HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF COMMERCE IN NIGERIA

In the early days of the history of man, there was production and consumption but, exchange of
goods and services among people was non – existent. This was because the principle of self-sufficiency
was in operation i.e. man was able to grow his own food, built his shelter and satisfied all other wants.
In the process of meeting the requirements of his unlimited needs, he realized that he needed
the services of other members of the society. It was this need that lead to the emergence of barter (a
system where goods are exchanged for goods). This was later replaced by the use of money as a medium
of exchange.
Commerce in Nigeria to a large extent is attributed to traders who come from various parts of the
country to gather on markets days to transact business. At this time, commercial activities took place on
regional basis. Major commercial centers were Kano, Onitsha and Ibadan etc.
It was the first contact with the merchants from North Africa that actually paved way for modern
commercial activities. This followed the development of caravan routes across the Sahara Desert linking
West Africa and North Africa. The articles of trade to North Africa include gold, dyed clothes, leather goods
and slaves which were exchanged for salt, Arab dresses, cowries and a number of European goods. The
major cities that played important roles are Katsina, Kano, Borno and Zaria.
In the 18th century, Nigeria was further opened to commercial activities as a result of the influx of
missionaries and traders from Europe. They established trading posts along the West coast of Nigeria. This
later gave way to slave trade in which people were exchanged for firearms, cloths and ammunitions. The
major commercial towns were Badagry, Opobo, and Bonny.
Colonialism changed the dimension of trading activities in Nigeria, with the establishment of
companies like United African Company, John Holt, G.B Oliviant. Nigeria became a major exporter of
cocoa, palm oil and later crude oil.
In recent times, Commerce, which is the bedrock of economic growth and development has
witnessed tremendous growth because of great improvements in aids to trade and the introduction of
Electronic Commerce.
Factors affecting the growth of commerce
1. Inadequate capital;
2. Poor communication system;
3. Prevalence of fraudulent activities;
4. Low level of education;
5. Political instability;
6. Poor infrastructural facilities;
7. Immobility of labour;
8. Absence of large market;
9. Low per capital income.
Factors that contributed to the growth of Commerce in Nigeria
1. Increase in population;
2. Improvement in transport facilities;
3. Development and improvement in warehouse;
4. Improvement in means of communication;
 5. Development in financial institutions;
6. Improvement in advertising strategy; etc.

Barter system
Barter system or trade by barter is a direct exchange of goods for some quantity of another good
without the use of money.
For transactions to take place, there must be double coincidence of wants e.g. yam may be
exchanged for cassava.
A barter economy is an economy in which exchange is done without the use of money
Difficulties of Barter system
Barter system has the following difficulties: -
1. Double coincidence of wants;
2. Lack of common measure of value;
3. Difficulty in storing value;
4. Indivisibility of certain goods;
5. Difficulty in making deferred payment;
6. Lack of specialization.