(PART TWO). AKWETE: ONE HUNDRED AND TWO YEARS AFTER THE AMALGAMATION OF THE SOUTHERN AND NORTHERN PROTECTORATE OF NIGERIA, IN 1914.

By Mr. Amadi Gabriel A and Mr. Kamndu Ibrahim B. (Lecturers Institute of Archaeology and Museum study, Jos).

To read the first part of this report, Please visit this link http://www.belfordscoreline.com/2016/09/akwete-one-hundred-and-two-years-after.html

Local Gin Brewer: used for illustrative purposes

Brewing of Local Gin – Indigenes of Akwete were experts in the production of Local Gin. This was distilled from raffia palm. It was popular to the people and their culture, and used variously in marriages, Child-naming ceremonies, festivals, and burial activities. It provided a big competition to the hot drinks imported from Britain and Germany. The British labelled it illicit Gin. Producers and Consumers became criminals and served jail terms if convicted. This move seriously disturbed the production of local Gin, and by extension promoted redundancy and idleness among the people of Akwete.

Fishing: This was subsistent because most of the fish came from the coastal states. Mainly the young ones were involved in the trade.

Weaving: This was an important aspect of the economy which has given Akwete worldwide fame. It is exclusively a woman trade. The origin of this trade in Akwete is still a mystery. This is because the women entre an Oath not to reveal this knowledge to a stranger. However, oral tradition records that Weaving in Akwete originated from a Woman called Dada Nwakata. It is claimed that a Spirit taught her the skill of weaving and warned her never to reveal this knowledge to anybody. Dada Nwakata had an only daughter called Mgbakwo Nta Nwa-Ogbu who was dumb. Dada Nwakata even refused to reveal the secret to her daughter. Unknown to her, her daughter was spying on her and demonstrated to her neigbours what her Mother did in secret.

The knowledge of Weaving spread from her immediate neighbour to the whole town. Today every woman in Akwete is a Weaver and there is a cooperate Society that regulate weaving in the town. In those days every material for weaving was procured locally. The Akwete cloth was superior to the British made. The British made efforts to remove this competition for their own product called English Akwete, which was inferior to the original product of the indigenes.

Unfortunately, Nigerians preferred the inferior type because it was English. Today Akwete weaving is done with foreign materials. The difference is only in the method of weaving. It should have grown beyond its present standard if not for the secrecy and the mystery surrounding the industry.

(a)    (3) British presence in Akwete.

British Advancement into the hinterland of West Africa is one of the most important events in the history of Nigeria. It is a move that brought a lot of changes for the people of the hinterland (Afigbo: 2004). This movement could be seen in a wider perspective as the process of Globalization.

The term globalization is multi-faceted and has been defined by several authors and organizations from different perspectives.  The United Nations (UN), defines it as a “widely used term that can be defined in a number of different ways; economically, it refers to the reduction and removal of barriers between national boundaries in order to facilitate the flow of goods, capital, services and labour”.

Tom Palmer has defined the term as “as the diminution or elimination of state-enforced restriction on exchanges across boarders and the increase of single integrated and complex global system of production and exchange that has emerged as a result. This definition focuses on the aspect of Globalization which is based on economics.

Takis Fotopoulou defines Globalization from economic, political, cultural and social perspectives. Economically, it means “the opening and deregulation of commodity, capital and labour market, which led to neo-liberal globalization”. Politically it means “the emergence of trans-national elite and the phasing out of the Nation-States”. Culturally, globalization is defined as “worldwide homogenization of culture”. There are also ideological, technological and social forms of globalization.

From the 1930s, Educators had started thinking in terms of the new form of education that denotes a holistic view of human experience. In 2000 the international Monetary Fund (IMF), outlined 4 (four) essential aspects of globalization. These are trade and transactions, capital investment, migration and dissemination of knowledge.  These coupled with the internet and mobile phones have worked together to transform the world into a global village.

Andre Gunder Frank has identified 4 phases of globalization. The first phase called the archaic globalization started in the 3^rd century BC. It was marked by interaction between the Hellenistic States, the Romans, and the Chinese dynasties. Goods and ideas were exchanged. The second phase is the Islamic era. This period is characterized by the events of the golden of Islam. The Muslim world controlled many parts of Africa Asia and Europe. The 3^rd phase started from the 15^th century. It is called the proto-globalization phase. It was characterized by intensive economic and demographic changes catalyzed by the Renaissance. Through the voyages of discovery, the New World (America) and the coastal areas of West Africa, were brought into the sphere of European Civilization. This was the period when the Western and Central Sudanese States of Old Ghana, Old Mali, Songhai and the Hausa States held sway. In the Forest region, Empires like Oyo and Benin were prominent. Britain became the first globalized economy as the British India Company became the first multi-national Corporation (1600), followed by Dutch India Company (1602).

The fourth and final phase of globalization started after the industrial revolution (1900). The European Countries became industrialized which gave rise to the need for raw materials. The British were the first to own industries and urgently needed to power these industries for her survival. This situation necessitated the drive into the hinterland for the procurement of raw materials at a cheaper rate and in large quantities. Akwete became the gateway for the British penetration into Igboland.

(4) British Presence in Akwete

After the industrial revolution, Slave trade became obsolete. Raw materials were urgently needed by the British industries. The raw materials like Oil were more difficult to obtain than the Slaves.  There were therefore, the need for the British to bye-pass their middlemen and make contact with the source of the raw materials.  Forwel Buxton had suggested that Christianity, Commerce and Colonization will trade the back bone of slave trade. This idea was accepted by Sir Edmond Baker and the African Association.
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