By How Banking Were Carried Out Southwestern Yoruba Nigeria
Here is the story of how banking and goods were exchanged in the southwestern part of Yoruba Nigeria.
A multitude of people don’t know this about banking in precolonial Nigeria, the Yoruba Empire.
The Yoruba tribe of Nigeria had an advanced financial system and well-constituted markets where people bartered goods and services.
Cowry shells were used as a medium of exchange for trade buying, taxes, and dowries.
They also had economic institutions like ESUSU a savings and credits system where constituents put money in a contributed fund and then it is given to one member on a swiveling basis to help them build savings.
Similarly Ajo was another savings group where associates combined money and could procure from it for trade and proprietary use.
Esusu and Ajo are still in use today.
The Yoruba’s also had an informal credit system where societies could lend goods or money based on certainty and interpersonal relationships.
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