Version classiqueVersion mobile

IFRA Special Research Issue Vol. 1

Chief D.O. Sanyaolu 1896-1960: A Yoruba merchant prince in Metropolitan Kano

Rasheed Olaniyi

Résumé

The career of Daniel Oguntolu Sanyaolu offers a unique study of the African entrepreneurs in the early colonial period. As an innovative entrepreneur he pioneered large-scale enterprises in the import/export trade and in urban services (hotels and supermarkets). Sanyaolu was an ardent supporter of radical nationalist political parties including the Northern Elements Progressive Union (NEPU) and the Action Group (A.G), as well as one of the leaders of the Yoruba community in Sabon-Gari, Kano. The business career of Sanyaolu depicts the binary intersection of economic and political forces deployed by African entrepreneurs in the quest for social change. This paper underscores three major features of entrepreneurship in colonial Nigeria: First, the resilient culture of independence and prospects for profits made many entrepreneurs to quit wage labour and invest in commercial ventures that provided services that were not necessarily in competition with European enterprise. Second is the nexus between ethnic identity, politics and entrepreneurship. During the colonial era entrepreneurs were vanguards in the reconstruction of their ethnic identities to advance commercial interests and social networks. They combined politics with business in order to create wider horizons for their commercial activities and to attempt to break the yoke of European monopoly by supporting nationalist movements. Third is the challenge of sustainability of businesses after the demise of the pioneer founder (s). Many businesses have collapsed due to family squabbles and intrigues among networks of relations, staff and shareholders as well as lack of separation between ownership and management, which induces mismanagement. The paper concludes that after the demise of the owner(s), the business empire pioneered by Sanyaolu neither made the generational leap nor the capital accumulation that could guarantee its expansion.

Note de l’auteur

Note portant sur l’auteur1

Texte intégral

Introduction

  • 1 A.G. Hopkins. 1973. An Economic History of West Africa (London: Longman), p. 204.

1In Nigeria, as elsewhere in Africa, colonial rule and its exploitative economic exegesis distorted the growth of indigenous entrepreneurs. African entrepreneurs did not give up easily and, by the 1920s, they too were experimenting with company formation in an attempt to mobilise more capital.1 The penchant and tenacity for entrepreneurship influenced many Africans to explore their potentials in other spheres of commerce involving less competition with European firms. In Nigeria, indigenous entrepreneurs were the first to import and operate commercial motor vehicles, to market sewing machines and build cinemas. Indigenous entrepreneurs were quick to perceive and exploit the commercial prospects created by the urban expansion, the colour bar or racial prejudice and the passion for western entertainment. In the post Second World War nationalist movement, many Nigerian entrepreneurs used their economic power to support political groups. The business career of Daniel Oguntolu Sanyaolu depicts the binary intersection of economic and political force deployed by African entrepreneurs in the quest for social change.

  • 2 Fieldwork and Interviews in Sabon-Gari, kano, 1996- 2001.

2The career of Sanyaolu provides a unique study of the Nigerian merchants in the early colonial period. As an innovative entrepreneur he pioneered large scale enterprises in import/export trade and in urban services (hotel and supermarkets).2 Sanyaolu played significant roles in the colonial economy as a produce buyer, agent and government representative. He mobilised the formation of the Yoruba Community Association in Kano and used opposition party politics in defence of his business interests. Sanyaolu was born at Ijeun Abeokuta in 1896. He had his elementary education at Abeokuta, from where he proceeded to Lagos. In Lagos, he continued his education to acquire college training. The driving force towards his private business and his penchant for the nationalist movement were influenced by the inherent contradictions of British economic imperialism that impinged on the development of indigenous entrepreneurship.

Sanyaolu as a business magnate

  • 3 NAK\ KanoProf\ 4292: Report on Native Reservation: Kano Township – List of Small Stores Holders in (...)

3Sanyaolu’s career presents a typical example of African workers in European firms who, having acquired the necessary enterprising skill and capital, opted for self-employment. In 1915 he joined Lagos Stores Limited, a Liverpool merchandise company, as a clerk. He was transferred to Kano in 1916 and subsequently became a trader. In 1918 Sanyaolu established Olude Stores. He traded in local commodities and foreign goods. The Olude Stores was located at K13 Sabon-Gari Reservation Area.3 Sanyaolu’s exit from the wage labour economy was principally influenced by economic and cultural factors. Between 1917 and 1919, the West African economy, and Nigeria’s in particular, witnessed the increasing formation of cartels characterised by big business mergers, take-overs, inter-firm agreements, interlocking share holdings and the promotion of new subsidiaries for the monopoly control over supply for raw materials as well as price control.

4Indeed, the mergers were a direct result of the economic crisis caused by the First World War, which generated new trading patterns and reallocation of resources from peacetime production to the war effort. In addition, bankruptcy engendered by the destruction of trading patterns and productive capacity made trade relatively unprofitable to most firms.

  • 4 J.S. Hogendorn, 1978, Nigerian Groundnut Exports: Origins and Early Development (Zaria: Ahmadu Bell (...)

5In 1917 Miller Brother and the African Association arrived in Kano following the liquidation of their partnership with the Niger Company. By 1919 the two firms, in collaboration with F. and A. Swancy of London, formed African and Eastern Trade Corporation Limited. In the same year, the A and ETC Limited purchased Lagos Stores Limited, a pioneer firm in the groundnut trade.4

  • 5 Cartelization was by no means a new phenomenon in West African economic history. Early examples of (...)
  • 6 A. Bako. 1990, A Socio-Economic History of Sabon -Gari Kano 1913-1989 (Kano: Ph.D. Thesis Bayero Un (...)

6These mergers displaced some of the Nigerian staff, who subsequently utilised their skill and capital in produce purchase, commodity trade and general merchandise. Before the establishment of Sabon-Gari market in 1918, there were more than eight Yoruba store owners in the Sabon-Gari Reservation Area.5 They were former employees of multinational firms. Their profit ranged from £6 to £200 per year.6 In a large measure, the economic policy thrust of the colonial social formation had a tendency towards monopoly. It undermined the foray of indigenous entrepreneurs into the mainstream of finance, production and distribution. The success of some of the Nigerian entrepreneurs depended critically on their willingness to make a transition from wage labour and reinvest their savings in sole proprietorship ventures. They were equally driven by the desire to retain or recapture their self-reliance within the framework of the colonial economy.

  • 7 A. Bako. 1990. A Socio-Economic History of Sabon Gari... p. 253.

7In 1934, Sanyaolu made a pioneering attempt to challenge the monopoly of expatriate firms. such as G. B. Ollivant, in the import-export trade by expanding the Olude Stores to become the first known supermarket and general merchandise store in Sabon-Gari Kano. He relocated from K 13 Sabon-Gari Reservation Area to expansive premises at 65/67, Church Road (now Awolowo Avenue). The premises were bought over from Holy Trinity School which relocated, in 1934, to its present premises at Tundun Wada Road, Sabon-Gari7 The Stores dealt in imported general goods, including cutlery, household utensils. Beverages, office equipment, electronics and bicycles. It was also involved in beer/wine sales and distribution. The retail outlet created by Olude Stores in the immigrants’ neighbourhood was attuned to their taste and income. Small peddlers of groceries in the outlying residential areas did their purchases at Olude Stores. The short-lived economic boom of the mid-1930s had afforded Sanyaolu the opportunity to expand his enterprise by rendering services in the mortgage business. He became a government auctioneer, contractor, estate and commission agent.

  • 8 Interview with Pa Oladele Awoloto, 77, in December 1999 and April 11. 2000 at No. 5 Tundun Wada Roa (...)

8He also became a produce (groundnut) buyer. He acted as a broker, buying produce from itinerant Hausa and Yoruba traders and selling it to the export firms. He employed about 15 clerks and labourers. He advanced goods and money to other traders who mortgaged their houses and lands for loans.8

  • 9 NAK\KanoProf\6123A: J.S. Adebayo, Plot No. K13, mortgaged his land to Olude Stores due to a busines (...)

9Olude Stores was also involved in the export of leather goods, purchased principally from Kano markets through his agents. Within Nigeria, Olude Stores was one of the approved cattle dealers.9 It railed cattle to the southern parts of Nigeria, specifically to Ibadan and Abeokuta, in exchange for foodstuffs, especially gari and yam flour.

  • 10 NAK\SNP\17: 14739A Vol l: Hides and Skins Regulations: List of Approved Cattle Dealers.
  • 11 A. Bako. 1990. A Socio-Economic History of Sabon-Gari Kano 1913-1989 (Kano: Ph D. Thesis. Bayero Un (...)
  • 12 A. Bako. 1990..A Socio Economic History... p. 196.

10With the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939, there was a great increase in the demographic density of Sabon-Gari Kano due to the influx of immigrants who came to Kano to work as clerks and labourers in the barracks built for the American, British and French soldiers. From 560 plots in 1936, the number of plots increased more than two-fold to 1,472 in 1939.10 In such a unique environment and commercial centre, there were virtually no relaxation centres in Sabon-Gari. Kano. The British colour bar was also an impetus. Residential and racial segregation in the colonial era were two interrelated factors that facilitated Sanyaolu’s investment in recreation services. Educated Africans were prohibited from patronising the European Clubs established exclusively in the Government Reservation Areas (GRAs). It was as a result of these, one supposes, that Sanyaolu in 1939 established the first hotel in Sabon-Gari, named Colonial Hotel. He established and operated recreation and liquor businesses in the low income migrant neighbourhood without much competition, mainly because European entrepreneurs were reluctant to invest in African neighbourhoods plagued by a low spending capacity, disease and crime. Therefore, as long as racial inequality and racial segregation were not moderated, Sanyaolu’s business continued to flourish in the immigrant neighbourhoods serving Southern Nigerian and West African customers. The hotel was established as a branch of his commercial enterprise, occupying four plots at No. 23 Yoruba Road (now Ogbomoso Avenue) in Sabon-Gari. It was commissioned on 2nd April, 1940 at a grand ceremony attended by representatives of the Kano Native Authority (N.A.), including the Ma’aji the Alkali, Rev. S.O. Odutola and a colonial officer, Mr. E.P. Millan, who was a special guest.11 The hotel employed a resident musical band called Harlem Dandies Orchestra led by Mr. GA. Ikomi, a trumpeter.12 Musicians from Yorubaland, especially Yusuf Olatunji, Waidi Adio, Haruna Isola and. much later, King Sunny Ade, Dele Abiodun frequently entertained at the hotel.

11The Colonial Hotel had a cinema hall. The hotel has been the only hotel in Kano where Yoruba films have been periodically shown since the 1940s. The hotel promoted the films of Hubert Ogunde, Duro Ladipo, Baba Sala, Iso Pepper and many others. These services enhanced the popularity of the hotel and Yoruba culture. The hotel engaged the services of Hakuri Stores, which specialised in catering and hotel services.

12For the Yoruba in Kano, Colonial Hotel was a social and commercial rendez-vous in the process of community formation. Many Yoruba taxi drivers utilised the hotel as taxi park. Passengers from the Kano railway station went directly to Colonial Hotel to hire taxis and also to meet their kinsmen. This transaction pattern had also created a niche for the Yoruba in the urban transport industry. The hotel facilitated the formation of Yoruba township unions, friendship clubs and cultural organizations. These unions and organisations included Egbe Omo Egba, Ijebu Young Men, Owu Nationals, Ekiti Parapo, Egba Mutual Society, Lisabi Club, and the Yoruba Central Welfare Association. These associations were founded in the early 1940s, with pioneer meetings at the hotel. The ethnic associations were indeed arenas of capital mobilisation and employment for artisans and small-scale entrepreneurs who had no access to finance in the colonial economy. Ethnic/town-ship associations were established to assist newcomers and to eliminate some of the logistics problems encountered by pioneer migrants. Reciprocally, it was the patronage of these socio-cultural organisations that formed part of the income generated by the hotel.

  • 13 Interview with Mr. A.O. Sanyaolu, 57. (son of Mr. B.O. Sanyaolu) at No. 35 Ogbomoso Avenue, Sabon G (...)

13For many African entrepreneurs in the colonial era, the major impediment to business expansion was access to capital. A systematic attempt was made by the expatriate banks to keep indigenous entrepreneurs out of business by denying them loans. Though the banks accepted deposits from Africans, they considered them unworthy for credit facilities. In 1933, the National Bank of Nigeria Limited was established by Yoruba entrepreneurs, namely, Dr Akinola Maja, Chief T.A. Doherty and H. A. Subair.13

14The bank was incorporated in Nigeria as a public company with a nominal capital of £576. The main aim of the bank was the provision of short-term finance or credit facilities to indigenous enterprises. Yet some entrepreneurs initiated other avenues for capital mobilisation through social networks and informal lending schemes. In 1941, D.O. Sanyaolu invited shareholders of Olude Store, who also served as directors of the company, to contribute to the expansion of business activities. They were Chief J.S. Adebayo, an Egba Yoruba produce buyer and trader, Mr. Aloba, an Ijebu-jesha trader, and Mr. Benjamin O. Sanyaolu (D.O. Sanyaolu’s younger brother). The Company opened branches in Lagos and Ibadan. It purchased two Chevrolet lorries and two cars for convenient transportation of goods and personnel.

  • 14 T Forrest. 1994, The Advance of African Capital (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press Ltd), p. 17.

15The increase in the capital base of Olude Stores and the subsequent business expansion boosted Sanyaolu’s income. By 1943, Sanyaolu’s personal income was £350. He paid a tax of £8314. His income was next to Mr. S.A. Fajemisin, an Ijesha-Yoruba produce buyer and auctioneer who as at that period the richest Yoruba trader, with an income of £360 per annum.

  • 15 RDC\ BUK \Kano N.A. \ 13: Control of Tax Assessment Kano City: List of the most famous tradesmen in (...)
  • 16 KHCB\ NAP\ Kano\343\355\5,000: Rich Traders – Sabon – Gari Income Tax Assessment 1951-1952.
  • 17 J.N. Paden, 1968, The Influencent Religious Elites on Political Culture and Community Integration i (...)

16In the period 1951-1952, Sanyaolu had surpassed other Yoruba traders, earning the highest annual income (£550) and paying a tax of £16: 18.15 In 1952, Olude Stores was one of the 23 Licensed Buying Agents for the Nigerian Groundnut Marketing Board16. In the 1957 produce season an agent of Olude Stores. Alhaji Sarkin Bai, purchased over 224 tons of groundnuts for Olude Stores at Kiyawa. By 1956/59. Sanyaolu’s income had increased to £1,900, the highest income in Sabon Gari, Kano.17 He was closely followed by Mr. F.E. Okonkwo, an Igbo transporter, whose income was quoted as £1,800 during the 1956/59 tax assessment.

  • 18 RDC\ BUK\225\ 418: Direct Taxation of Groundnut Middlemen: District Administration Kano, 20th Janua (...)
  • 19 Interview with Chief J.A. Sotayo, 72, Managing Director of Olumo Hotel, Odutola Street, Sabon Gari, (...)
  • 20 Interview with Chief J.A. Sotayo, North Brewery Limited, Bompai, Kano, was established in 1977\1978 (...)

17At independence in 1960, the management changed the name of Colonial Hotel to “Paradise Hotel.”18 By this period, Sanyaolu’s business pattern also changed. He discontinued with produce (groundnut) purchase due to the northernisation policy of the Groundnut Marketing Board that encouraged and financed Hausa traders who were hitherto underrepresented in the trade. The Store concentrated on beer distribution. Olude stores was a major distributor of Top Larger Beer, produced in Kano by North Brewery.19 Small-scale beer distributors from other areas in Metropolitan Kano purchased 500 to 600 cartons each loaded in lorries.20

Sanyaolu as a community leader and nationalist

  • 21 Company Record 1979.
  • 22 Tom Forrest. 1994. The Advance of African Capital p. 27.
  • 23 Tom Forrest. 1994. The Advance of African Capital p. 16.

18The need for enduring connections to attract business or defend an enterprise against political interference led to politicking, expediency and pragmatism.21 At the formative stages of the nationalist movement, Nigerian merchants were the vanguards against British rule. Market -sharing agreements and price regulation by the expatriate trading firms provoked nationalist sentiments among the Nigerian business community. For example. in the 1930s incipient entrepreneurs and produce buyers, such as T.A. Odutola of Ijebu Igbo, S.O.Gbadamosi of Ikorodu and J.O.Fadahunsi of llesha, were active members of the Nigerian Youth Movement in Lagos which actively resisted the Cocoa Pool of 1937.22 Obafemi Awolowo, who became a party leader and Premier of Western Nigeria (1954-1959), began his political career as a transporter. In 1937. he organised the motor transporters’ strike in the defunct Western Region to protest the imposition of a licence fee by the colonial government to prevent undue competition with the Nigerian Railways. 23 Indeed, indigenous entrepreneurs applied political pressure on the colonial state for reforms of the neo-patrimonial economic structure.

  • 24 Obafemi Awolowo, 1960, Awo: The Authobiography of Chief Obafemi Awolowo. (Cambridge: Cambridge Univ (...)

19Sanyaolu’s politics were practised on two fronts: he was an Egba Yoruba patriot and a nationalist. As an Egba patriot he was the founding father of the Egba ethnic associations in Kano. He brought members together. He founded the Egba Mutual Society. Owu Nationals and Egbe Omo Egba in the late 1930s. They were cultural organizations aimed at improving the welfare of Egba nationals by forming a communal identity in Kano. The ethnic associations created prospects for accumulating business capital, training and information principally offered by the established entrepreneurs. In 1947, Sanyaolu founded Lisabi Club – the Egba Yoruba National Club which in-corporated all Egba people and units. During his chairman-ship, the Lisabi Hall at Ogoja Avenue, Sabon-Gari was bought in 1954.24

  • 25 Interview with A.O. Sanyaolu

20In 1949, he was awarded a traditional chieftaincy title, the Jaguna of Ijeun Abeokuta for his commercial prowess and community service.25

  • 26 NAK \Kano Prof \Sabon-Gari Kano \ Plot Holders: Petitions 1945-1953.

21He took a special interest in the physical, commercial and political development of Sabon-Gari Kano. He was politically influential. In 1933, he was a founding member of Sabon-Gari Representative Board.26 The Board was established by the British, principally to make the Sabon Gari community take charge of developmental processes in the area. Sanyaolu was one of the few persons nominated for the post of both the executive head as well as president of the Sabon-Gari mixed court in 1938, after the death of Mr. G.E. France. He rejected the offer in order not to affect his business.

  • 27 KHCB\LAN \10\60: D.O, Sanyaolu –Licensed Auctioneer.
  • 28 KHCB \LAN\28\Vol. 111: Assessment Committee on Township Rates Appointment 1940.

22Sanyaolu was an executive member of the Plot Holders’Association, Sabon-Gari Kano.27 In August 1940, he was appointed as an unofficial member of the Assessment Committee on Township Rates Appointment.28 Through motley social networks, Sanyaolu had seeming control over his business environment.

  • 29 A. Bako, 1990, A Socio Economic History... pp. 182-83.

23On 19th May 1943, Olude Street (now Ogbomoso Avenue) and Sanyaolu Street were among the first twelve streets named in Sabon Gari. These were to honour him for his political, social and economic contributions to the development of Sabon-Gari.29 He was one of the founding fathers of the first pan-Yoruba cultural group in Kano, the Yoruba Central Welfare Association (Egbe-Omo Oduduwa) in 1942. He offered the association two plots of land where Oduduwa Hall was built.

24In Kano, Sabon Gari was the political fortress of progressive elements in the march to Nigerian independence. In a community predominantly inhabited by Southern Nigerian immigrants, members of the opposition political parties were drawn beyond ethnic and regional boundaries, thereby defying the British divide et intpera policy.

25Sanyaolu was a member of the opposition and radical political parties. He was the leader of the Action Group in Kano and led most of its campaign strategies by distributing party pamphlets, memos, flags and identity cards. Sanyaolu was also a supporter of the Northern Nigerian opposition party (the Northern Elements Progressive Union). His engagement in nationalist politics influenced the use of his hotel for campaigns and meetings. In the political arena, Colonial Hotel facilitated the advance of opposition politics in Northern Nigeria. Political meetings and nationalist campaigns of the post Second World War era were held at the hotel. The historic visit of Herbert Macaulay (1864-1946) (Hero of Nigerian Natiortalism and founder of the first political party in Nigeria – The Nigeria National Democratic Party, formed in 1922) to Northern Nigeria was concluded with a speech at the Colonial Hotel, where he later collapsed and died while descending the hotel staircase on 7th May, 1946.

  • 30 A. Abba. 1993. the Politics of Mallam Aminu Kano (Kaduna: Vanguard Printers and Publishers Limited) (...)
  • 31 A. Abba. 1993, the Politics of Mallam Aminu Kano... p. 4.

26On November 19th 1950, Mallam Aminu Kano (leader of the Northern Elements Progressive Union) delivered a lecture on the British policy of indirect rule at the Colonial Hotel. Mallam Aminu Kano utilised the hotel to deliver an anti-British public lecture: “The Colonial Government Should Import More Machinery and Less Whiskey.”30 At the first general conference of NEPU in April 1951, Sanyaolu, popularly regarded as the leader of the Yoruba community in Kano was a guest. He urged NEPU (radical) politicians to “... unite with the Southerners in order to achieve emancipation.”31

  • 32 Interview with Alhaji (Dr.) Maitama Sule at Dawakin Kano, July 2002.

27In 1953, Chief S.L. Akintola’s campaign tour of Northern Nigeria on “Nigeria’s self-government by 1956” was scheduled to take place at the hotel. The campaign tour was the proximate cause of the first Kano riot of May 1953 and so the campaign could not hold. In the ethnic violence that ensued, Sanyaolu was a member of the peace and reconciliation committee appointed to mobilise the Sabon-Gari community for calm and tranquility. Under the premiership of Sir Ahmadu Bello, Sanyaolu served as the representative of the Yoruba in Kano in the Northern Nigeria House of Assembly in Kaduna.32 His participation in policy making and legislation not only protected the interests of the Yoruba in Kano but promoted peaceful-coexistence between the migrant and the host communities. Nevertheless, Sanyaolu’s involvement in politics decisively dissipated his entrepreneurial drive, the corollary of which manifested after his death.

His death

28On October 27th 1960, Sanyaolu died at the age of 64. His death had adverse effects on the company. Mr. B.O. Sanyaolu, his younger brother and a shareholder of the company, took over the leadership. In the early 1960s, the importation of household items and electronic equipment stopped due to inadequate capital. The store concentrated on beer distribution, staple foodstuffs, control of Paradise Hotel and other estates owned by the company in Kano. Mr. B.O. Sanyaolu died in June 1969. Mr. Aloba, a shareholder, took over control of the company. He concentrated on beer distribution, foodstuffs trade and leather goods. By 1975, the company was directed by Mr. J.S. Adebayo, another shareholder. During his tenure, the beer distribution that was hitherto operated on a very large scale was reduced to skeletal activities as a result of insufficient capital and low patronage arising from competition with Igbo and Yoruba traders. Mr. Adebayo died in the early 1980s.

29Representatives of each of the shareholders assumed the management of the company, but company records were rarely documented for strategic continuity and accountability. Commercial activities at the Olude Stores collapsed due to mismanagement, and Paradise Hotel was leased out. Indeed, mismanagement has always been an irrefutable factor in the collapse of many African enterprises after the death of their proprietors. Succeeding managers of such businesses often lack the required zeal, orientation or strategy to sustain them. In addition, family feuds over the bequeathed businesses has often led to their being shared or squandered rather than continuity of investment.

  • 33 Interview with Chief G A. Ogundipe. 50, Chairman Lisabi Club, No. 54, Ogoja Avenue, Sabon Gari Kano (...)

30In May 1984, Chief Alfred Afolarin Ogunmuyiwa, a former sales representative of Odutola Tyresoles, Kano rented the hotel for N200000 per year remitted to Olude Stores. In 1988, he built shops round the hotel for rentage to Igbo and Yoruba auto spare- part dealers in order to generate more revenue33

Conclusion

31The life and work of Chief D.O Sanyaolu depicts the commercial exploits of Yoruba entrepreneurs in the colonial economy. Having acquired capital and skill, he quitted the services of Lagos Stores to become an independent trader. As an entrepreneur, he invested his capital and expertise to launch new commercial frontiers in the expanding Kano economy by establishing a super store and a hotel. He advanced credit to other traders who aided his commercial progress and later emerged as wealthy traders themselves. Sanyaolu epitomized Yoruba communal identity in Kano. He spearheaded the formation of ethnic associations among the Yoruba migrants and played the role of a father figure. His Paradise Hotel has continued to play significant roles in promoting cultural and communal activities among the Yoruba in Kano. As a community leader, Sanyaolu made unrelenting efforts to provide social infrastructures in Sabon-Gari, Kano and his home town in Abeokuta. The business empire he bequeathed remained profoundly uncompetitive arising from managerial ineptitude.

Notes

1 A.G. Hopkins. 1973. An Economic History of West Africa (London: Longman), p. 204.

2 Fieldwork and Interviews in Sabon-Gari, kano, 1996- 2001.

3 NAK\ KanoProf\ 4292: Report on Native Reservation: Kano Township – List of Small Stores Holders in Sabon - Gari Before the establishment of Sabon Gari Market in 1918, p. 17.

4 J.S. Hogendorn, 1978, Nigerian Groundnut Exports: Origins and Early Development (Zaria: Ahmadu Bello University Press), p. 139.

5 Cartelization was by no means a new phenomenon in West African economic history. Early examples of amalgamations produced the Roy al Niger Company in Nigeria and the “big two” C.F.A.O, in 1887 and S.C.O.A, in 1906. For details, see J.F. Munro, 1976. Africa and The International Economy 1800 - 1960: An Introduction To The Modem Economic History of Africa South of The Sahara (London: J.M. Dent and Sons Limited), p. 130.

6 A. Bako. 1990, A Socio-Economic History of Sabon -Gari Kano 1913-1989 (Kano: Ph.D. Thesis Bayero University), p. 253.

7 A. Bako. 1990. A Socio-Economic History of Sabon Gari... p. 253.

8 Interview with Pa Oladele Awoloto, 77, in December 1999 and April 11. 2000 at No. 5 Tundun Wada Road, kano, Pa Oladele came to Kano in 1920.

9 NAK\KanoProf\6123A: J.S. Adebayo, Plot No. K13, mortgaged his land to Olude Stores due to a business transaction, interview with Chief C A. Giwa, a former produce buyer who auctioned about 3 houses for Olude Stores due to inability of the owners to balance account in a poor harvest year 14th May. 2000 at No. 9, Ogbomoso Avenue, Sabon Gari, kano.

10 NAK\SNP\17: 14739A Vol l: Hides and Skins Regulations: List of Approved Cattle Dealers.

11 A. Bako. 1990. A Socio-Economic History of Sabon-Gari Kano 1913-1989 (Kano: Ph D. Thesis. Bayero University). p. 166.

12 A. Bako. 1990..A Socio Economic History... p. 196.

13 Interview with Mr. A.O. Sanyaolu, 57. (son of Mr. B.O. Sanyaolu) at No. 35 Ogbomoso Avenue, Sabon Gari, kano on 25th August 2000 and Olude Stores Limited 1959 Calendar.

14 T Forrest. 1994, The Advance of African Capital (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press Ltd), p. 17.

15 RDC\ BUK \Kano N.A. \ 13: Control of Tax Assessment Kano City: List of the most famous tradesmen in Sabon-Gari Market 1948

16 KHCB\ NAP\ Kano\343\355\5,000: Rich Traders – Sabon – Gari Income Tax Assessment 1951-1952.

17 J.N. Paden, 1968, The Influencent Religious Elites on Political Culture and Community Integration in Kano Nigeria (Ph. D Thesis, Harvard University). p. 1055.

18 RDC\ BUK\225\ 418: Direct Taxation of Groundnut Middlemen: District Administration Kano, 20th January. 1957 and RDC/BUK Kano NA-G14 Income Tax General: Rich Traders in Sabon Gari Direct Tax 1956\59.

19 Interview with Chief J.A. Sotayo, 72, Managing Director of Olumo Hotel, Odutola Street, Sabon Gari, Kano on 12th April. 2000. He was a former employee of Olude Stores.

20 Interview with Chief J.A. Sotayo, North Brewery Limited, Bompai, Kano, was established in 1977\1978 by Chief Adeyemi Lawson (1924-1993) in partnership with the Federal Government of Nigeria, T, Forrest. 1994. The Advance of African Capital (London : Edinburgh University Press) p.93. The major products of the Brewery included Savamalt. double Crown, top Beer and Kings Beer

21 Company Record 1979.

22 Tom Forrest. 1994. The Advance of African Capital p. 27.

23 Tom Forrest. 1994. The Advance of African Capital p. 16.

24 Obafemi Awolowo, 1960, Awo: The Authobiography of Chief Obafemi Awolowo. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), pp, III and 168.

25 Interview with A.O. Sanyaolu

26 NAK \Kano Prof \Sabon-Gari Kano \ Plot Holders: Petitions 1945-1953.

27 KHCB\LAN \10\60: D.O, Sanyaolu –Licensed Auctioneer.

28 KHCB \LAN\28\Vol. 111: Assessment Committee on Township Rates Appointment 1940.

29 A. Bako, 1990, A Socio Economic History... pp. 182-83.

30 A. Abba. 1993. the Politics of Mallam Aminu Kano (Kaduna: Vanguard Printers and Publishers Limited), p. 18.

31 A. Abba. 1993, the Politics of Mallam Aminu Kano... p. 4.

32 Interview with Alhaji (Dr.) Maitama Sule at Dawakin Kano, July 2002.

33 Interview with Chief G A. Ogundipe. 50, Chairman Lisabi Club, No. 54, Ogoja Avenue, Sabon Gari Kano 9th October 1999 and ADUN Digest A Quarterly Journal of Abeokuta Descendants Union Nigeria, Vol. 1 No. 1, July–September. 1997.

Notes de fin

1 Centre for Research and Documentation, Kano, and Department of History, University of Ibadan.

Le texte et les autres éléments (illustrations, fichiers annexes importés) sont sous Licence OpenEdition Books, sauf mention contraire.

Cette publication numérique est issue d’un traitement automatique par reconnaissance optique de caractères.

Lire

Open access

Acheter

Rechercher dans OpenEdition Search

Vous allez être redirigé vers OpenEdition Search