Abstract

This paper focuses on the economic potentials of riverside dwellers on the Lower Niger River up to 1997. Trade is one of the most important subjects to study in the lives of the peoples of the Lower Niger. This study is significant because the interchange of goods whether as raw materials or manufactured items brought into contact different communities to exchange material, mental and spiritual aspects of life. The basic argument in this paper is that in the pre-colonial and colonial period in Nigeria, trade in the Lower Niger region was a major source of income for the sale of agricultural produce in the domestic market and for export of staple commodity crops. In the pre-colonial period the Nupe, Kupa, Kakanda, Kede, Igbira Koto, Urhobo, Itsekiri, and Ijaw people who were principally professional canoe men became pilots and captains of ships during the colonial period because of their mastery of the Lower Niger. They piloted ships conveying goods and passengers downstream to and from the south from Lokoja on the confluence of the Rivers Niger and Benue, through Agenebode, Idah, Onitsha, Asaba, Warri, Sapele and Burutu on the open sea to earn a living. The study adopts historical methodology using primary and secondary sources.

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