From peasant to artisan: motor mechanics in a Nigerian town

Abstract

In recent years, western Nigeria has witnessed a rapid movement of people and resources from the agricultural to the non-agricultural sectors of the economy. Much of this movement has involved the proliferation of self-employed, small-scale entrepreneurs and the investment of agricultural surplus in the tertiary sector. The present essay seeks to explore the implications of these developments for the processes of economic growth, class formation and political conflict in western Nigeria. It is based on interviews and observations carried out among a small sample of motor mechanics in one Nigerian town, as part of a larger study of intersectoral resource flows and the changing position of peasant agriculture in the political economy of western Nigeria.