CHANGE AND CONTINUITY IN YORUBA DRESS CULTURE CIRCA 1900-2000

Abstract

In modern Nigeria, economic development initiatives have been focused essentially on the urban centres with a great neglect of rural economies. Rural economies hold considerable potentials for a nation’s economic growth and development. The Esan economy is diverse and a mixture of on and off farming activities which had intricate regional linkages with the national economy. The capacity and potentials of rural economies such as that of Esan to contribute to the overall transformation of Nigeria have been largely glossed over by scholars. The aim of this study was to examine the economic transformation of Esanland in modern Nigeria 1960 - 2015. The objectives were to: (i) examine the economic foundations of Esanland; (ii) interrogate colonial rule and economic change in Esanland; (iii) assess the economic development of Esanland in the modern Nigerian economy; (iv) identify the challenges that have plagued Esan economic development; and (v) discuss the changes and continuities in the economy of Esanland. The study adopted the historical research methodology to interrogate the issues in contention and deployed primary and secondary sources. The population of the research included a cross section of people in Esanland who were conversant with the issues relating to the study with whom oral interviews were conducted. Key authorities were purposively sampled for the Key Informant Interview (KII). In addition, extant archival materials, reports, personal notes and manuscripts were retrieved from the National Archives, Ibadan. The secondary sources included extant studies on the history of Benin, Esan, southern Nigeria, and economic history of Nigeria. Periodicals, newspapers, magazines and web sources were also accessed. The sources were subjected to critical content analysis and interpretation. The findings of the study were that: pre-colonial economy of Esan served the need of the people and there was surplus for trade with their neighbours; Esan economy responded positively to economic change initiated by the colonial state even though production was tailored toward the metropolis; in post-colonial Nigeria, the Esan economy developed to become a service-oriented economy and exploited the business opportunities in the downstream sector of Nigeria’s oil and gas economy; the challenges of economic growth and development in Esanland are lack of government support, weak capital base, absence of incentives for mechanized farming, and climate change; and while there was change in the pristine economy of Esan, there is still continuity in the cloth weaving and palm oil industries and farming procedures. The study concluded that the under-utilisation and under-exploitation of rural Esanland economy in modern Nigerian economy constituted a debilitating bane to overall economic growth and development. It recommended that the agricultural and indigenous technology potentials of Esanland should be harnessed for overall national economic transformation.