3 - The Informalization of Belonging: Igbo Informal Enterprise and National Cohesion from Below
Corresponding Author(s) : Kate Meagher
Africa Development,
Vol. 34 No. 1 (2009): Africa Development: Special Issue on Legacies of Biafra: Violence, Identity and Citizenship in Nigeria
Abstract
The Nigerian Civil War evokes images of ethno-regional strife followed by sim- mering ethnic tension. However, political perspectives on the legacies of Biafra tend to gloss over the more integrative and constructive economic effects of the Civil War and its aftermath. While the Nigerian Civil War devastated Igbo busi- ness activities across Nigeria, and precipitated a mass return of Igbo migrants to their home area, it also laid the foundation for a consolidation and rapid devel- opment of Igbo informal enterprise, which has had integrative rather than divi- sive social and economic consequences for Nigeria as a whole. Operating below the radar of political competition, the demands of informal enterprise develop- ment have nurtured strong inter-ethnic and inter-regional links between the Igbo, Hausa, Yoruba and other Nigerian as well as non-Nigerian groups. With a particular focus on Igbo informal manufacturing, long-distance trading networks and informal money changing, this paper will consider the role of the informal economy in the development of popular structures of national unity. It will also show that these processes of economic integration from below have increas- ingly been strained by political struggles from above, creating a tide of violence and ethnic polarization that, even more than the Civi War, threatens to unravel the underlying social fabric of Nigerian nationhood.
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- Anthony, D., 2002, Poison and Medicine: Ethnicity, Power and Violence in a Nigerian City, 1966–1986, Oxford: James Currey.
- Brautigam, D., 1997, ‘Substituting for the State: Institutions and Industrial Development in Eastern Nigeria’, World Development 25(7): 1063–80.
- Dike, K. O. and Ekejiuba, F. I., 1990, The Aro of South-eastern Nigeria, 1650– 1980: A Study of Socio-economic Formation and Transformation in Nigeria, Ibadan: Ibadan University Press.
- Fatton, R., 1995, ‘Africa in the Age of Democratization: The Civic Limitations of Civil Society’, African Studies Review 38(2): 67–100.
- Forrest, T., 1994, The Advance of African Capital: The Growth of Nigerian Private Enterprise, [Edinburgh]: Edinburgh University Press for the International African Institute.
- Grabher, G. and Stark, D., 1997, ‘Organizing Diversity: Evolutionary Theory, Network Analysis, and Post-socialism’, in G. Grabher and D. Stark, eds., Restructuring Networks in Post-Socialism: Legacies, Linkages, and Localities, Oxford: Oxford University Press
- Harniet-Sievers, A., 2006, Constructions of Belonging: Igbo Communities and the Nigerian State in the Twentieth Century, Rochester: University of Rochester Press.
- Hashim, Y. and Meagher, K., 1999, Cross-border Trade and the Parallel Currency Market: Trade and Finance in the Context of Structural Adjustment: A Case Study from Kano, Nigeria, Uppsala: Nordiska Afrikainstitutet.
- Human Rights Watch/CLEEN, 2002, The Bakassi Boys: The Legitimation of Murder and Torture, Human Rights Watch Reports, 14(5), A 1-45.
- Ikelegbe, A., 2001, ‘The Perverse Manifestations of Civil Society: Evidence from Nigeria’, The Journal of Modern African Studies 39(1): 1–24.
- Isichei, E. A., 1976, A History of the Igbo People, London: Macmillan.
- Kilby, P., 1963, The Development of Small Industries in Eastern Nigeria, Lagos: Ministry of Commerce; USAID.
- Meagher, K., 2001, The Bargain Sector: Economic Restructuring and the Non- farm Sector in the Nigerian Savanna, Aldershot: Ashgate.
- Meagher, K., 2004, ‘Identity Economics: Informal Manufacturing and Social Networks in South-eastern Nigeria’, unpublished D.Phil. thesis, University of Oxford.
- Meagher, K., 2006, ‘Social Capital, Social Liabilities, and Political Capital: Social Networks and Informal Manufacturing in Nigeria’, African Affairs 105(421): 553–82.
- Nafzinger, E. W., 1968, ‘Inter-Regional Economic Relations in the Nigerian Footwear Industry’, The Journal of Modern African Studies 6(4): 531–42.
- Northrup, D., 1978, Trade Without Rulers: Pre-Colonial Economic Development in South-Eastern Nigeria, Oxford: Clarendon Press.
- Onwubu, C., 1975, ‘Ethnic Identity, Political Integration, and National Development: The Igbo Diaspora in Nigeria’, The Journal of Modern African Studies 13(3): 399–413.
- Onwuejeogwu, M. A., 1981, An Igbo Civilization: Nri Kindom and Hegemony, London; Benin City: Ethnographica; Ethiope.
- Oriji, J. N., 1982, ‘A Re-assessment of the Organisation and Benefits of the Slave and Palm Produce Trade amongst the Ngwa-Igbo’, Canadian Journal of African Studies 16(3): 523–48.
- Reno, W., 2002, ‘The Politics of Insurgency in Collapsing States’, Development and Change 33(5): 837–58.
- Silverstein, S., 1983, Sociocultural Organization and Locational Strategies of Transportation Entrepreneurs: An Ethnoeconomic History of the Nnewi Igbo of Nigeria, Boston University.
References
Anthony, D., 2002, Poison and Medicine: Ethnicity, Power and Violence in a Nigerian City, 1966–1986, Oxford: James Currey.
Brautigam, D., 1997, ‘Substituting for the State: Institutions and Industrial Development in Eastern Nigeria’, World Development 25(7): 1063–80.
Dike, K. O. and Ekejiuba, F. I., 1990, The Aro of South-eastern Nigeria, 1650– 1980: A Study of Socio-economic Formation and Transformation in Nigeria, Ibadan: Ibadan University Press.
Fatton, R., 1995, ‘Africa in the Age of Democratization: The Civic Limitations of Civil Society’, African Studies Review 38(2): 67–100.
Forrest, T., 1994, The Advance of African Capital: The Growth of Nigerian Private Enterprise, [Edinburgh]: Edinburgh University Press for the International African Institute.
Grabher, G. and Stark, D., 1997, ‘Organizing Diversity: Evolutionary Theory, Network Analysis, and Post-socialism’, in G. Grabher and D. Stark, eds., Restructuring Networks in Post-Socialism: Legacies, Linkages, and Localities, Oxford: Oxford University Press
Harniet-Sievers, A., 2006, Constructions of Belonging: Igbo Communities and the Nigerian State in the Twentieth Century, Rochester: University of Rochester Press.
Hashim, Y. and Meagher, K., 1999, Cross-border Trade and the Parallel Currency Market: Trade and Finance in the Context of Structural Adjustment: A Case Study from Kano, Nigeria, Uppsala: Nordiska Afrikainstitutet.
Human Rights Watch/CLEEN, 2002, The Bakassi Boys: The Legitimation of Murder and Torture, Human Rights Watch Reports, 14(5), A 1-45.
Ikelegbe, A., 2001, ‘The Perverse Manifestations of Civil Society: Evidence from Nigeria’, The Journal of Modern African Studies 39(1): 1–24.
Isichei, E. A., 1976, A History of the Igbo People, London: Macmillan.
Kilby, P., 1963, The Development of Small Industries in Eastern Nigeria, Lagos: Ministry of Commerce; USAID.
Meagher, K., 2001, The Bargain Sector: Economic Restructuring and the Non- farm Sector in the Nigerian Savanna, Aldershot: Ashgate.
Meagher, K., 2004, ‘Identity Economics: Informal Manufacturing and Social Networks in South-eastern Nigeria’, unpublished D.Phil. thesis, University of Oxford.
Meagher, K., 2006, ‘Social Capital, Social Liabilities, and Political Capital: Social Networks and Informal Manufacturing in Nigeria’, African Affairs 105(421): 553–82.
Nafzinger, E. W., 1968, ‘Inter-Regional Economic Relations in the Nigerian Footwear Industry’, The Journal of Modern African Studies 6(4): 531–42.
Northrup, D., 1978, Trade Without Rulers: Pre-Colonial Economic Development in South-Eastern Nigeria, Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Onwubu, C., 1975, ‘Ethnic Identity, Political Integration, and National Development: The Igbo Diaspora in Nigeria’, The Journal of Modern African Studies 13(3): 399–413.
Onwuejeogwu, M. A., 1981, An Igbo Civilization: Nri Kindom and Hegemony, London; Benin City: Ethnographica; Ethiope.
Oriji, J. N., 1982, ‘A Re-assessment of the Organisation and Benefits of the Slave and Palm Produce Trade amongst the Ngwa-Igbo’, Canadian Journal of African Studies 16(3): 523–48.
Reno, W., 2002, ‘The Politics of Insurgency in Collapsing States’, Development and Change 33(5): 837–58.
Silverstein, S., 1983, Sociocultural Organization and Locational Strategies of Transportation Entrepreneurs: An Ethnoeconomic History of the Nnewi Igbo of Nigeria, Boston University.