Integrating precolonial practices into efforts to revive textile production in Nigeria

What is it about?

The precolonial production of textiles in Nigeria

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Why is it important?

The failure to leverage Ishan cotton to advance the economy of the original habitat amply demonstrates that technology is not transferred or made available for deployment towards independent ends. In the final analysis, the necessary condition for overcoming drawbacks to rapid development in developing countries like Nigeria requires the benchmarking and interrogation of the inherited pre-colonial models rather than the characteristic perpetuation of the colonial patterns of production. This is partly, to restate the cri de coeur that the socioeconomic development of countries like Nigeria is amenable to enhancement if the development of cash crops like cotton finds backward integration to animate the spirit of local enterprise (Anjorin, 1966:127). Therefore, the prospects of endogenous development strategies are not in the perfunctory theorisation of the development conundrum. On the contrary, useful modernisation template had advised the micro-development of the precolonial economic structures and the characteristics of indigenous, pre-capitalist economies, although multi-faceted, still harbour definite possibilities to leverage for competitive advantage. Accordingly, it is worthwhile to learn valuable lessons of the strong comparative advantages of the pre-colonial past to mediate extant economic policies so that development may become about people and society. This is the experiential and more rational development framework advised by the story of Ishan cotton production.

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