Economic Production in Postcolonial Tivland, 1960-2000

Abstract

This paper is an appraisal of the nature of economic changes that have taken place in Tivland since 1960. It considers the foundations for the economy laid by export agriculture and its subsequent decline, together with the role that the discovery of oil came to play and occupy significantly in the Tiv and Nigerian national economy. The paper discovers that, while export agriculture declined, local and national markets emerged to meet the expanding Tiv production in the agricultural sector. Equally, from the 1970s, the seeds of industrialisation were laid by the Benue State and Nigerian federal governments in establishing factories such as the mega Benue Cement Company, which all expanded the modern economy in Tivland in Benue State of Nigeria.