Continuity in Indigenous Institutions for Capital Formation among the Igbo in Post-Colonial Nigeria, 1970 - 2020
Conference: ISA 22nd Annual International Conference (2025)
Presenter(s): Ikechukwu Cosmas Ahamefule
Tags: 2025 Akwa Ibom State University Ikechukwu Cosmas Ahamefule
Abstract
For the capital formation among the Igbo of southeast Nigeria, there exist traditional institutions through which the people raised resources to attend to their community and individual needs. These included, among others, Contribution Clubs, Family and Extended Family Pools, Age Grade Associations, Title Taking/Societies, Pawning, Inheritance, Land/Economic Trees Pledging, Imachi Nkwu and other Fruit Trees, Ilu – Elulu (Keeping Custody of Domestic Animal) and Ili – Ichi (Burial of Umbilical Cord). This paper surveys those aspects of the traditional economic institutions that have remained essentially the same way they have always been, despite the confrontations. Both internal and external forces have affected the traditional institutions for capital formation among the Igbo of southeast Nigeria, mostly by the later. This has caused the indigenous finance institutions to be altered from their original states. The work concludes that in spite of the changes and modifications that have been occurring overtime, the indigenous institutions for capital formation have continued to exist. We discussed the factors that have sustained their existence in our area of study. The period covered is 1970 to 2020.
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