VOlUME 04 ISSUE 10 OCTOBER 2025
1Hadiza Garba Ameh, 2JULIET JENEBU OBAJOBI
1Federal University Gusau
2LCCA, Global University Systems
DOI : https://doi.org/10.58806/ijsshmr.2025.v4i10n20Google Scholar Download Pdf
ABSTRACT
This study contributes to a broader understanding of the long-term economic implications of colonial governance in Nigeria, shedding light on how these historical factors continue to influence contemporary economic development in the region. Colonialism and colonial economy in Gusau were a systematic imposition of political control by the British for the purpose of advancing its agricultural interest while providing space for the exploitation of the resources of the predominantly agrarian community of North-western Nigeria. This failed to move the economy of the area from its underdeveloped stage to a path of development. While few factories and machineries were provided, the agricultural policies discouraged advanced processing of primary products in the area and thus discouraged the development of indigenous industries, such as iron working, craft and textile, leading to the dislocation of the economy. Rather than improving on their enterprise through the development of local farm technology, peasants continued to use local tools to cultivate small farm plots under colonial export economy. This narrowed production in the area reducing it to a mono-culture economy where surpluses were largely usurped by the Colonial Government and its collaborators leaving the peasants to continually wallow in poverty and squalor. The exploitative nature of colonial agricultural economy and its commercial aspects secured for the Colonial State and their imperial partners their industrial objectives, but failed to create linkages for the indigenous economy.
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VOlUME 04 ISSUE 10 OCTOBER 2025
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