Draft:Onokoro Nwoti

Onokoro Nwa Enyi Nwoti was born in northern Igboland in Nigeria. She was born sometime around 1903 though the exact date is not documented. During her long life she became a “merchant queen” holding much power and influence in the marketplace. She also was politically influential as a member of National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC) and a leader for women in the nationalist movement. Her date of death is unknown but as of 1998, Madam Nwoti was still engaging in trade, albeit in a different form than in earlier periods.

Early Life
Onokoro Nwa Enyi Nwoti was born in Aku, northern Igboland, Nigeria in the early 1900s. She was an apprentice to a trader at a young age allowing her to learn the skills necessary for working the marketplace. After she completed her apprenticeship she became a trader of the sacred kola nuts. In the 1920s and 30s she expanded her trade to palm oil and kernels. She became very successful as a trader earning the title of “Mama Oji,” or “kola nut mother.”.

Historical Context
Pre-colonial Nigeria featured several different national and kinship based groups who made their own distinct communities. British colonialism tore down this system introducing western ideas of economics and government. In 1885, The Berlin Conference marked the official start of colonialism in Africa. Nigeria, located in northern Africa near the Gold Coast region, was a British colony until October of 1960. The colonial reach of Britain was significant. Between colonialism and independence, Britain gained influence in the Nigerian marketplace and political sphere. The colonizers also brought changes for Nigerian women. Pre-colonial Nigeria possessed a dual gender system; meaning that women and men were both powerful but in different circles. However, British colonizers looked to the men as the British couldn’t understand a non-patriarchal system. This gave men political power because they were intermediaries for the British. Where women lost political power from colonization, they gained power as powerful merchants; some even became merchant queens.

The Nigerian marketplace during the colonial era included trade goods introduced by the British and those grown or handmade in Nigeria. The British expanded Nigerian trade to the economic benefit of both the British empire and the Nigerian economy. Nigeria began exporting palm oil, tin, and cocoa to Europe. Palm oil was especially valuable to the British because it worked well as a lubricant for their machines, but Britain was a greedy trade partner. They imposed restrictions on Nigeria regarding palm oil and palm kernel trade in 1919. This backfired for Britain because they economically benefited from Nigeria’s trade success, and the restrictions caused a major drop in revenue. The restriction was abolished in 1922. Restrictions such as this led to a thriving black market where goods like gunpowder could be traded. Within Nigeria, the most important trade good was the kola nut. The kola nut fruit was sacred to the Igbo people. Kola nuts were known as "hausa kola" or "Igbo kola" in Nigeria, and as the nuts contain sugar, caffeine, and theobromine, the Igbo people have long chewed them as a stimulant substance during ceremonies.

While women were not selected to lead by British colonizers, women were central to the marketplace. Some Nigerian women were able to establish themselves as merchant-queens. Markets through Nigeria were run solely by women traders who created the goods being traded. Every market had an iyaloja who was the “market queen". Working beneath the iyaloja were olosi and aroja who ran individual marketplaces and lived at the marketplace. The “market queen” was in charge of the entire market and the merchants within it. She had immense influence in her marketplace and society. Markets were not just places of business, they were social hotspots where events like marriage ceremonies and funerals were held. To have women leading here was an extreme display of power for Nigerian women.

Market women gained political power resulting from their status as “merchant queens.” Onokoro Nwa Enyi Nwoti became a women’s leader in the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC). Since she had great influence in her social and economic spheres, she was able to rally nationalists to her cause. Other market women were not directly involved in a political movement but still maintained great power due to connections from long-distance trade. Some would leave home for periods of time to trade; this was a job made possible by the work of other women. The olosi, market women who lived in the marketplace and worked under the queen, were left to control the local market in the “market queen’s” absence, and the sister wives of the iyaloja were left at the household. This allowed the market woman to leave home without leaving her household in shambles, and was an opportunity for her sister wives to gain revenue for their work.

Historically women in Africa were able to play less submissive roles in their community than women from more patriarchal societies. Nigerian women were respected in the marketplace and became powerful economic leaders.

Career
Onokoro Nwoti was one of the most successful businesswomen and traders in colonial Nigeria. In the early 1920s, she primarily sold kola nuts to women which were considered sacred, and women used them in ceremony. She, like many traders, carried baskets of kola nuts to Igala market where she bought bags of beans, peppers, melons, and smoked meat which she resold at Aku market.

When the British government introduced sterling currency and began discouraging importation from dollar countries in 1922, it had serious repercussions for the market women like Madam Nwoti. The new currency and taxation system was a hindrance to the people because it enabled the British to exploit the locals. The British forced Nigerian producers to pay taxes in cash to maintain their cash value. As the country shifted to a cash economy, men claimed a monopoly on the revenue generated by the cash products while women were responsible for sustenance farming. Numerous women complained about this policy leading to a  riot, insisting “women must not be asked to pay taxes” in 1929 which is now called “Aba Women’s War.”

In the late 1920s to the 1930s, Onokoro switched to the palm oil and kernel trade, and became the first woman from the Nsukka area to join this circle of trade. For security, she often traveled with other traders in groups. They mainly used lorries, but sometimes traveled by canoeing or walking. In Onitsha, Onokoro Nwoti sold woven cloths and foods, and in return, bought tobacco, potash, gunpowder, horses and elephant tusks. The trade of elephant tusks and horses were very lucrative and usually dominated by men. Although Madam Nwoti married, she could not have her own biological children. This enabled her to focus on the business and to travel long distances for trading. There were other Igbo women who participated in these trades. Igbo society’s gender construct flexibility helped to allow for women to occupy positions in society based on their wealth and connection over their biological sex.

Onokoro Nwoti played an important role not only in trading, but also politics. In the 1950s, Onokoro was a member of the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC). She gathered Aku women’s support by using her political and economic prowess. Madam Nwoti reduced her long-distance travel for trade in her mid-nineties, but continued buying and selling kola nuts in nearby markets.

Economic legacy of Colonialism and its role in Onokoro's legacy
When Nigeria became independent in 1960 it was forced to adapt to the western capitalist system of the global market. The civilian and military authorities that governed the country after independence prioritized foreign investment at the cost of rural land and local economic needs.

There were five main issues with the postcolonial Nigerian economy, Economic over-dependence on western powers, favoring of foreign interests, misappropriation of foreign investments, over importation and general corruption.

A united Nigeria didn't exist until 1914 when the British authorities combined two parts, a culturally homogenous north and a divided south, into one colony despite the cultural and ethnic differences between those two regions. Her home nation of Igboland, in the south of Nigeria, was more decentralized and thus more resistant to indirect rule. However the British government still tried to exclude women from participating in the economy, through limiting access to education as well as limiting their access to loans, certain jobs and several other paths to economic independence.

The economy in Igboland and Nigeria changed from a largely woman driven barter and trade based economy to a western style capitalistic nation-state within her lifetime. Yet she continued trading her traditional goods and routes even as late as 1998. She demonstraited the ability to maintain her traditional way of life and role in a modernizing society and maintained some degree of political and economic power in her own right.