No. 5152/W.A/7, 18/10/1951), p. 206.

283

In the discussion so far, it is clear that the cocoa trade in colonial Ekiti was between the farmers, his local produce (cocoa) buyer, the buying agent, the exporting firms and the government. About one quarter of the buying agents, who were also the cocoa exporters, were Nigerians while others were foreigners. In Ekiti, the exportation journey of cocoa began from the government approved stations through the various evacuation routes to

Lagos, and from Lagos to various countries outside Nigeria. For example, the cocoa from Ado Ekiti station was transported to Lagos by road and creek through Okitipupa. Transportation of cocoa from Efon-Alaiye Ekiti was by road and railway through Oshogbo. station got its cocoa to Lagos by road and creek through Okitipupa. Ikoro Ekiti had the same route with

Ijero. Cocoa from Ikere station took the same Ijero route while that of Ikole station also followed the same route. 114 The above evacuation routes show that the Ekiti cocoa meant for export was transported to Lagos through either

Lorries, railways or river (see Table 6.3).

Table 6.3: Evacuation of Ekiti Cocoa from Station to Lagos Station Evacuation Route Destination Ado -Ekiti Road and Creek via Okitipupa La gos Efon-Alaiye Road and Railway via Oshogbo Lagos Ijere Road and Creek via Okitipupa Lagos Ikere Road and Creek via Okitipupa Lagos Ikole Road and Creek via Okitipupa Lagos Ikoro Road and Creek via Okitipupa Lagos Source: N.A.I., Ekiti Div. 1/1/, File No. S38, 19/4/1950, pp. 192-249. 284

From Lagos, the cocoa transported from all the Ekiti stations were shipped to various countries that needed the raw materials for further processing. Specifically, the cocoa was shipped to the United Kingdom which at that time enjoyed special trade relation with Nigeria; with the

Nigeria Cocoa Marketing Board (NCMB) as the consignor and the Nigerian

Produce Marketing Company Ltd. as the consignee. Other countries where the Ekiti cocoa was shipped to included the United States of America: the

NCMB consignor and the Standard Bank of South Africa, and New York as consignees; Canada, with the NCMB consignor and the Royal Bank of

Canada as consignee; Australia and New Zealand with the NCMB consignor and the Nigerian Produce Marketing Company Ltd. as consignee and South

Africa with the NCBM as consignor and Standard Bank of South Africa (in

Cape town, Durbar, Port Elizabeth and East London) as consignee. 115

In the countries mentioned above, cocoa was processed into various food items and beverages like cake, chocolate, ice cream, sweets and cocoa drinks. These processed cocoa food and beverages were in turn exported from these countries back to Nigeria where they were marketed and consumed by both Nigerians and Europeans.

From the late 1940s, cocoa price was always fixed by the Cocoa

Marketing Board, and a variety of factors determined the price: the quality of the product, the external demand, evacuation delay, storage hazard and, at times, exploitative attitude on the part of both government and licensed agents. In addition, the general economic situation in the country also determined the price of cocoa. This was why the price in the 1920s was 285 different from that of the 1950s. Other factors included the state of cocoa market overseas, “the unsettled state of international affairs and notably the war in Korea”, 116 price fluctuations in the world market, particularly during post-war years and inflation or rising cost of foods. 117

The above reasons show that, like any trade item, it was impossible to have a permanent fixed price for cocoa during the colonial period. Before the institution of the NCMB, the colonial government used only the economic situation overseas to fix prices without really considering the negative effects this could have on the local farmers. Thanks to the Yoruba elite who criticised this action of the colonial government in Western Region. The

ADO of Ekiti, Mr. R.C. Golding identified with this criticism which he described as “this justifiable cry on behalf of the peasant farmers”. 118

Between 1950 and 1960, prices of cocoa per ton ranged from £120 to £130

(Table 6.4). But there was no doubt that the cocoa farmers, despite the fact that they were able to build reasonable capital through cocoa farming, were still underpaid for their products, considering the amount this product sold for in Europe. Also this was inspite of the marked increase in cocoa price over the price in the early 1950s (see Table 6.5).

Table 6.4: Cocoa Price per Ton before 1960 at Point of Exportation Country 1948 -1949 1949 -1950 1950 -1951 1955 -1958 Nigeria £120 £100 £120 High, Low High Price. As low as £121 and high as £130 Source: N.A.I. Ekiti Div. 1/1 File No. S.38, 1951, p. 97; N.A.I., Ondo Prof. 4/12 (i), 1958, p. 212.

286

Table 6.5: Cocoa Price Per Ton for Standard Weight in the Approved Ekiti Division and Ondo Province Buying Stations in the Early 1950s in Pounds and Shillings Buying Station Grade I Grade II Other Grades Ado -Ekiti 116 4 0 106 4 0 Not indicated but low Agbabu 118 2 0 108 2 0 Not indicated but low Akure 116 17 0 106 17 0 Not indicated but low Alade 117 0 0 107 0 0 Not indicated but low Ara 115 16 0 105 15 0 Not indicated but low Efon-Alaiye-Ekiti 115 18 0 105 18 0 Not indicated but low Ikere 116 16 0 106 16 0 Not indicated but low Okitipupa 118 13 0 108 13 0 Not indicated but low Source: N.A.I., Ekiti Div. 1/1, File No. S38, 1951, p. 94.

Trade in palm oil as an export commodity did not begin until 1923.

Before this period or from 1900 to the early 1920s, trade in palm oil was mostly local, since palm oil was mainly used for local consumption. Palm oil was bought by the Nigerian middlemen in Ekiti and other areas of Ondo

Province like Ondo and Okitipupa. Some middlemen also came from the

Benin Province. These middlemen bought palm oil in “kerosene tin, which is the largest measure sold, as there is nothing but carrier transport” to transport this in bigger containers. 119 The price for each kerosene tin varied from 5 shillings to 7 shillings, or “from £11 to £15 per ton”. 120 In the early 1930s, when the Ekiti farmers turned more attention to palm oil production, there were also increase in the number of middlemen who also made kerosene tins, as buying containers very popular.

Many Ekiti farmers also acquired these kerosene tins in quantity to store palm oil which had been stored traditionally in their clay pots (ikoko or usa) . 121 The farmers’ wives and children used to transport on their heads tins 287 of palm oil from the farm to the town. The tins of palm oil were sold to the middlemen who usually stored them in their shops before being transported by motor vehicles to the evacuation centres in Ado, Ikoro, Omuo and Ikere where they were sold to the some European firms like Messrs Mac Neil Scot

Ltd and Messrs Mac Liver. 122 But in the early 1940s, the colonial government noted the activities of, particularly, the foreign firms in connection with the unstable prices of palm oil in Nigeria. In 1942, therefore, and as a control measure, the government instituted The Nigeria Defence (Control of Export

Produce) Regulations which, among other things, fixed the minimum price, including commission, which shall be paid at each buying station… for each ton of Palm Oil. 123 To this end, the colonial government recognized 121 stations all over Nigeria with two stations in Ondo province located in Ondo and Okitipupa which also served the Ekiti middlemen. All stations were to mandatorily accept the new prices ordered by The Nigeria Defence

Regulations (see Table 6.6).

Table 6.6: Price Schedule for Palm Oil in Ondo Province in 1943.

Station Grade Grade Grade Grade Grade Grade I II III IV V VI Okitipupa 11 18 6 10 18 6 9 18 6 8 18 6 7 18 6 6 18 6 Ondo 10 11 6 9 11 6 8 11 6 7 11 6 6 11 6 5 11 6 Source: N.A.., Ondo Prof. ¼ OC29, No. 1965/180, 1943, p. 41.

In the late 1940s, the Nigeria Oil Palm Produce Marketing Board

(NOPPMB) was also formed as a controlling marketing scheme for palm oil in Nigeria. The Board officially recognized most of the existing licensed 288 buying agents which included the UAC, Union Trading Company Ltd.

(U.T.C.), Perteson Zochonis & Co. Ltd (PZ), G.B. Oliphant Ltd., John Holt &

Co. Ltd., Ibibio Farmers Association and Mandilas and Kararaberis.

Seventeen Licensed buying agents were recognized in all; only one of these was an indigenous firm; but there was room for more licensed agents. The

NOPPMB brought more trade control on palm oil. Part of its functions included the supervision and control of the licensed buying agents whose functions, as prescribed by the Board, included:

(a) Purchasing palm oil at the buying stations at the minimum price.

(b) Arranging for palm oil inspection for good quality grade as demanded

by Produce Inspection regulations.

(c) Provision of necessary containers and storage.

(d) Testing and grading oil on purchase.

(e) Making returns of purchase and stocks as required by the Board.

(f) Arranging for conveyance to bulk oil installation in Nigeria, etc. 124

By 1949, “the minimum naked ex-scale Bulk Oil prices” were: 125

£ $ d

Grade I - - - 42 15 0

Grade II - - - 37 2 6

Grade III - - - 33 0 0

Grade IV - - - 29 12 6

Grade V - - - 26 5 0

Grade I oil was defined as “first quality palm oil… containing less than two per centum of water and/or extraneous substance”.126 289

What happened in Ekiti between 1949 and 1955 was that the middlemen made sure that enough palm oil was bought from the local markets. This oil was sold to the Buying Agents who would sell to the big firms that would eventually transport this to Lagos either by creek through

Agbabu in Ondo Province or by road through Ilesha and Ibadan to Lagos.

From Lagos, the Ekiti palm oil along with those from the major palm oil producers in the East and Mid-Western Nigeria, was shipped to the UK, the

USA, France and other European countries. From these countries palm oil was converted to various industrial products like soap, body cream, lubricants and margarine, among others. These were in turn exported back to Nigeria for sale. But between 1955 and 1960, cocoa had become so much economically more lucrative and integral to Ekiti agriculture and so dominated the external trade of the people that “attention shifted almost entirely to cocoa production; thereby weakening palm oil trade”. 127

Between 1900 and 1920, kernels were used mainly for domestic purposes. But in the late 1920s, the interest in kernels production increased in many Ekiti towns. Kernel shops or produce stores where weighting and buying kernels took place also increased, serving agents of some European firms in Ondo Province. By 1923, the drive for Ekiti kernels as exportable crop had seriously begun. And by 1925, the European firm, Messrs MacNeil

Scott Ltd., with the help of their Ekiti and Okitipupa “native middlemen”, had started taking their purchases to Lagos through Koko Port “by canoe or

Launch”. 128 290

The palm kernel drive became more aggressive in the 1940s with many

European firms involved in purchasing this commodity. These included the

UAC, Flionis Brothers, John Holt & Company, G.B. Ollivant, Royal

Brothers, S.M. Bleasby, N.K. Zard and W.E. Griffiths & Co. Ltd. Others were Kajola Stores, United trading and Transport Company Ltd.,

Odutola Brothers, Peterson Zochonis and Co. Ltd., Ibibio Farmers

Association and Ibadan Traders Association Ltd., among others who were also licensed buying agents for the already discussed palm oil trade. In 1943, prices of kernels became discouraging to producers because according to the

Deputy Controller of Palm Kernels Office, Ibadan, in his letter to the

Resident, Ondo Province, “there is not the smallest chance of another increase in palm kernel prices this year (1943) in the western provinces…. I would point out that the Sobos in the Warri Provinces have greatly increased production for a lower price than that being paid at Okitipupa….” 129

But shortly after this decision, the demand for kernels in the United

Kingdom, particularly, became so great that Great Britain notified all her colonies about the need to export more kernels into the United Kingdom. The

Acting Secretary, Western Provinces, H.F. Marshald, contacted all Residents to this affect with the following directive from “His Excellency”:

All Residents, District Officers (DO) and native Authorities must regard as of paramount importance production of Palm Kernels. It must be realized that it is not a matter of being content with a specified target figure but of securing by all practicable means the absolute maximum export. 130

291

Mr. Marshald therefore also gave his own directive to all the Residents in

Western Nigeria, including that of Ondo Province which covered Ekiti

Division. He ordered that,

All Officers should give kernel production first priority and suggestions should be invited among likely quarter as practicable methods of stepping up production and promising suggestions should be given a trial immediately. Close co-operation is essential with the farms, buyers, motor unions and the Transport Control Department, and Administrative and Departmental Officers should cover with a view to coordinating plans of campaign. His Honour wishes Residents to report progress monthly to this office, the first report to be sent at the end of March…. Application is being made to Government for funds to cover expenditure incurred on propaganda measures designed to increase kernels production. 131

But it must be understood that World War II, according to Onwuka

Njoku, was responsible for the chronic shortage of kernels, and other palm produce, that led to the above serious demand for kernels by Britain. 132 That is, during World War II, Britain lost her colonies in the Far East, the major source of raw materials, to Japan. Britain was greatly affected, because she could no more import palm produce, particularly kernels from “Singapore,

Sumatra and Java”. 133 Britain had no alternative than to turn to Southern

Nigeria where there was serious propagandist drive for the production of palm oil and palm kernels for export. 134

The above strong demand for kernels made Ekiti sellers increase their prices. According to Mr. Murphy, the DO for Ekiti, there was increase in the price of kernels because “in the Northern part of the Ekiti Division, Ilorin traders are offering higher prices for palm kernels than the traders buying for 292 export can afford to pay and the result is that kernels are going North to make

Adin (Native Pomade)”. 135 Competition among many of the already mentioned licensing agents also made the situation more promising to the

Ekiti people who could, to a small extent, now dictate the prices of their kernels. But by 1944, many buying stations were approved with categories of minimum prices for kernels as shown by the situation in Ekiti (Table 6.7):

Table 6.7 Kernels Buying Stations and Prices Per Bag in Ekiti in 1944.

Buying Station Minimum Minimum Minimum Price, Price graded, price, unbagged unbagged, ungraded bagged, sealed ungraded to to Shippers to A/B Shipper A/B Shipper by commission buying by Middleman/ Middleman/ agent Producer Producer Ado -Ekiti 6 3 6 6 0 0 5 15 0 Efon-Alaiye 6 13 3 6 9 9 6 4 9 Ijero 6 3 6 6 0 0 5 15 0 Ikere 6 7 9 6 4 3 5 19 3 Ikole 6 3 6 6 0 0 5 15 0 Source: N.A.I., Ondo Prof. 1/4, File No., OC 29, p. 102.

At the end of the 1940s, palm kernels trade was more firmly controlled by the NOPPMB, and Palm Kernels Marketing Scheme. The Board was solely responsible for the marketing of “all palm kernels produced for export in accordance with the terms of the Nigeria Oil Palm Produce Marketing

Ordinance, 1949”. 136 It was also responsible for fixing the price of kernels. In

January 1949, the DO for Ekiti Division wrote all the Ekiti Obas (kings) about the good news of a new price for palm kernels in Ekiti. The letter is reproduced as follows:137 293

Ado-Ekiti 31 January, 1949 My Good Friend,

Palm Kernels

The price of palm kernels has been increased as follows with effect from the

28 th of January:

Buying Station Price in Pounds, etc. Ado-Ekiti 21 8 3 per ton Ara 20 19 0 per ton Efon Alaiye 20 9 0 per ton Ijero 20 15 6 per ton Ikere 21 12 0 per ton Ikole 20 10 9 per ton Ikoro 20 14 0 per ton

Your Good Friend,

sgd.

District Officer Ekiti Division

The transportation of the kernels bought in Ekiti by the buying agents for different firms were via road and creek to Lagos, the same way palm oil was transported as already discussed. From Lagos, these kernels were exported to the United Kingdom, USA and various European countries that eventually used these for soap-making, pomade, particularly hair-pomade, candles and margarine. Palm kernels were also processed in Europe and other countries for dairy and fattening of pigs, cattle and horses. By 1960, Nigeria was 294 already rated as one of the greatest producers and exporters of palm kernels in

Africa. During this period, Ekiti farmers still continued daily to produce kernels for sale along with cocoa. However, timber or logging was another occupation that attracted foreign interests for its economic value.

The rush to cut timbers were so much that the colonial government, before 1920, began to take some control measures to check the excesses of some foreign companies. For example, the government made issuance of permits by the Rangers very compulsory and in 1922, the duty passed to the

DO who, between January and December 1922, was able to collect £207 from licenses. 138 The government also enacted laws “for the offences against the

Forestry regulations”, and those found culpable were prosecuted in the Native

Courts. 139 The new road infrastructure in the 1920s also helped the unabated cutting of timber and this immediately aided easy transportation of logs with the introduction of timber vehicles popularly known as agbegilodo.

And by the early 1930s, it was clear that nearly all the firms like the

UAC, John Holts, French Company and the Flionis Brothers had focused attention on Ekiti for timber trade; while various illegal activities also continued. These companies were an addition to the exploiter- concessionaries like the British Nigerian Timber Company, Messrs MacNeil

Scott, Miller Brothers, C.H.W. Kirstein Ltd, African Timber Company and the Executors of Robert Brown as well as some powerful Chiefs in Ondo

Province.

In fact, the UAC was singled out as the “Chief exploiter (and exporter) of timber in the (Ekiti) Division” with its “European Agents stationed at Ore 295 and Onishere” in Ondo Province. 140 The number of sawmills increased rapidly in Ekiti as the timber business became very active between the timber cutters, the sawers, the agbegilodo (timber vehicle drivers), the Business

Agents (foreign and local), the exporting companies and the government.

The rush for Ekiti timber was so much that government had to categorize the timber according to their grades and, as a controlling measure, put restrictions on those ones that should be protected or cut infrequently. According to F.R.

Kay, the ADO in May 1932: “the Director of Forests has just been empowered to report, without delay, to the District Officer any case of illegal felling of timber, particularly iroko, without due approval”. 141 And in fact, clearance was later withdrawn for cutting iroko. This way, “the excessive timber cutting activities of the United African Company” was partly checked. 142

In the early 1930s, pitsawing was the main popular method of slicing timber into planks, but by the late 1940s, sawmills had been introduced to a few towns in Ekiti. By the early 1950s, pitsawing had almost been completely replaced by sawmill. The sawmillers had to follow the rules laid down by the Forestry Department and failure to obey these rules resulted in punitive actions. This was why in 1949 the Forestry Department took over the sawmill that belonged to the British Nigerian Timber Company for effective increase “in the Revenue and Royalties as well as providing work for a few number of labourers”. 143 The colonial government, in trying to protect its own interest, did not relent in its effort to see that the Forestry regulations were obeyed, and this was why many violators of the regulations 296 were prosecuted in courts (see Table 6.8). This, to a large extent, checked the dubious activities of some agents, Ekiti indigenes, and company workers. 144

However, in the 1950s, there was more massive timber felling and sawmill activities increased in Ekiti. More road constructions also helped to quicken transportation of Ekiti timber products from Ado-Ekiti to Agbabu via

Akure and Okitipupa. From Agbabu, the products were transported by creek to Lagos. Some companies preferred transporting timber by lorries that carried the timber products from Ado to Lagos via Igede, Aramoko, Ilesha and Ibadan. Like other cash crops, these timber products were exported or shipped to the UK, the USA and other European countries.

Table 6.8: Offences Prosecuted Under Forestry Ordinance in Ondo Province in 1949 Division Number of Number of Fines Persecutions Confiscations Ekiti 48 44 £23.-.- Okitipupa 52 52 £37.13.6 Ondo 19 19 £32.-.- Owo 24 23 £7.9. - Source: N.A.I., Ondo Prof. 1/3, File No. D41, 1949, p. 57.

Ekiti had the largest concentration of timber in the old Ondo Province, and this was why the colonial government made sure that that largest Reserves were in this Division as seen in Table 6.9.

297

Table 6.9: Constituted Reserves in Ondo Province. Area in Sa. Mill Areas Selected Ekiti 2465 Ara, Ogbesse, Akure Okitipupa 1551 Await Final Publication Ondo 2243 Awaits Final Publication Owo 1952 Isho Source: N.A.I., Ondo Prof. 1/3, File No. 41, 1949, p. 61.

The export of cotton from Ekiti cannot be fully discussed without linking it to the cotton or textile industries in England. Before 1850, English textile industries had been importing cotton from America and some

European countries in addition to the cotton produced and bought in Great

Britain. The Lancashire cotton industry was a major consumer of cotton during this period. 145

But suddenly, the English cotton industries, especially the Lancashire cotton industry, could no more supply enough cotton. This was compounded by the American Civil War of the 1860s which brought an extreme shortage of cotton in England. 146 The depressing condition of the textile industries was for a very long period and this so much worried the British government that it was decided that attention must necessarily be shifted to the colonies within the British control for cotton supply. And even shortly before this decision, a

Manchester merchant, Thomas Clegg, had turned attention to West African cotton. This was why he came to Abeokuta in the present of

Nigeria. 147 Before 1900, Britain had imported from Nigeria several thousand ponds of cotton. The Nigerian cotton was considered the best in West Africa, while Britain rejected cotton from Sierra Leone and Gambia because of their 298 wet or dampish nature. 148 The interest in the Nigerian cotton was increasing rapidly, and in 1906, the British Cotton Growing Association (BCGA) opened a ginnery in Lokoja”. 149 And in 1916, the “Empire Cotton Growing

Corporation for the Promotion of Cotton Growing within the Empire” was formed in Britain as a government institution. 150 This new development opened Nigeria, and therefore, Ekiti, more to the cotton market in England.

In 1920, the external trade in cotton was becoming more encouraging.

According to the DO for Ekiti, Mr. Findlay:

Before the War, cotton was exported to the British Cotton Growing Association at Oshogbo in large quantities. From 1916-1919, owing to scarcity and bad quality of imported cotton goods, the whole crop was used for local weaving. In 1920, the export resumed and the advance in prices to 3½ pence has resulted in a record export year. 151

Mr. Findley believed that Ekiti was by 1921 a great factor in the exportation of cotton as shown by the quality of cotton received from different districts in

Ekiti Division (see Table 6.10). No wonder, the third decade of the 20 th century saw the massive sale of cotton in Ekiti for exportation, despite the heavy competition it faced from the buyers who bought cotton “for the local cloth weaving industry (and) who paid much higher prices than those ruling in the export market’. 152 In fact, by 1945, four cotton markets had been well known and gazetted in Ondo Province. These were in Ondo, Oka, Owo and

Ikare. 153 In Ekiti, Ijero had by 1949 become a major cotton market; 154 while

Ado Ekiti, Igede, Ikole, Ikere, Igbara Odo, Igbara Oke, Emure, Ise and Ikare, among others, had by 1952 become important cotton markets. The cotton for 299 export to Britain was taken to Lagos by road from Ado through Igede,

Aramoko, and Oshogbo. In Ondo Province, the amount of cotton presented for grading was 20,680 pounds in 1954 with Ekiti Division responsible for more than half of this quantity. 155

Though there were variations in prices, which made stable or fixed price difficult, especially because of competition between those buying for export and those buying for local consumption, in 1954 cotton in Ekiti was sold at eight pence per pound. Before independence, in 1960, though many farmers relaxed in their cotton production, mainly because of their focus on cocoa economy, Ekiti continued to produce cotton for both local and export needs. In fact, the recognition of Ekiti as a strong and major producer of cotton for both internal and external trade made the Western regional government establish the Odua Textile Factory in Ado-Ekiti, the only one of its kind in Ondo province.

Table 6.10: Cotton Exportation from Some Ekiti Districts, 1920 to 1921

District Quantity Year Ado 26440 ibs 1920 -1921 Ijero 97449 ibs 1920-1921 Akure 8108 ibs 1920 -1921 Iddo 35618 ibs 1920 -1921 Ikene 4286 ibs 1920-1921 Oye 84 ibs 1920-1921 Efon 212 ibs 1920 -1921 Ara 1610ibs 1920 -1921 Okemesi 187868 ibs 1920-1921 Total 361675 ibs 1920 -1921 Source: N.A.I., Ondo Prof. 4/1, Annual Report, 1920/1921, p. 39. 300

Unlike cotton, rubber, cocoa, palm kernel and palm oil, tobacco did not attract much external trade, so, not much tobacco was exported generally from Nigeria, particularly from the early 1930s because of the opening of the

Tobacco Factories in Ibadan and Oshogbo. 156 In fact, in 1935, the Nigerian

Tobacco Company Ltd (NTC), “a subsidiary of the British American Tobacco company”, 157 being an agent of its British-American counterpart, bought nearly all the tobacco leaves that would have been exported to Europe and

America, for its own local production. But before this period, and specifically before 1932, tobacco was more extensively planted in Northern Nigeria. The region produced more than half of Nigeria’s yearly production, and this was

“exported to Europe by John Holt Ltd and the United African Company”. 158

In Europe, they were used to produce various tobacco products as earlier discussed. The Western Region was also a force to be considered because

“tobacco is the most important commercial crop in the savanna zone … in terms … of number of farmers growing it and its contribution to total farm cash income”. 159

However, despite the tobacco patronage monopoly enjoyed by the

NTC Limited, the World War II of 1939 to 1945 created a situation that temporarily challenged this, monopoly. The War, to some extent, led to shortage of imported tobacco leaves in England, thereby making some foreign companies seize the opportunity of exporting “bales and bales of tobacco leaves which were bought from these local farmers in the northern Ekiti region at higher prices by the determined middlemen for their British allies”. 160 This period, particularly 1944 to 1945, also coincided with the 301

Ekiti drought experience “when there was considerable food shortage” and

“grow more food campaign was carried out by the agricultural staff”. 161

Ekiti farmers, thus, had the opportunity to readily sell, according to

Chief Adelaja Oke of Igbara-Odo, a “large quantity of tobacco leaves which many farmers, particularly those big time cocoa farmers, had stock-piled under their roofs for local consumption”. 162 As Chief Oke explained: “Many farmers needed money to buy food stuffs which the drought had reduced and were therefore eager to sell out all the tobacco in their possession at a very good price which they did not even expect”. 163 It was the period many middlemen penetrated with bicycles various Ekiti towns, looking for tobacco sellers who were also many. The middlemen in turn sold their goods to companies like the John Holt and the UAC that eventually transported the tobacco to Lagos from Ado-Ekiti through Aramoko, Ilesha, and Ibadan.

From Lagos, the tobacco was shipped to Britain. But the NTC, using a government instrument, was able to stop this exportation in the early 1950s when, in fact, Ekiti farmers had already reduced, very considerably, their interest in tobacco farming because of their newly developed interest in cocoa farming. 164 The above discussion has shown tobacco as a commodity for external trade despite the fact that it also featured greatly in Ekiti local trade.

Though unlike the commodities above discussed, kola was generally not an export crop, a lot of kolanuts were exported to South, North, North and

Central American countries where there was a large population of Africans who were descendents of the Africans forcefully taken away from Africa as slaves. Those countries in South Africa were Brazil and British Guyana while 302 in the North and Central America were Jamaica, Bermuda, Cuba and Haiti.

Others were Trinidad and Tobago and Mexico. Many of these countries, like

Brazil, Cuba, Haiti, Jamaica and British Guyana were heavily populated by the descendants of the Yoruba people who, even till today, still retain and practise the Yoruba cultural experiences. For example, various Yoruba linguistic, artistic, religious and other social practices have given continuity to the survival of their Yoruba traditions which have also necessitated their periodic pilgrimage to some annual events, like the Oshogbo Osun Festival, that takes place in Yorubaland annually.

Trade had existed before colonization between the African-Brazilians, known as Saro, and the “liberated African slaves of Yoruba descent from

Brazil” known as Amaro who were in Lagos. 165 For example by 1860, the

Lagos Saro had already started exporting not only kolanuts but also woven traditional Yoruba cloths, tobacco and palm oil to Brazil. By 1900, the increasing population of the Amaro in Lagos coupled with more aggressive interest of the Saros in their Yoruba traditional religious practices, made the

Yoruba and the Brazilian relationship more concrete and real. Like the

Yoruba of Nigeria, the Brazilian Yorba (Saro) saw kolanut as an indispensable part of religious worship, divination and sacrifice. According to artist Mailou-Jones, many Brazilian artists considered kola a cultural symbol that made them “closer to our own root in Africa”. 166 This was why in her painting, she used kolanuts and other iconographic symbols like cowries and Sango staff to depict her African heritage. 167 303

Perhaps it was the Ekiti Annual Report of 1934 that first brought awareness to the exportation of kolanuts, particularly kola acuminata to Brazil and some Northern and Central American countries. This was the period some Yoruba merchants, especially in Lagos, began to have agents or middlemen in Ekiti for the purchase of kolanuts. According to the report:

The Agric Department is further encouraging the Ekiti farmers to take advantage of the new kolanut seedlings that are ready for distribution to some extension centres… particularly now that buyers are by day increasing beyond the Northern Province. The monopoly of kolanut consumption by the Northerners seems to be challenged, now more forcefully, by a group of Yoruba elite – merchants known as saroes who still have strong culture link with their people in the Americas to where tons of kolanuts or kola acuminata, are now being shipped mainly for social and cultic reasons. Every effort is also being made to make the local farmers know the new method of propagating kolanus for more economic gains. 168

It is also understood that kola nitida, which was essentially known as “the kola of commerce”, and kola acuminata contain about 2% caffeine which made people, particularly the Africans in the diaspora, chew them “as a stimulant”. 169 In addition, these kolanuts were, by the late 1950s, being shipped to Europe where they were “also used in the manufacture of the cola group of beverages … coca-cola, pepsi cola and krola”. 170 By 1960, Nigeria was producing annually about 100,000 tons of kolanuts worth over £4 million

(four million pounds) with “almost all the kola … produced in Western

Region”. 171 304

REFERENCES

1. The desperate attempt to stop slave trade in Yorubaland made the British penetrate even the remotest areas of Ekiti, thereby allowing them to easily locate the economic potentials of the people.

2. Ekiti State Government, The Ekiti People: Yesterday and Today, Published Pamphlet, 1999, p. 5.

3. G.O. Ogunremi, E.K. Faluyi, An Economic History of West Africa since 1750. (Lagos: 1st Academic Publishers, 1996), p. 64.

4. U.I. Ukwu, “The Development of Trade and Marketing in Igboland”, Journal of Historical Association, Vol. III, No. 4, 1967, pp. 640-650. Also see B.W. Hodder and U.I. Ukwu, Markets in West Africa. (Ibadan: Ibadan University Press, 1969), pp. 24-93.

5. Chief Bola Ojo, 74 years, a retired civil servant. Interview conducted in Ado-Ekiti on June 13, 2006.

6. Ibid.

7. Hodder and Ukwu, 1969, p. 52.

8. Ibid., pp. 52-53.

9. Ibid., p. 52.

10. Oguntuyi, A Short History…, p. 10, Njoku, Economic History of Nigeria…, p. 84 and Ogunremi and Faluyi, An Economic History of West Africa…, pp. 64-65.

11. Oguntuyi, A Short History of Ado-Ekiti…, p. 10.

12. Hodder and Ukwu, Markets in West Africa…, p. 66.

13. Njoku, Economic History…, p. 84.

14. Femi Zaraki, The Yoruba Market System, An Unpublished Seminar Paper, University of Ado-Ekiti, 2000, p. 21.

15. N.A.I., Ekiti Div. 1/1/665. Administrative report (Miscellaneous), File No. 117, Vol. II, 1947, p. 7.

16. Ibid., p. 2.

17. Chief Bola Ojo, 2006.

18. Mary Anibaba, 77 years, a market trader. Interview conducted in Ado- Ekiti, June 14, 2006. 305

19. N.A.I., Ekiti Div. 2/4, File No. Ok 208, July 14, 1943, p. 5.

20. N.A.I., Ekiti Div. 1/3, File No. Ok 117, August 11, 1932, p. 15.

21. Ibid.

22. Ibid., p. 16.

23. A. Ojo, Yoruba Culture: A Geographical Analysis. (London: University of Ife/University of London Press Ltd., 1966, p. 53; B.F. Also See Johnson, The Staple Food Economies of Western Tropical Africa, Stanford, 1958, pp. 112-114; ‘The Cultivation of Yam for food”, Tropical Science, Vol. IV, No. 2, 1962, p. 82.

24. Chief (Mrs.) Ifeloro Ijaodola, the Iyalolaja (Market Leader) of Igede- Ekiti; 72 years. Interview conducted in Igede-Ekiti on February 8, 2006.

25. Ibid.

26. Ibid.

27. Itsueli, p. 256.

28. Yoloye, 2006.

29. Interview already cited.

30. Chief Oluwatoba Olusawe, 80 years, a retired farmer. Interview conducted in Igede-Ekiti on February 8, 2008.

31. Ibid.

32. To fully have the knowledge of LDT, see O.N. Njoku, 2001, pp. 84-87.

33. Njoku, Economic History of Nigeria…, p. 85.

34. Hodder and Ukwu, Markets in West Africa…, p. 27.

35. Njoku, Economic History…, p. 85.

36. Oguntuyi, A Short History …, p. 21.

37. Ibid.

38. Ibid.

39. Olusawe, interview already cited.

40. Oguntuyi, A Short History…, p. 21.

41. James Akomolafe, about 90 years, a former itinerant cloth trader in Ado-Ekiti. Interview conducted in Ado-Ekiti on December 4, 2007. 306

42. Ijaodola, interview already cited.

43. Ijaodola, interview already cited.

44. Iya Olose (soap maker), real name, Beatrice Olofe, about 75 years, interview conducted in Iyin-Ekiti on February 8, 2006.

45. Interview with Chief Bayo Idowu, 91 years, a lorry driver between Ado and Ibadan in the 1950s. Interview conducted in Iyin Ekiti on July 8, 2006.

46. N.A.I., Administrative Report, Ekiti Div. 1/4, 1940, p. 6.

47. Chief Oluwafemi Ojo, a farmer, 79 years. Interview conducted in Igede-Ekiti on October 26, 2009.

48. Ibid.

49. Alhaji Musa, a cattle dealer, 82 years. Interview conducted in Igede- Ekiti on October 26, 2009.

50. Ojo, 2009, interview already cited.

51 Ibid.

52. Ibid.

53. R. Olufemi Ekundayo, An Economic History of Nigeria, 1860-1900. (London: Methuen & Co. Ltd., 1993), p. 50.

54. Ojo, 2009, interview already cited.

55. Anibaba, interview already cited.

56. N.A.I., Ekiti Div. 1/3, File no. Ok. 017, August 16, 1932, p. 10.

57. Olusawe, interview already cited.

58. N.A.I., Ekiti Div. 1/3, File No. Ok 017, August 11, 1932, p. 10.

1 59. N.A.I., Ekiti Div. /3, File No. 017, p. 10. 60. Modupe Olowu, also known as Mama Alaso or Cloth Seller, about 65 years. Interview conducted at Ise-Ekiti on August 20, 2007.

61. Adenike Olowokere, 85 years and a former seller of stationeries. Interview conducted in February 2006 in Ikere-Ekiti.

62. See N.A.I., Ekiti Div. 3/2, File No. Ok. 9, Administrative Report, 1929, p. 40. 307

63. James Omoyemi, 86 years, a retired U.A.C. Clerk from Iyin-Ekiti. Interview conducted in Ado-Ekiti on December 3, 2007.

64. Ibid.

65. Ibid.

66. S.O. Olaitan and O. Idowu, 2002, pp. 97-98.

67. Adenike Olowokere, 2006.

68. Atinuke Ojo, 80 years, a retired nurse in Ado-Ekiti. Interview conducted in Ado-Ekiti on December 6, 2007.

69. N.A.I., Ondo Prof. 1/2, File No. OP. 312, 1937, p. 8.

70. Atinuke Ojo, 2007.

71. O. Johnson (ed.), The History of the Yorubas from the Earliest to the Beginning of British Protectorate, by Samuel Johnson. (Lagos: CSS Bookshops, 1969), p. 126.

72. Johnson, The History of the Yoruba…, p. 126.

73. Oguntuyi, A Short History…, p. 25.

74. Johnson, p. 126; also see A.G. Hopkins, 1973, p. 71.

75. A.G. Hopkins, An Economic History of West Africa. (London: Longman Group Ltd., 1973), p. 70.

76. For thorough knowledge of esusu, see William R. Bascom “The Esusu: A Credit Institution of the Yorubas”, The Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, Vol. LXXXII, Part 1, pp. 63-69.

77. Njoku, An Economic History…, p. 108.

78. See W.I. Ofonagoro, Trade and Imperialism in Southern Nigeria, 1881-1829, pp. 397-407.

79. Ofonagoro, Trade and Imperialism…, pp. 400-401.

80. Toyin Falola (ed.), Britain and Nigeria: Exploitation or Development? (London: Zed Books Ltd., 1987), p. 124.

81. Falola (ed.), Britain and Nigeria…, p. 124.

82. G.O. Ogunremi and E.K. Faluyi, p. 133. 308

83. For an indepth knowledge of this discussion, see Onwuka Njoku’s “Trading with the Metropolis: an unequal Exchange” in Toyin Falola (ed.), 1987, pp. 124-141.

84. Njoku, “Trading with the Metropolis: An Unequal Exchange”, pp. 124- 141.

85. Ibid., p. 128.

86. The New Ekiti in Perspective, no date, a pamphlet released by Ekiti State government, p. 8.

87. N.A.I., Administrative Report, Ondo Prov. 1/4, OC. 29, File No. 1965/180, 1943, p. 130 (b).

88. Madam Tinuola Ojo, a 70 year-old trader in Iyin Ekiti; Interview conducted in Iyin on September 10, 2008.

89. Ibid.

90. Chief Bade Anibaba, 87 years, former produce buyer in Ado-Ekiti. Interview conducted in Ado-Ekiti on June 14, 2006.

91. N.A.I., Ondo Prof. 1/3, File No. 134a, 1949, p. 8.

92. N.A.I., Ondo Prof. 1/2, File no. OP 64, 1932, p. 32.

93. Ibid.

94. Deborah Ajayi, 82 years, from Iworoko-Ekiti: Interview conducted in Ado-Ekiti on June 8, 2006.

95. Ibid.

96. N.A.I., Ondo Prof. 4/1, Annual Report, 1923, p. 36.

97. Ibid.

98. N.A.I., Ekiti Div 1/3, Miscellaneous, 1931, p. 4.

99. N.A.I., Ondo Prof. 4/1, Annual Report, 1923, p. 50.

100. N.A.I., Administrative report, Ekiti Dev. 1/3, Miscellaneous, 1931, p. 7.

101. Njoku, Economic History…, pp. 195-196.

102. For a thorough knowledge of the role of middlemen in the external trade of colonial Nigeria, see O.N. Njoku’s “Trading with the Metropolis: An Unequal Exchange” in Toyin Falola (ed.) Britain and Nigeria: Exploitation or Development? (London: Zed Books Ltd., 1987), pp. 130-135. 309

103. Ibid.

104. Ibid., p. 131.

105. Ibid., p. 134.

106. Richard Bulles, 74 years, an Edo big-time trader and shop owner in Ado-Ekiti. Interview conducted on July 10, 2006, in Ado-Ekiti.

107. Ibid.

108. Also see N.A.I., Administrative Report, Ondo Prof. 1/4, OC 29, File No. 1965/180, 1943, p. 78.

109. N.A.I., Ondo Annual Report, Miscellaneous, Ondo Prof. 4/1, 1923, p. 32.

110. N.A.I., Administrative Report, Ondo Prof. 4/1, 1945, p. 24.

111. N.A.I., Ekiti Div. 1/1 File No. S. 38, 19/4/1950, p. 185.

112. Ibid., p. 161.

113. Ibid.; Circular Instruction No. 5051/W.A/7, p. 156.

114. N.A.I., Administrative Report, Ekiti Div. 1/1, File No. S.38, pp. 192, 249.

115. N.A.I., Ekiti Div. 1/1, File No. S.38, p. 4; Circular Instructions No. 5152/WA/8, 13/10/1951, p. 214.

116. N.A.I., Ekiti Div. 1/1, S. 38, 1950, p. 97 (reprinted from Gazette No. 47 of 1950 and dated 24 th August, 1950.

117. Ibid.

118. R.C. Golding, his Memorandum to the Provincial Officer, Ondo dated July 7, 1947, Ref. N.A.I., Ondo Prof. 4/8, 1947, p. 4.

119. N.A.I., Ondo Annual Report (Miscellaneous), Ondo Prof. 4/1, 1923, p. 10.

120. Ibid., p. 24.

121. N.A.I., Ondo Annual Report (Trade and Economic), Ondo Prof. 4/1, 1923, p. 7.

122. N.A.I., Ondo Annual Report (Miscellaneous), Ondo Prof. 4/1, 1923, p. 27.

123 N.A.I., Ondo Prof. 1/4, OC 29, 1943, p. 40. 310

124. N.A.I., Ekiti Div. 1/1, G. 56, Vol. ii, File No. 1427A/645, 20/4/1949, pp. 211-212.

125. Ibid., p. 212.

126. Ibid.

127. Bade Anibaba, 2006.

128. N.A.I., Ondo Annual Report (Miscellaneous), Ondo Prof. 4/1, 1923, p. 32.

129. N.A.I., Ondo Prof. 1/4, File No. OC 29, 24/6/1943, p. 50.

130. Ibid., p. 2.

131. Ibid.

132. See O.N. Njoku, “Export Production Drive in Nigeria during Second World War”, Transafrican Journal of History, Vol. 10, 181, pp. 11-27.

133. Njoku, “Export Production Drive in Nigeria”, Transafrican Journal, p. 11.

134. Ibid., p. 14.

135. N.A.I., Ondo Prof. 1/4, File No. OC 29, 24/6/1943, p. 6.

136. N.A.I., Ekiti Div. 1/1, File No. 656, Vol. II, p. 204.

137. N.A.I., Ekiti Div. 1/1, File No. 665 II, 31/1/1949, p. 542.

138. N.A.I., Ondo Prof. 4/1, Ondo Annual Report, 1923, p. 52.

139. Ibid.

140. N.A.I., Ondo Prof. 1/2, File No. OP 64, 9/5/1932, p. 32.

141. Ibid., p. 3.

142. Ibid., p. 17.

143. N.A.I., Ondo Prof. 1/3, File No. D41, 1949, p. 56.

144. Ibid., p. 57.

145. Allan McPhee, The Economic Revolution in British West Africa. (London: Frank Cass and Company Ltd., 1971), p. 45.

146. Ibid.

147. Ibid. 311

148. Ibid., p. 48.

149. Onwuka Njoku, Economic History of Nigeria, 19 th and 20 th Centuries. (Enugu: Magnet Business Enterprises, 2001), p. 23.

150. McPhee, Economic Revolution…, p. 48.

151. N.A.I., Ondo Prof. 1/3, File No. D. 41, 9/2/1949, p. 59.

152. N.A.I., Ondo Prof. 1, 4/1, Departmental and Miscellaneous, 1945, p. 2.

153. Ibid.

154. N.A.I., Ondo Prof. 1/3, File No. D. 41, 9/2/1949, p. 59.

155. Also see N.A.I., Ondo Prof. 1, 4/1, 1945, p. 2.

156. Njoku, 2001, pp. 161-162.

157. “Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations”, Agriculture in Nigeria, pp. 164-165.

158. Ibid., p. 124.

159. M.I. Kolawole, “Economic Aspects of Flue-cured Tobacco Production in the Savanna Zone of Western Nigeria”, Savanna, Vol. 4, No. 1, June 1975, p. 13.

160. N.A.I., Ondo Prof. 4/1, 1945, p. 9.

161. N.A.I., Ondo Prof. 1, 4/1, Part III, Annual Report, 1945, p. 12.

162. Adelaja Oke, an 88 year-old retired government Clerk and Farmer from Igbara-Odo. Interview conducted on May 14, 2008 in Akure.

163. Ibid.

164. For example, the shipping of tobacco to England was made to attract an exporting tax that was so high as to discourage tobacco exporters.

165. Agiri, “The Impact of Tobacco…”, pp. 5-9.

166. Louis Mailou-Jones, The Paintings of Louis Mailou-Jones, Exhibition Brochure, Howard University, Washington, D.C. 1974, p. 3; Mailou- Jones, Professor Emeritus was an Afircan-American female artist married to a Haitian but very familiar with those Yoruba practices.

167. Ibid.

168. N.A.I. Ekiti Div. 4/2, Annual Report, May 20, 1934, pp. 8-9.

169. Introduction to Agriculture, p. 116. 312

170. Ibid.

171. Ibid. 313

CHAPTER SEVEN

CONCLUSION: ECONOMIC BALANCE SHEET OF COLONIAL

RULE

Naturally, in any colonial society, there must be changes that positively or negatively affect the lives of the people. Ekiti under the British colonial rule was not an exception. Colonialism in Ekiti had far reaching consequences on the political economy of this territory. For example, the colonial rule did not lead to any economic revolution and serious development, mainly because the economy was British centred; not satisfying the interest of Ekiti but that of Britain. This view also reflects that of Deji

Fasuan who believes that colonialism was responsible for those factors that inhibited the dynamic and progressive development of Ekiti between 1900 and 1960. 1 The imperialist nature of the Ekiti economy is clearly expressed by Walter I. Ofonagoro and Toyin Falola, among other scholars, who, in their various studies, affirm the above conclusion. 2

Without doubt, there were clear social and infrastructural changes in the colonial Ekiti. These changes had both positive and negative effects on the people. Since what was uppermost in the minds of the British administrators was the utmost exploitation of people’s resources, they had no alternative than to create all the necessary conditions or prepare all possible grounds to facilitate the execution of all imperialist plans. That is, therefore, it was natural for the colonial administration to introduce, in the administrations interest, western education, for easier interaction and modern facilities. Various physical instructions were also created to this effect. 314

However, it is important to first address the colonial impact on the general social lives of the people.

For example, there was stoppage of human sacrifice. Also before the advent of the British, the Ekiti’s extended family used to live in a large compound headed by the overall family head. Within the units of in the compound were parents as well as their adult male children with their wives.

But with colonization, this communal living disappeared with individual young men building their own houses separately but usually within the easy reach from their parents’ compounds. This was a good development because the new living arrangement brought more independence and authority to young men. The development did not, however diminish the authority of the overall head. Rather, it gave him the pride of having children who were independent and mature enough to have enough material acquisition to be heads of their own families. Colonization also changed for better the Ekiti’s traditional method of building houses. For example, corrugated iron or zink replaced leaves, straws or reads for roofing. In addition, the usually unplastered mud walls acquired smooth surfaces with the introduction of cement. However, one of the major instruments of colonization was western education which Britain saw as the quickest way of colonizing both the mind and environment of the Ekiti people.

Education

According to Allen McPhee, education in West Africa “is quite an economic measure as it is an administrative measure”. 3 It is important to add moral and spiritual measure. The economic measure addresses a situation 315 where people are given modern education in order to make them “better consumers and better producers”, 4 believing that the educated “natives” would be opened up to various new and improved modes of life that would make them completely identify with modern development. In this regard, he would be a consumer and a producer, depending on the areas of education.

The colonial government also saw education as a way of producing competent minds for administrative purposes. This was considered very necessary because the British Administration needed the educated men and women to help legitimize and bring continuity to colonial administration. In this case also, education was seen as investment, particularly from the economic viewpoint.

Also British education in Ekiti initially had a lot to do with evangelization. Accordingly, most schools in Ekiti, both primary and secondary, were built by the missionaries for the purpose of evangelization.

In this regard, the objectives of the early missionaries were initially “purely moral and spiritual and not in anyway material”. 5 This was why in Ekiti, and in fact in other areas of Yorubaland, the main subjects taught were Reading,

Writing, Arithmetic and Religion. It was later followed by Hygiene and

Handicraft. In Ekiti, the early mission schools later accommodated subjects capable of producing not only missionaries but also administrators, politicians and educationists. It is a common knowledge that the greatest impact of colonization on Ekiti was in education which, as already discussed thoroughly, has made Ekiti one of the greatest centres of knowledge in

Nigeria. 316

This is in spite of the criticism which, this has attracted from the Ekiti educated elite. But one must not forget that modern education also seriously affected farm labour because the children who, by tradition, used to help their parents or fathers daily in the farm could no more render this service except during weekends and holidays. However, colonization did not seriously have impact on agriculture the way it on education, despite a measure of changes in traditional agriculture. But before discussing the colonial impact on

Agriculture, it is necessary to first examine the situation under the land tenure.

Land Tenure

In the colonial Ekiti, the land tenure policy of the government had significant negative effect on the people. That is, though there were some changes, these did not really upset the people’s land tenure system that has already been discussed. For example, usufructuary tenure system did not change, mainly because colonialism had made land so valuable, because of economic crops, that no family or individual wanted to lose any portion of land. 6 But again this had its occasional problems in that the sudden increase in land value made some brothers unnecessarily compete for land within the same family. There were also inter-family quarrels or disputes over land. On many occasions, the situation became so tense that the king’s intervention or that of the court became necessary. In fact, according to Niyi Adebayo, it was during the colonial period, when land suddenly became very precious, that serious fights or wars began between villages or towns. 7 317

The Ekiti people had no tradition of selling land for money; they only had the tradition of leasing. It was very difficult and almost impossible for an outsider or distant relation to own a portion of land within a family or household land. What could happen was leasing a land on agreed terms. It was at the end of colonization, when some Ekiti indigenes were occupying high political positions, that certain lands were purchased for individuals’ businesses. But an unprecedented land tenure system emerged during the colonial period. This was the generous giving away of either family or community land to the Christian missions for educational and religious purposes without leasing or monetary reward. This was done throughout

Ekiti; or in nearly all the towns, so as to make people benefit more from modern education.

However, during colonization, the government increased the powers of the kings through the land Acquisition Ordinance which gave the kings the sole right to give land to expatriates or foreign businessmen as well as

Christians after consulting with their subjects or people. 8 The Land

Acquisition Act No. 88 of 1917 also gave the colonial government the right to acquire land for public purposes but with compensation. 9 This was what made the government acquire a land in 1953 in Ado-Ekiti. The letter to this effect from the DO of Ekiti Division to the Resident, Ondo Province reads:

318

Acquisition of Land at Ado-Ekiti for the Establishment of a Textile Centre

I have no record in my file that the Government has been paying the One Shilling due to the Ewi (King of Ado-Ekiti) on the Textile Centre. This may seem a small matter; but it could be used by the Ewi as grounds for terminating the lease. The lease lays down that the Governor “will use the said land hereby demised solely for the purpose of Establishing a Textile Centre and purposes ancillary there to”. Government has already established a pottery Training Centre on the land and co-operative weaving centre is now being established as well. Will it not be necessary to modify the terms of the lease; so as to give these extensions proper legal authority?

Signed District Officer Ekiti Division 10

It is important to also discuss another change which colonization brought to land tenure tradition of the people. This was people’s relocation brought about by the new government and private job opportunities, especially in Ibadan and Lagos between 1952 and 1960. The new jobs, which made people leave their traditional settlements, drastically reduced the pressure which would have been exerted on, and the competition which it would have brought for, the lands. That is, many Ekiti educated elite, many low income earners as well as labourers migrated to big cities or towns where the material comfort, security and new life styles acquired were enough to make them lose interest in family lands which they would not have had time to even cultivate. It is true that “few people still retained their land through their junior or senior brothers, a large majority, including myself, would not 319 have anything to do with the lands, which, any way, had become generally too small for serious farm projects”. 11

Many of these Ekiti indigenes, who had also built houses in their new locations, had to come to Ekiti to buy lands outside their towns, usually in the trade centres, for various projects. This was how Ado-Ekiti became a haven for very many non-indigenes who still populate the town today, having acquired lands to build houses, thereby becoming permanent settlers.

Agriculture

Throughout the colonial administration in Ekiti, Ekiti farmers generally clung to their traditional ways of farming. There was little mechanization.

The colonial government could not improve the production methods or technique for various crops. That is, the government found it difficult to change people’s traditional ways of farming because the basic methods and tools like hoe and cutlass were still used. The situation changed a bit in the

1940s for timber production with the introduction of saw, palm-oil presses and mechanical cracker which, however, did not reach the hinterland since people could not get the capital to buy them. Though the Moor Plantation in

Ibadan and other schools of agriculture in Ilesa and Ado-Ekiti tried to help the farmers to improve farm products like cocoa yields in the 1950s by providing cocoa seedlings in polythene bags in many nurseries, very few Ekiti farmers patronized the agriculture schools.

This was because most Ekiti cocoa farmers, “especially those who were far from the Headquarters or major cities, preferred planting the cocoa seeds themselves in the traditional way… and they always got good 320 results”. 12 What further encouraged the lukewarm attitude of the farmers to the mechanized effort of the government was the belief that the cocoa trees planted years earlier were still healthy with good fruiting. They did not consider the fact that these cocoa trees would start ageing, with time and attendant fruiting problems. The farmers were also not aware that the cocoa diseases, which were initially occasionally located in few areas of Ekiti, could later spread uncontrollably to many other areas. 13

In fact, this was what happened in the late 1940s when diseases and pests began to affect the growth and production of cocoa trees all over Ekiti.

During this period, many cocoa trees were becoming weak with yellowish leaves while cocoa pods suddenly developed blackpod diseases caused by fungus or mould which eventually led to crop losses. Many people believed that evil forces were behind this problem. For this reason, some towns or districts performed rituals to ward off the evil spirits, usually associated with witchcraft, believed to be cause of plague. It was at this stage that many Ekiti educated elite, particularly B.A. Ajayi, A. Osuntokun and Revered Fatunla began to encourage various communities to seize the opportunity which the government had provided for healthier agriculture. 14 This was how the Ekiti farmers began to feel the positive impact which the colonial government had on their occupation, particularly, in this case, in the areas of disease or pest control.

And within a few months, “cocoa farmers all over Ekiti, almost without exemption, began to buy cocoa spraying machines popularly called

Ero Koko or Ero Farifari as well as chemicals, which some companies were 321 already selling in Ado-Ekiti”. 15 To these farmers, it was a new era in cocoa farming, and they enjoyed this. Every farmer learnt the technique of spraying cocoa trees and pods with copper fungicide, known in Ekiti as Farifari, which must be well mixed inside each machine before spraying. The machine was usually strapped to the back with two vertically attached strong belts meant to hold tightly the machine to the shoulders (see Fig. 7.1). The result of the new cocoa farming was alarming to the farmers. And with this farming innovation, the era of cocoa boom began and continued to be more promising with its attendant reduction in poverty and the emergence of powerful agriculture elite. 16 People had more money to train their children or relations, while many people were able to build modern houses and accumulate material wealth. The above situation also had some disturbing impacts. 322

Fig. 7.1: Two Types of Cocoa Spraying Machines. © Statistical and Economic Review, 17, 1956, p. 47. 323

For example, labour for cocoa farming, which before was generally free, began to be commercialized or strongly monetized. This is saying that wage labour rather than the traditional communal services became the new practice and labour became very expensive. What made the situation worse was that there was also serious reduction in free labour because of children’s enrolment in schools. As already understood, all the above factors, or new experiences, were due to the fact that there were, particularly between 1952 and 1959, greater production, or output, wider market and better price for cocoa. The colonial period also promoted external trade. And with the new patronage for and popularization of economic crops like cocoa, palm oil, palm produce, timber and kolanut, among others, the colonial period created the routes for export crops which continued to expand till 1960.

There were other colonial impacts on agriculture. For example, cocoa farming made many farmers lose interest in farming other products like cotton, tobacco, rubber which they saw as very unattractive when compared to the high price of cocoa. 17 During the colonial period, generally, new crops that were not indigenous to Nigeria, like rice, maize, cocoa, cassava and banana, were introduced. Of all the newly introduced food items, rice, which was considered a white man’s food, a status symbol and a prestige menu, became a celebrity food patronized mainly by the Ekiti middle class. And for the first time in Ekiti, a food item made itself, almost, an exclusive preserve of the rich. But there were more colonial impacts. For example, various agricultural activities, which also included timber production that was fairly 324 mechanized by colonization, led to various road constructions particularly in the Ekiti interior.

However, it is very clear that generally, the colonial government did not try hard, by not providing fertilizers to help the Ekiti farmers in the production of staple food like yam, cassava, cocoyam and beans. There was also no attempt to make the people change or modernize the production technique for palm oil. For example there were no oil mills and mechanical kernel crackers. The colonial administration focused only on cocoa which it desperately needed for its economic importance. 18 But one thing must not be forgotten while examining the impact of colonialism on Ekiti. This was the place of cocoa in the lives of the Ekiti people generally. Cocoa, to a very large extent, eradicated poverty among the farmers and created wealth for people generally. And most importantly, perhaps, in the colonial period, it was cocoa money that helped transform the Western Region of Nigeria into the most economically viable region before 1960. And this was why, among other things, “there was free primary education with free text books in the whole Region, including the Ekiti Division”. 19

Transport

The only means of transport during the pre-colonial period was head porterage through which people carried their products from one place to another for sales, not minding the distances. However, during the colonial period, the transport system changed, first with the emergence of trucks, followed by bicycles and motor vehicles. With all these, human power was replaced by mechanical or motor power. That is, carrier transport gave way 325 to wheeled transport, as earlier discussed. The elimination of head portarage, except for very short distances, for wheeled transportation, thus, increased mobility, saved time and made various information, particularly on commercial and administrative matters, faster. And with the importation of more motor vehicles like cars and vans, more and wider roads, suitable for wheeled vehicles, were constructed, particularly in the Ekiti interior.

Invariably, there was room for mobility, which naturally opened to Ekiti new districts or avenues for trade activities. Not only that, since the new transportation system, particularly lorries and buses, encouraged traders, especially, to travel to neighbouring and far away communities for commerce, there was also an expansion of trade in Ekiti.

This new transportation experience, considering the above factors, also encouraged the production of surplus food and other crop items, because the people were sure of ready market or patronage far beyond their localities.

The introduction of wheeled transport equally brought passengers service to

Ekiti transport system. By 1945, passenger services had made motor transportation so popular that the ADO in Ekiti, while addressing the crowned

Obas in Ado-Ekiti, considered this aspect of motor transportation “a fast growing service industry that is serving both the poor and the rich in our

Division without major financial or status constraints”. 20 According to Jeff

Rankin, the ADO:

What gladdens my heart, and I believe yours too, is the way wheeled transport, in the form of Lorries, has helped promote football competition amongst our school children who are always very enthusiastic, travelling in hired Lorries to play friendly matches with their counterparts in other 326

schools. …I am happy that our transporters have agreed to grant special educational hiring rate for our schools as requested by the Administration. I must confess here, as documented by two of my inspectors, that what these children enjoy more is the opportunity to travel in a Lorry, mostly for the first time. Are we therefore surprised to see the children while on sporting trips, across Ekiti towns, singing, even louder than the noise of the vehicle, drumming or jubilating very hilariously about their sporting exploits? 21

Passenger vehicles also encouraged many Ekiti secondary schools to take students on various excursions across Nigeria, and motor vehicles were always hired to this effect; since it was not the tradition of Ekiti schools, then, to own school vehicles. One of such common educational activities took place at the Annunciation (Secondary) School, Ikere-Ekiti in 1959 under the principal, Reverend Father John McCarthy, Ayo Ojo, the driver who took the students on the excursion narrated the story vividly. The journey took them to Warri, Sapele, “Mbulukwu”, “Iseleukwu”. Onitsha, Enugu and some other villages on their route. Three teachers were selected to follow the students:

Benedict C. Ijomah, the Art and English teacher; Peter Bodunrin, the Latin teacher and Apanishile, the Geography teacher. In Enugu, the students visited the coal mine. In Onitsha, they visited the Onitsha Market and slept at the St.

Charles College. They also visited the saw mills in Sepele and other areas in warri. 22

Ojo talked about how driving was very smooth and enjoyable in those days because drivers obeyed the rules and accident was not common. “The interest of our passengers was always number one”, he said. 23 It is good to know that Benedict Ijomah, later popularly known as B.I.C. Ijomah left 327

Annunciation school to be one of the pioneer students of the University of

Nigeria, Nsukka where he also became the first President of the Students

Union. 24 He later became a Professor and a social scientist. Peter Bodunrin who later attended the University of Ibadan, became a Professor of

Philosophy and later Deputy Vice-Chancellor University of Ibadan and Vice-

Chancellor, University of Ado-Ekiti. 25

However, there are other impacts of transportation on Ekiti between

1920 and 1960. For example, transportation, whether commercial or private, facilitated closer, easier and quick contacts with friends, relations, government officials and other business interests. Transportation became an effective means of social interactions. In addition, the importation of cars to

Ekiti, and the number of Ekiti people who owned cars rose so greatly that more roads were necessarily constructed communally. Transportation, and therefore speedy mobility, thus, made roads very important and necessary. It is here very clear that the new modes of transportation, particularly motor vehicles, that emerged during the colonial era, had the greatest impact on the social, cultural, economic and other developmental activities of the period.

Trade

The greatest impact of the British on Ekiti trade in the colonial period was the abolition of slave trade, considered illegitimate trade, and the introduction of what was popularly known as legitimate trade. And in the

British primary interest, to create a more enabling environment for trade, it was not enough to abolish slave trade. It was also necessary to put an end to various Ekiti inter-ethnic and inter-group wars that, for decades, affected the 328 people; particularly the Ekiti Parapo War that had caused socio-economic instability in Ekiti. 26 Besides, the British also made sure that there was an end to human sacrifice.

This fear, particularly through kidnapping, seriously affected trade, and the British government had to again take a more drastic measure to enforce the earlier enactment of the abolition of human sacrifice in the Ekiti countries.

Part of the edict reads:

…and whereas the Ekitis have resolved to abolish the said practice accordingly: Now therefore we, the undersigned, representing all the Ekiti kings and countries, and being duly authorized to speak in their “name”, and on their behalf, do hereby enact, ordain, and declare as follows:

1. The practice of immolating human beings, whether at the festival of any deity, or before, at, or after the funeral of any king or subject or on any other public or private occasion, shall be and hereby is abolished for ever. 2. It shall be and hereby is constituted a criminal offence for anyone in any Ekiti country, or for any subject of any Ekiti king to perform or participate in or to aid or abet others in performing or participating in any human sacrifice. 3. Every such criminal offence shall be punished by the infliction of a heavy fine, imprisonment, or forced labour. 4. No person condemned to death for a crime shall be utilized for the purpose of human sacrifice. Given under our hands and seals this 29 th day of September, 1886. OKINBALOYE, Owore (King) of Otun (his mark) OYIYOSOJE, Ajero (King) of Ijero (his mark) ODUNDUN, Olojudo (King) of Ido (his mark) I guarantee the enactment of the above-written promise 329

OGEDEMGBE, Seriki (King) of Ijesa (his mark) Signed and sealed in our presence after contents had been read and interpreted to the signatories by Rev. Charles Phillips. H. HIGGINS – Special Commissioner OLIVER SMITH – Special Commissioner. 27

Apart from the stoppage of human sacrifice in Ekiti, the British government also, as early as 1919, introduced skeletal medical services in order to check the various diseases that “dangerously affect the commercial activities in

Ado-Ekiti”. 28 But it was not until the late 1920s that greater effort was made to attack those diseases that were considered ‘deadly and crippling to the social and economic activities of these hardworking people”. 29

However, it was when some British officials, who had all along fortified themselves medically, got sick in Ado-Ekiti that the final decision was made to give medical services to the people “not only in these people’s interest but evidently in our own (British) interest too”. 30 There is no doubt that the economic interest made the colonial government take a very prompt and urgent action against those diseases that were also threatening the lives of the British officials too. The reaction of T.B. Bovel Jones, the DO for Ekiti

Division in 1926, explains the situation to this effect in his letter to the Ondo

Province Resident in Akure:

… May it please your honour to receive the following information that is becoming an embarrassment to our Administration in this Ekiti country… Ado-Ekiti and the environ are now disease ridden and the honourable, or most notable casualty, is Mr. Bob Robert, the Visiting Co- ordinator of Trade Exports from Lagos. Arrangement is being made to transport him to Lagos after recovering from malaria and some 330

effect of flue which, we believe, affected him during his official visit to Ekiti North…

In my last letter, I expressed the fear of our (British) security, healthwise, explaining that reliance on our already well packaged medical security may afterall not make us secure if the local people around us are not also medically well secure. The above incidence has made our fear real…

The resident is probably aware of various diseases that now rampage many areas of this Division: Malaria, yaws, small-pox, Guinea-warms and very feverish Flue that uncomfortably affect nasal condition. Hundreds of these natives are now sick, and head porters are becoming very scarce, staying at home because of the fear of any epidemics. Many farmers can no more go to farm, and trade activities have slowed down very considerably for fear of acquiring diseases in the market…

In the interest of our entire Division (including we administrators) and to be able to continue our dynamic trade efforts and administrative duties, the provision of modern medial services is very necessary. 31

The above letter seems to confirm the position of many Nigerian scholars who believe that British rule in Nigeria was exploitative; more so if it is also known that the letter got a quick reaction from the resident. But whether or not this was exploitation is not what this discussion will stress.

The fact was that the letter achieved its objective by making the colonial government provide all those medical infrastructures which the Ekiti people had never enjoyed. By 1929, the provision of dispensaries, maternity homes and later hospitals made the people feel the impact of colonization in this regard. It is also true, however, that trade or commercial interests gave more impetus to the provision of the medical services in Ekiti. 331

However, since the colonial government was able to abolish slave trade which was illegitimate; since it was able to put end to all the wars in Ekiti; since it stopped human sacrifices and since the colonial administration was able to control all the major diseases by medically providing services, it was clear that the road had been cleared for the introduction of legitimate trade, having removed all the above challenging impediments. This legitimate trade involved trade in export commodities that were not illicit. And according to

A.G. Hopkins:

…the structure of legitimate commerce marked an important break with the past and signified a new phase in the growth of the market, a phase which can be seen as the start of the modern economic history of West Africa. 32

The newly patronized export commodities were timber, cocoa, rubber, palm oil, palm kernel, kolanut, cotton and tobacco. It is good to know that the

Ekiti’s dynamic traditional trade structures or processes were already on ground before the introduction of legitimate trade, but these were only given impetus under the colonial administration.

The legitimate trade brought an era of exportation and importation.

That is, while various raw materials were exported to Europe from Ekiti by the European firms or expatriates who were the main exporters of these commodities or products, various European finished products were also imported to Ekiti. Because of the great demand for the new trade products like cocoa and palm produce, for example, thereby opening the producers to larger markets or external consumers, there was also an increase in production. And this invariably created more job opportunities for many 332

Ekiti young men and women. Many Ekiti young men, particularly the school leavers, equally had more job opportunities with the government and most especially with the expatriate companies. The external trade also created jobs for those appointed as middlemen for various export products and for many who were appointed as clerks, drivers, porters and for other clerical works.

And as should be expected, labour also became more valuable and more expensive, particularly in agriculture. The strong demand for cocoa and palm produce products also led to the emergence of many produce buyers all over the Ekiti and, according to Akin Oluwatayo, they had a uniform price for the particular quantity, quality or grade of cocoa and kernel products. 33

The growing export, or external trade, produced more middle class people or business elite whose voices, because of their financial standing, were respected by the Ekiti kings and the British high officials. Many of these business elite were car and lorry owners who also invested in many businesses in Ekiti. There was more importation of motor vehicles. Thus, the new trade activities gave better living conditions to the people, allowing many people to build modern houses and train their children and relations in secondary schools. Before the emergence of export trade, according to Chief

John Oluwadare of Ado-Ekiti, “the kings had it all in Ekiti, because to the people, the king was the most powerful in status, and the recipient of greatest respect, and symbolically the weathiest person in the community”. 34 “Even if a king has no penny”, Oluwadare states, “he was symbolically considered the richest man who also deserved the highest respect, and this was why he is addressed as second to the gods”. 35 333

However, with the emergence of the new business elite or money magnates, the kings, generally, were no more enjoying the monopoly of high social status in the society. This was in spite of the high regard and respect the business magnates had for them. In fact, a few business or cocoa merchants bought cars for some of the kings. However, with the legitimate trade, there was also rapid urbanization in the major towns where those who were not farmers or agriculturists turned to, selling various local and imported goods. 36 In fact, the more imported goods came to Ekiti, the more urban some towns became. And invariably, urbanization in Ekiti produced innovation in the market system with the evolution of modern market that included market stalls and shop-keeping. There was also in the early 1950s what was generally known as mobile market when few cars or specially designed non-passenger, almost windowless, corporate motor vehicles were being used to sell either modern medical products (medicine) or imported products from town to town. This market system was introduced to the towns in the Ekiti interior. 37

The new trade systems and commodities brought by colonization also turned all the houses on the major streets in the highly urban areas into shops.

Without doubt, trade in the colonial period opened Ekiti to the external market. One must also not forget that the export trade or the new trade system of the colonial period made few Ekiti men occupy themselves vigorously with trade activities, unlike the pre-colonial period when trading was almost exclusive to women. The implication of this also was that there was reduction in the number of Ekiti farmers, even though the reduction was 334 very marginal. 38 There were, however, other negative effects of the legitimate trade on the colonial Ekiti.

For example, the imported British or European goods flooded Ekiti markets to the disadvantage of various local goods or products which were becoming largely unpatronized. Many local products were seriously affected in this regard to the extent that many local industries eventually collapsed.

There was also serious commercialization of labour, while at the same time there was ‘this philosophy of nothing goes for nothing among the male adults”. 39 Very unfortunately too, the monetary gains of the government and

European expatriates were not used to develop or industrialize Ekiti. There were no significant investments since their financial gains were taken to their

European firms or business interests.

The European firms also made too much profit in their trade activities.

This is why, among other things, some scholars see the legitimate trade of the colonial period as exploitative trade. For example, a quantity of palm oil bought in Mid-Western Region for £16.75 was sold in Europe for £95. 40 Not only that, many Ekiti who were employed as clerks were not given on-the-job training that could develop them further, while generally, many of them were not made to rise beyond the foreman position while their European counterparts with the same qualification rose to policy making positions.

However, one of the notable impacts of the colonial administration in

Ekiti was the introduction of new currency system which eventually replaced the traditional barter and the use of cowries among the Ekiti people. The new monetary system changed the social and the commercial experiences of the 335

Ekiti people. The introduction of modern currency marked the beginning of very smooth non-laborious trade transactions in the colonial period. And eventually, this acceptance of the British currencies, in their various denominations, “led to the introduction of banking institutions”. 41 But the banking system had very little impact on the Ekiti people generally. Another means of money transactions was through postal orders bought in the post offices or postal agencies. These were in different denominations, for which one would pay cash and sent by mail to a receiver who would also take them to a post office where they would be converted back to cash. That the banking system had no significant impact on the colonial Ekiti people was very clear if one also knows that the Esusu was more recognized as a major and popular means of saving. This tradition remained even stronger in the post-colonial period. However, the new trade systems in the colonial Ekiti helped to create a capitalist society, contrary to the situation in the pre- colonial era.

Art and Craft Industry

There was also a serious neglect of traditional craft and industry in colonial Ekiti mainly because of mass importation of various artistic and domestic products which people also easily embraced. Various traditional walking sticks, bead works, decorative stools, cane chairs, musical instruments and wooden toys for children, among others, were substituted with imported ones towards the end of colonial rule. Also, many products of the blacksmiths as well as textile designers or weavers had their imported substitutes. In addition, the centres of pottery in Ekiti were reduced to about 336 one-third because of massive importation of plastic and metal containers which, as from the later 1940s, killed the Ekiti markets, particularly in the major towns.

No doubt, that the importation of European goods, to a very large extent, killed the spirit of industry among Ekiti women, particularly, and these women had to abandon dyeing (cloths) for some reasons. Firstly, imported manufactural dyed cloths began to flood the market, 42 making many people prefer these foreign materials, even though they were inferior in quality to the local ones. The removal of trade isolation through the increase in road construction and therefore the introduction of motor transportation especially in the 1940s also made the other Yoruba ethnic groups, like the

Ibadan, the Ijebu and the Abeokuta, have trade contacts with the Ekiti. This did not help local production and sale of adire (dyed) cloths because “the

Adire cloths produced in Abeokuta were becoming widely available”, and were “light and cheaper than Ekiti cloths”. 43

Since craft objects and other local industrial products like pottery wares, mats, ornamented male caps and various wooden figures were being brought from other divisions in large quantities to Ekiti for sale, the impact on the women immediately became clear. For instance, some of these women were forced to focus on other trade items like European articles such as cloths, needles, mirrors cosmetics and other feminine products. But it is also interesting to know that many of these women refused to abandon the sale of their local industrial products. Rather, they formed an Association of Crafts and Beauty Products (Egbe Olona ati Ewa) in Ado-Ekiti. Their numbers, 337 who also fixed prices for each of their articles, began to have influence on other Ekiti towns. The items they traded in included numerous domestic objects produced by blacksmiths, most especially “the Ibo (Igbo) blacksmiths, who used to make a variety of knives” for cooking, farming, self defence, art ornamentation, body cicatrices, body ornamentation, tattooing and face marking. 44 Special small knives were also sold for circumcision. But again, very unfortunately, according to Alice Daramola, the market for all the above items by the 1950s, was weakened, because demand for these articles reduced by the heavy importation of similar European products “which our people preferred not because they were better but because they were shinning objects made by the white people”. 45

Apart from the arts and craft industry, nearly all other Ekiti industrial products, also suffered the same fate. The production of traditional soaps which were very popular in the early colonial period became restricted to an insignificant few by the late 1950s. It might have, probably, been completely neglected if not for the patronage of herbalists or traditional doctors who used the product for spiritual purposes.

Very surprisingly, the traditional wood carving of Ekiti, more than any wood tradition in other Nigerian groups, was encouraged and heavily patronized by the Catholic Church. At the time the traditional carved images of Nigeria were being destroyed by the missionaries because they were considered fetish and therefore devilish, those of Ekiti, through Oye experiment, helped reverse the situation. Though, some scholars have seen this as culture desecration or prostitution and though other scholars see this 338 renewed interest of the Roman Catholic as serving the selfish interest of the

Church, it was clear that as regards the acceptance of “Africa’s (Ekiti’s) artistic and creative potential which as we all know changed the art idiom of the West (Europe and America) early in the 20 th century, these Oye images, resulting from the well treasured and transmitted art culture of their fathers can be compared to the art images of Classical Greece”. 46 And because of the economic, religious and cultural importance of Oye wood carvings, the colonial administration in Ekiti brought respect, acceptance and not the usual rejection and condemnation, to the traditional art culture of the Ekiti people.

However, as already implied in this study, the colonial administration in Ekiti had no interest in industrialization; which was why no attempt was made to promote or modernize local industries. Since the economy of Ekiti was monopolized by the European companies, “it was far more profitable for the British trading companies to export cheap agricultural produce (for example) rather than process or manufacture them locally”. 47 Without doubt, as was also the case with other Nigerian ethnic groups at that time, and according to Olashore, “colonialism witnessed little or no industrialization”. 48

Cumulative Impact of Economic Development

So far in this study, the economic history of Ekiti which “is primarily the history of growth” 49 has already been examined under the British imperialism and therefore colonialism. This growth, which has been examined above in detail, under education, land tenure, road, agriculture, transport, trade and industry, also has other effects on the generality of the society. For example, there was improved income that was made possible by 339 higher wages and higher prices for various trade or commercial commodities.

And, also, as a result, people’s buying and spending powers greatly appreciated. Of course, various trade avenues attracted many people to many commercial activities. Because of heavy importation of European goods, the

Ekiti people began to patronize these foreign products which they considered superior in quality. And this attitude, by implication, produced the culture of making the people see their own local products as very inferior even if these were superior in terms of durability and functionality.

Invariably, there was that strong attraction to very shining European products, while similar local products were seen as crude. By the 1940s, this attitude had become so ingrained in many people that agricultural and livestock products were affected. And the Hausa/Fulani herdsmen as well as some Ekiti agents used this colonial attitude to their advantage. For example, according to Adeoye Lasisi, a retired Butcher and goat seller, until late 1940s, the Hausa/Fulani goats were not known in Ekiti. These goats were very slim, elegant, fresh and tall with long, beautiful horns. Their characteristic brown colour also made them very appealing to people. In contrast, Ekiti goats were generally very short, black, fat and rather small with short horns. Lasisi also explained how some Ekiti business men bought the Hausa/Fulani goats and sold them as European, imported goats at very high price. Many people in fact believed that the goats were from England and therefore bought them for presentation at marriage and other social functions. It was usual to hear a statement like “do you know that rich man presented one European goat for 340 the chieftaincy ceremony? 50 Whereas considering the meat content, the Ekiti, native, goats which were father and sorter were more profitable.

What Lasisi has narrated above was in fact the value culture that gripped the Ekiti society till the early post-colonial period. The attitude of linking everything considered beautiful and unfamiliar to European source was also seen in Ekiti’s reaction to agricultural and other products. For example, it was very common for the people to describe a particular yam, potato, pineapple or any farm product as a white man’s product; mainly because such product happened to be unusually robust or extra ordinarily big.

But, what seemed to be an isolated case, discussed above, later became a generally acquired attitude that made Ekiti people, particularly the literates, permanently develop the taste not only for European goods, but also for

European fashion, life styles and spoken English. Of course, as was the case throughout Nigeria, English became the official language of the people.

The Ekiti colonial economy also created new and more jobs both for the newly educated and the uneducated in Ekiti. Apart from administrative and similar office jobs, numerous road and building constructions, new market stalls, offices and many important buildings that needed security men provided job opportunities. This was in addition to motor transportation which required drivers. The Police Force was another source of occupation.

The opportunity to have stable jobs eventually brought improvement in the living standard. The economic development brought the acquisition of knowledge, in that it made people train their children and relations in schools 341 and colleges, thereby also increasing the number of literates and decreasing illiteracy in Ekiti.

There was also serious urbanization, because many villages, within a few years, developed into towns with modern infrastructural facilities like markets, stalls, post offices, football fields, medical services, among others.

Community schools also became a part of what made a town worth its name. in fact, it was ‘this attempt to urbanize that eventually made Ekiti from the

1930s reject the word “village” for describing any community of even few thousands that lived together as a homogenous unit.51 As earlier noted, to the

Ekiti, the word “village” connotes undeveloped and therefore uncivilized, and till today, it is not used to describe a town but only a farm settlement and small market community of about five hundred people. And such “village was noted for either garri or cassava processing and sale; bush meat and dry fish, yam, plantain (fresh, dry and powdered) or assorted fruits”. 52

There were other cumulative effects of economic development.

Because many men had enough money to spend on extra needs, they began to attract women with their money or wealth. Eventually, there was increase in adultery. Ekiti, by tradition, abhorred adultery and very harsh consequences, including death, awaited the culprits. In fact, what people feared was what was known as magun. Magun, which means “don’t climb on, sleep or have sex with any married woman”, was believed to instantly take life out of a man immediately a man had sexual contact with such women who had been unknowingly marked with magun by their husbands. 53 Mainly because of 342 magun, the Ekiti men before colonization were not noted for this act. And even in the early years of colonization, it was not a common experience.

However, the first cases of adultery were reported in 1921 with 14 culprits arrayed before an Ado-Ekiti court. 54 Within five years, the number had risen to 106. 55 The new economic development also created room for divorce which was not traditional to, and therefore not in, the Ekiti culture.

Thus, colonization changed the marriage tradition of the people:

By native law and custom a woman belongs to her husband for life and even when death parted them, a woman still belonged to the family of her deceased husband. There was no separation. She might run away fro her lawful husband for many years, she and her children still remained the property of her lawful husband. When the law of divorce was introduced women became conscious of a new kind of freedom which was soon abused and developed into licence. 56

The new, wealthy environment created by development also brought the culture of burglary to many Ekiti towns, particularly the big and commercial ones. Many unheard of or new anti-social activities brought the emergence of religious or Christian fundamentalists that began to wage war on these negative experiences in Ekiti. These religious groups, particularly those who had Africanised their own forms of Christianity, even fanatically began to indulge in various criminal and other cultic activities.

This occasionally brought clashes between the traditionalists and the

Christian fundamentalists. A typical example, which took place in Ekiti was the stiff opposition of some herbalists and cultic associations to Prophet

Joseph Babalola’s evangelism in the late 1940s. There was also the case of

Apalara, the Lagos evangelist who was brutally murdered in the 1950s for 343 preaching against the activities of the traditionalists. The colonial government also reacted forcefully to this occurrence. Eleven members of those considered responsible were sentenced to death and eventually hanged in

Lagos. 57

It is important to also know that the economic development of Ekiti made the government stop the tradition of paying tributes to some powerful

Ekiti kings by the less powerful kings. For example, until this was stopped, the king of Ado-Ekiti was receiving tributes from some Ekiti kings who also payed yearly homage to him. However, one must not also forget the lower rate of death recorded during the colonial period because of the new medical services introduced. And as a result, there was drastic increase in population as recorded in Ekiti Administrative Report of 1948:

The records… so far show how the medical situation in this Division has been most promising. What we are experiencing now necessarily contradicts and totally rejects the sad period of heavy self-medication and therefore very many avoidable deaths of especially infants. But the Division is not relenting in its determination to further improve the welfare of the people through medical attention. … We are not surprised, reading Mr. R. Fox’s Memorandum that the last three years have recorded tremendous growth in Ekiti population… this will greatly impress our health workers, vaccinators, dispensers, nurses and the expatriate medical practioners.58

The socio-economic experiences of the colonial Ekiti was such that many strict and accepted taboos and superstitions were totally disregarded or abandoned, and “replaced by logically productive and fertile thoughts that are the engines of development”. 59 344

Summary

The preceding chapters have hopefully shown that the pre-colonial

Ekiti had a well nurtured administrative system, socio-political and cultural organizations that made captain W.G. Ambrose, the Traveling Commissioner in Ekiti, conclude in 1901 that this “Ekiti country apart from being blessed with abundant forest treasures already has all the workable mechanisms for development which means that we are not bringing new ideas to these peasants but new methods”. 60 For example, all the judicial, educational, commercial, kingship or leadership systems were already in place before colonization; in addition to currency and transport systems, among others.

Though these could be considered crude, they perfectly satisfied the functions and the needs of the period. That is, also, they could be seen as crude only if they are compared with the British systems.

This is why the Ekiti people quickly responded to changes brought by colonialism and accepted some of the provisions of development, particularly its economic ingredients, not minding the imperialist and exploitative motives behind colonization. Without any unprogressive resistance, the colonial Ekiti was able to quickly lay off all cultural practices or beliefs that were impedimental to their new existence and gladly accepted, even though without having any choice, all the socio-economic innovations that eventually affected positively their local or domestic economy.

Ekiti people contributed in no small way not only to Nigeria’s economic development, but also to that of Britain; particularly through cash crops. But very importantly, in Ekiti, there were notable changes in 345 infrastructural development, through road, transportation, trade, education, health services, among others. The Ekiti people also “submitted themselves to all the socio-economic needs of development with pride, honour and dignity”. 61 All the above reasons have made the study of the economic history of Ekiti from 1900 to 1960 very appropriate.

In conclusion, it is good to reiterate from the evidence above that the

Ekiti’s economy, like those of others, during the colonial era, despite major historical changes, is society based. Therefore, the full picture of an economy which emerged at the period under study should be understood in terms of a people who were already productive before colonization, within their own socio-economic, cultural and political context; particularly also knowing that the “interaction of people with their environment is the heart of social production”. 62

346

REFERENCES

1. Deji Fasuan, “The Struggle for the Creation of Ekiti State” in Akin Olugbade, et al (eds.), Ekiti State: The Story of a Determined People. (Ado-Ekiti: Fountain Newspapers and Publishing Company Ltd, 2001), pp. 23-28.

2. See Walter I. Ofonagoro, Trade and Imperialism in Southern Nigeria, 1881-1929. (New York: Nok Publishers, 1979), p. 50 and Toyin Falola, The Political Economy of Pre-Colonial African State, p. 10.

3. Allan McPhee, The Economic Revolution in British West Africa. (London: Frank Cass and Company Ltd., 1971), p. 264.

4. Ibid.

5. Ibid.

6. Niyi Adebayo, 78 Years, a cocoa farmer and former worker at the School of Agric, Ilesha, Interview conducted in Ado-Ekiti on July 15, 2006.

7. Ibid.

8. Itsueli, Aspectsof the Economic History of Etsako, 1800-1960, p. 72.

9. Ibid.

10. N.A.I., DIV. 1/1 File No. 927, 14/4/1953, p. 927/52.

11. Jide Aderami, 79 Years, a retired Clerk of the Electricy Corporation of Nigeria (E.C.N.) and a Business Magnate, Electrical Products, Ibadan. Interview conducted in Ado-Ekiti on July 15, 2006.

12. Niyi Adebayo, interview cited.

13. Ibid.

14. Ibid.

15. Adebisi Oderinde, 80 Years, a retired Civil Servant in Ado-Ekiti, and a former Student of School of Agric, Ilesha in the late 1960s. Interview conducted in Ado-Ekiti on July 14, 2006.

16. Ibid.

17. David Olawale, 76 Years, a Cocoa Farmer in Igade-Ekiti; Interviewed on July 10, 2006.

18. Ibid.

19. Ekiti on the Move, p. 11. 347

20. N.A.I., Ondo Prof. 3/2, Administrative Report, File No. D4, Vol. III, 1945, p. 30.

21. Ibid. 22. Ayo Ojo 82 years, a retired driver from Ado-Ekiti who took the students to the East and Mid-West. Interview conducted in Ado-Ekiti on July 15, 2006. 23. Ibid. 24. James Ariyo, interview cited. 25. Simon Borishade, 67 years, a retired Local Government Worker in Ikere and an In-Law to the Chief Cook of Annunciation (Secondary) School, Ikere-Ekiti, 1958 to 1965. Interview conducted in Ado-Ekiti on July 15, 2006. 26. For more thorough knowledge of the wars fought by the Ekiti’s from the 19 th to 20 th Centuries, see Oguntuyi, 1979, pp. 65-76. 27. Samuel Johnson, The History of Yoruba…, pp. 664-665. 28. N.A.I. Ondo Prof. 3/1, File No. 272, Administrative Report, 1928, p. 4. 29. Ibid., p. 5. 30. Ibid. 31. Ibid., p. 7. 32. A.G. Hopkins, An Economic History of West Africa. (London: Longman Group Ltd, 1973), p. 124. 33. Akin Oluwatayo, 81 years, Former Produce Buyer in Iyin-Ekiti: Interview conducted in Iyin-Ekiti on July 14, 2006. 34. John Oluwadare, 74 Years, a retired primary school teacher in Igade- Ekiti. Interview conducted on July 10, 2006. 35. Ibid. 36. Kunle Faidpe, 82 years, a shop owner and trader in Ado-Ekiti: Interview Conducted in Ado-Ekiti on July 16, 2006. 37. Ibid. 38. Adebisi Oderinide, 2006. 39. Ibid. 40. Itsueli, p. 376. 41. A.G. Hopkins, p. 2006. 348

42. Oguntuyi, A Short History…, p. 141. 43. Oguntuyi, A Short History…, pp. 141-142. 44. Alice Daramola, 71 Years, a cloth seller in Ado market whose mother was known for selling various assorted craft and art works in the 1940s. Interview conducted at Ado-Ekiti on July 11, 2006. 45. Ibid. 46. Kelvin Carroll, “Revisiting the Oye Artistic Success”, The Independent, The Publication of the Catholic Church, 1959. 47. Oladele Olashore, Challenges of Nigeria’s Economic Reform. (Ibadan: Fountain Publishers, 1991), pp. 6-7. 48. Ibid., p. 7. 49. Ekundare, Economic History of Nigeria…, p. 25. 50. Adeoye Lasisi, 84 years, former butcheman and goat seller in Ado- Ekiti: Interview conducted on in Ado on July 15, 2006. 51. Ekiti on the Move, p. 19. 52. Ibid., p. 21. 53. John Olahusi, 82 Years, A retired primary school teacher who later became a successful cocoa farmer in Iyin Ekiti: Interview conducted in Igede-Ekiti on July 10, 2006. 54. Oguntuyi, A Short History…, p. 129. 55. Ibid. 56. Ibid. 57. The Apalara’s case was always used to teach the primary school children in all the Yoruba Christian schools in the 1950s. 58. N.A.I., Ondo Prof. 4/1, File No. D. 271, Administrative Report, 1948, p. 4. 59. Ibid., p. 11. 60. N.A.I., Ekiti Div 1/3 Miscellaneous (3), 1922, p. 11. 61. Ekiti in the Move, p. 14. 62. D.C. Ohadike, The Ekumeku Movement: Western Igbo Resistance to British Conquest of Nigeria, 1883-1914. (Akans: Elthope Publishers, 1991), p. 3. 349

BIBLIOGRAPHY

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A. Oral Interviews

S/N NAME OF AGE PLACE STATUS AND DATE OF INFORMANT OF OCCUPATION FIRST ORIGIN INTERVIEW 1 Adebanjo, Ojo 79 Iyin-Ekiti Retired 8/7/2006 Carpenter 2 Adebayo, Adeniyi 78 Ad o-Ekiti Cocoa Farmer 15/7/2006 3 Adebisi, Oderinde 80 Ado-Ekiti A retired Civil- 14/7/2006 Servant 4 Adedapo, John 88 Igede-Ekiti Retired clerk 7/7/2006 5 Aderemi, Jide 79 Ado-Ekiti Business 15/6/2006 (Chief) magnate 6 Adeyeye, 80 Iyin-Ekiti Farmer 3/7/2006 Babajide 7 Adeyeye, Bade 70 Iyin-Ekiti Traditional ruler 5/6/2006 (Chief) 8 Adeyeye, Bolaji 82 Iworoko- Retired health 13/7/2006 (Mrs.) Ekiti worker 9 Afuye, Borishade 90 Ado-Ekiti Retired teacher 8/7/2006 (Chief) 10 Aina, Ola (Chief) 67 Ado-Ekiti Trader 5/5/2006 11 Aina, Oladapo 91 Ado-Ekiti Retired Assistant 6/5/2006 Cathecist 12 Ajayi, Bosede 67 Ishan -Ekiti Farmer 17/7/2006 13 Ajayi, Deborah 82 Iropora Retired trader 16/7/2006 14 Akinsafe, 96 Ilu-Omoba Cloth-weaver 18/7/2006 Daramola 15 Akomolafe, James 90 Aisegba Housewife 20/7/2006 16 Akomolafe, 71 Ikere-Ekiti Retired potter & 21/7/2006 Simon trader 17 Alofe, Janes 71 Ikere-Ekiti Farmer 20/8/2006 (Mrs.) 18 Aluko, Moses 78 Igbara- Retired 16/8/2006 Odo-Ekiti policeman 19 Anibaba, Bade 75 Ogotun- Oldest man in 10/8/2006 Ekiti the Village 20 Anibaba, Mary 77 Ado-Ekiti Title holder & 20/7/2006 trader 21 Ariyo, Bakare 57 Ise-Ekiti Farmer 14/8/2006

22 Ariyo, James 69 Igede-Ekiti A retired school 8/8/2006 teacher 350

S/N NAME OF AGE PLACE STATUS AND DATE OF INFORMANT OF OCCUPATION FIRST ORIGIN INTERVIEW 23 Arowolo, Michael 80 Ilawe-Ekiti Retired 10/8/2006 headmaster 24 Ayo, Ojo 82 Ado-Ekiti Retired Driver 11/8/2006

25 Babajide, 80 Iyin-Ekiti Retired 10/7/2006 Adeyeye Administrator

26 Badejo, Pius 60 Igbemo- Trader 12/2/2006 Ekiti 27 Balogun, James 80 Ado-Ekiti A retired civil 18/7/2006 servant 28 Bayo, Ajayi 71 Ise-Ekiti Retired carver 5/2/2006 29 Bodune, M. 79 Ado-Ekiti Potter 10/3/2007 (Mrs.) 30 Bolles, Richard 70 Ado-Ekiti Trader 10/7/2008 31 Borishade, Simon 67 Ado-Ekiti Retired 15/7/2006 serviceman 32 Agunbiade, 80 Ado-Ekiti Chief & 16/4/2006 Jonathan traditional ruler 33 Alice Badejo 80 Okesha Chieftaincy ruler 5/10/200 34 Bolarinwa, Ajayi 71 Ire-Ekiti A high chief & 4/10/2006 retired butcher 35 Babalola, Gabriel 86 Ado-Ekiti Retired service 3/9/2006 man 36 Bola, Ojo 74 Ado-Ekiti Titled man & a 4/11/200 retired civil servant 37 Babalola, Gabriel 86 Ado-Ekiti Retired service 20/10/2006 man 38 Elejoka, K. 72 Ise-Ekiti Traditional ruler 20/5/2005 39 Olajuwon, M 82 Ado-Ekiti A retired civil 10/5/2005 servant 40 Olowokere, S. 80 Igbara- Retired teacher 10/8/2005 Oke & a Historian 41 Olusawe 70 Igede-Ekiti Retired farmer 8/2/2006 Oluwatoba 42 Ojo, R.O. 84 Igede-Ekiti Retired teacher 10/8/2005 43 Olowokere, S. 80 Igbara- Retired farmer 10/10/2007 Oke 44 Daramola, 84 Igede-Ekiti Retired hunter 1/6/2007 Akande 45 Daramola, Alice 71 Ado-Ekiti Cloth-seller 7/11/2006 351

S/N NAME OF AGE PLACE STATUS AND DATE OF INFORMANT OF OCCUPATION FIRST ORIGIN INTERVIEW 46 Olawale, D. 68 Igede-Ekiti Cocoa farmer 10/7/2006

47 Mama Deborah 68 Igede-Ekiti Palm-oil seller 4/3/2006

48 Daramola, 84 Igede-Ekiti Cocoa farmer & 10/6/2006 Akande an retired hunter 49 Mama Elepo 89 Ado-Ekiti Trader 8/4/2006 50 Fadoje, Rufus 80 Ado-Ekiti Retired driver 11/7/2006 51 Fajobi, Gabriel 72 Aramoko- A retired army 10/7/2006 Ekiti sergeant 52 Falade, Jide 88 Efon- Title holder 15/7/2006 Aalaye 53 Fatunla, O. 65 Igede-Ekiti Former Agric 28/2/2008 Officer 54 Babalola, Gabriel 86 Ado-Ekiti Retired Post 12/1/2007 master 55 Ijaodola, Ifeloro 72 Igede-Ekiti A titled woman 12/1/2007 (Mrs.) 56 Ariyo, James 69 Ado-Ekiti Retired 10/7/2006 Headmaster (HM) 57 Oke, Adelaja 88 Igbara- Retired 14/5/2008 Odo Government Clerk & Farmer 58 Oke, Daramola 86 Aramoko- Retired weaver 21/7/2007 Ekiti & trader 59 Olabode, David 80 Oshogbo A former 15/7/2006 produce buyer 60 Olajiga, Samuel 65 Ise-Ekiti Traditional 6/8/2007 Chief 61 Olalusi, Badejo 94 Ikole-Ekiti Retired Farmer 20/5/2006 62 Olawale, D. 76 Igede-Ekiti Cocoa Farmer 10/7/2006 63 Olawale, Karimu 79 Lagos Retired driver, 11/7/2006 meteorological services 64 Olawale, Michael 85 Ikere-Ekiti Retired trader 18/7/2006

65 Olowokere, 77 Ikere-Ekiti Retired trader 10/2/2007 Adenike

66 Olowokere, 78 Ado-Ekiti A farmer 10/3/2007 Daramola 352

S/N NAME OF AGE PLACE STATUS AND DATE OF INFORMANT OF OCCUPATION FIRST ORIGIN INTERVIEW 67 Olowu, Modupe 65 Ise-Ekiti Cloth seller 20/8/2007 (Mrs.) 68 Olugbade, Josah 88 Igede-Ekiti Produce buyer 11/7/2006 69 Oluwatayo, John 81 Iyin-Ekiti Produce buyer 14/7/2006 70 Onileowo, J. 76 Igede-Ekiti Farmer 12/7/2008

71 Oyedele, Samuel 81 Ikere-Ekiti A retired court 14/7/2006 clerk 72 Raymond, Isaac 84 Lagos Retired Civil 14/4/2007 servant 73 Agbebi, Jacob 70 Igede-Ekiti Retired teacher 2/3/2007

74 Borishade, 67 Ikere-Ekiti A retired 19/7/2006 Simeon Government worker, Chief cook 75 Temitope, Iya 70 Iyin-Ekiti Trader 9/2/2006 Olose (Mr.) 76 Yoloye, Joseph 88 Ado-Ekiti Retired primary 20/8/2006 school headmaster

B. Archival Materials

N.A.I., 12/2/291, Ado District on Taxes, File No. CSO. 270/1, September 14, 1947.

N.A.I., Administrative Annual Report, Ondo Prof. 4/1, 1914.

N.A.I., Administrative Report, Ondo Prof. 1, OC 29, Administrative Report, File No. 1965 1/180, 1943.

N.A.I., Administrative Report, Ondo Prof. 4/1 (ii) 1945.

N.A.I., Ekiti Div. 1/1, File No. 38, 1950.

N.A.I., Ekiti Div. 1/1, File No. 5.38, 19/4/1950.

N.A.I., Ekiti Div. 1/1, File No. 656, Vol. 11.

N.A.I., Ekiti Div. 1/1, File No. 665/1/7, 1952.

N.A.I., Ekiti Div. 1/1, File No. 927, 14/4/1953.

N.A.I., Ekiti Div. 1/1, File No. 927, 1953. 353

N.A.I., Ekiti Div. 1/1,665, Administrative Report Miscellaneous, File No. 11 7, Vol. 11, 1947.

N.A.I., Ekiti Div. 1/1/665 11, 31/1/1949.

N.A.I., Ekiti Div. 1/3, File No. Ok. 270.

N.A.I., Ekiti Div. 1/3, Miscellaneous Account, 1922.

N.A.I., Ekiti Div. 1/4, Administrative Report, 1952.

N.A.I., Ekiti Div. 1/4/, 1952.

N.A.I., Ekiti Div. 3/2, File No. OK9, Administrative Report, 1929.

N.A.I., Ekiti Div. 4/1, Annual Report, May 20, 1934.

N.A.I., Ekiti Div. Administrative Report 1/1, File No. 5.38.

N.A.I., Ekiti Div. Administrative Report, 1925.

N.A.I., Ekiti Div. Administrative Report, 4/1920-1921.

N.A.I., Ekiti Div. Agriculture Matters in Ekiti, File No. CSO.29, 24/6/1942.

N.A.I., Ekiti Div. Travelling Commissioner Tucker to District Officer, File No. 32/34.

N.A.I., Ekiti Div. Y2, File No. 1070, 1934.

N.A.I., Ekiti Div., on Judicial Matters, Vol. 11, File No. 1427/645, 20/4/1949.

N.A.I., Ekiti, Div. 297/34, Vol. 1, 1933.

N.A.I., Native Administrative Report, Miscellaneous Details, Ondo Prof. 1/2, File No. 64, 9/5/1932.

N.A.I., Ondo Annual Report, Miscellaneous, Ondo Prof. 4/1, 1923.

N.A.I., Ondo Prof. 1, 4/1, Part III, Annual Report, 1945.

N.A.I., Ondo Prof. 1/2, File No. 0164, 1932.

N.A.I., Ondo Prof. 1/2, File No. 324(4) 85, 1926.

N.A.I., Ondo Prof. 1/2, File No. 324, Memorandum 0/85/30, 1930.

N.A.I., Ondo Prof. 1/2, File No. OP 329, 1936.

N.A.I., Ondo Prof. 1/2, File No. OP 329, 1936.

N.A.I., Ondo Prof. 1/2, File No. OP 64 Agriculture. 354

N.A.I., Ondo Prof. 1/2, File No. OP 64, 1932.

N.A.I., Ondo Prof. 1/2, File No. OP 64, 1932.

N.A.I., Ondo Prof. 1/3, File No. D2, Vol. 11, 1947.

N.A.I., Ondo Prof. 1/3, File No. D39/3 Miscellaneous, Vol. 11, 1952.

N.A.I., Ondo Prof. 1/3, File No. D41, 17/2/1949.

N.A.I., Ondo Prof. 1/3, File No. D41, 9/2/1949.

N.A.I., Ondo Prof. 1/3, File No. D4a, 1949.

N.A.I., Ondo Prof. 1/4, File No. CO 23, Annual Report, 1924.

N.A.I., Ondo Prof. 2/1, Miscellaneous, August 20, 1920.

N.A.I., Ondo Prof. 3/1, Administrative Report 1945, File No. D/4, Vol. III.

N.A.I., Ondo Prof. 3/1, Administrative Report, Miscellaneous Attachment 1- 4, 1920.

N.A.I., Ondo Prof. 3/1, File No. 272, 1920.

N.A.I., Ondo Prof. 3/1, File No. 272, Administrative Report, 1928.

N.A.I., Ondo Prof. 3/2, Administrative Report, 1936.

N.A.I., Ondo Prof. 4/1, 1923.

N.A.I., Ondo Prof. 4/1, 1935.

N.A.I., Ondo Prof. 4/1, 1945.

N.A.I., Ondo Prof. 4/1, 1945.

N.A.I., Ondo Prof. 4/1, Administrative Report, November 20, 1942.

N.A.I., Ondo Prof. 4/1, Annual Report (Addendum A), 1923.

N.A.I., Ondo Prof. 4/1, Annual Report, 1920.

N.A.I., Ondo Prof. 4/1, Annual Report, 1923.

N.A.I., Ondo Prof. 4/1, Annual Report, 1923.

N.A.I., Ondo Prof. 4/1, Annual Report, 1932.

N.A.I., Ondo Prof. 4/1, Annual Report, Miscellaneous IX, 1923.

N.A.I., Ondo Prof. 4/1, Annual Report, Miscellaneous, 1923.

N.A.I., Ondo Prof. 4/1, Annual Report, Miscellaneous, 1923. 355

N.A.I., Ondo Prof. 4/1, File No. 6164, 9/5/1932.

N.A.I., Ondo Prof. 4/1, File No. CO 29, 1923.

N.A.I., Ondo Prof. 4/1, File No. CO 49, 1921.

N.A.I., Ondo Prof. 4/1, File No. CO 70, 1952.

N.A.I., Ondo Prof. 4/1, File No. CO 70, 1952.

N.A.I., Ondo Prof. 4/1, File No. D 271, 1948.

N.A.I., Ondo Prof. 4/1, File No. D 271, Administrative Report, 1948.

N.A.I., Ondo Prof. 4/1, File No. E 28, 1925.

N.A.I., Ondo Prof. 4/1, File No. E28, Miscellaneous 1925.

N.A.I., Ondo Prof. 4/1, File No. OC 30, 1920/1921.

N.A.I., Ondo Prof. 4/1, Miscellaneous Annual Report, 1923.

N.A.I., Ondo Prof. 4/1, Miscellaneous IX.a 1923.

N.A.I., Ondo Prof. 4/1, Ondo Annual Report on Trade and Economic, 1923.

N.A.I., Ondo Prof. 4/1, Ondo Annual Report, 1923.

N.A.I., Ondo Prof. 4/8, Mr. R.C. Golding Memorandum to the Provincial Office/dated July 7, 1947.

N.A.I., Ondo Prof. Administrative Report, 1/2, File No. OP 330 (Miscellaneous), 1940.

N.A.I., Ondo Prof. Administrative Report, File No. D 72, 4/1, 1920.

N.A.I., Ondo Prof. Administrative Report, File No. OC 29, 129 1291/431, March 30, 1943.

N.A.I., Ondo Prof. Agriculture, File No. D 41, 1949.

N.A.I., Ondo Prof. Annual Report, 1920-1921, September 1920 – August 1921.

N.A.I., Ondo Prof. Annual Report, Miscellaneous, 1923.

N.A.I., Ondo Prof. File No. 1, 4/1, 1945.

N.A.I., Ondo Prof. File No. CSO 29/24/6/1943.

N.A.I., Ondo Prof. File No. CSO 324/25/1925.

N.A.I., Ondo Prof. File No. D/421, Annual Report 1945. 356

N.A.I., Ondo Prof. File No. OC 30, Annual Report.

N.A.I., Ondo Prof., CSO 29, Administrative Report, 1943.

N.A.I., Ondo Prof., Miscellaneous Annual Report, 1923.

N.A.I., Ondo Prof., Miscellaneous Annual Report, 1927.

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An Ordinance, to Describe the Power and Duties of District Authorities.

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Ekiti State of Nigeria: Report of the State Committee on Federal Character (Ado-Ekiti: Ekiti State Government, 1997).

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Jones-Mailou, The Painting of Jouis Mailou-Jones, Exhibition Paper.

Letter of Protest, by a section of Omoyemi Family, dated July, 1958 to Bishop Hughs, Bishop of Ondo Province.

“Memorandum on the Organization and Control of the War Time Trade and Production”.

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