Profit and Profit Making Among Onitsha Market Traders

Abstract

As Frantz Fanon observed in 1961 regarding African nations, “scandals are numerous, ministers grow rich, their wives doll themselves up; the members of parliament feather their nests and there is not a sail down to the simple policeman or customs officer who does not join in the great procession of corruption. In time, bribery and corruption became ‘a way of life,’ a means of getting by, earning a living, obtaining a service or avoiding a hassle.” Nigeria mirrors this description: A country where the siphoning of public funds long became the norm among public office holders and where it is also seen as good for people to amass wealth illegally without considering the de-humanizing situation to which they subject their fellow human beings. A common saying among the Igbo, which developed recently, goes thus: “kama onu n’eri ga erikata kwusi, nke n’adigh eri erikwala chaa” (instead of the mouth that eats to stop eating, let the one that does not eat not eat at all). Corruption among political office holders has received some academic attention though with little or no result. This article represents a shift away from public office holders to corruption in the private sector (the self-employed) using Onitsha market traders as a point of focus. It examines the motivation(s) behind profit and profit making among some traders to see how pervasive corrupt practices are in the country.