Trade and New Economic Order

Colonialism in southeastern Nigeria unleashed both constructive and destructive features. Certainly, British colonial administration of the region was not intended to be an end in itself. Rather, it was largely seen as a means to an end—that is, the exploitation of the area. However, in the process, new economic order evolved largely due to the activities of foreign interests and the indigenous response to the situation. The argument here is that most of the innovations introduced during the colonial period were primarily to provide conditions necessary for economic development and exploitation of the region. They were what S. A. Olanrewaju refers to as “the infrastructure of exploitation.” ¹ In this chapter, effort is made to examine the various economic opportunities introduced during colonialism. The focus will be on such innovations as a new monetary system, an improved transportation system, pax Britannica and urbanization. The thrust of this chapter is that these innovations had a contradictory impact on the role of women in trade. While they created new opportunities for a certain number of women to achieve great heights in trade as brokers and international merchants, they at the same time undermined the economic power of many women.