ECONOMICS OF OBIOYE AND ARIGHO OF THE OGISO MONARCHY IN THE CONTEXT OF MODERN NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT



BY


Professor Eghosa Osagie,
Vice-Chancellor,
Beson Idahosa University
GRA, Benin City

LECTURE DELIVERED UNDER THE AUSPICES OF ISPU TO MARK THE 24TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE CORONATION OF OMO N’OBA EREDIAUWA, CFR, UKU AKPOLOKPOLO, OBA OF BENIN AT UGHA OZOLUA LAWNS, PALACE GROUNDS, BENIN CITY, ON MONDAY, 24TH MARCH, 2003, AT 4.00 P.M. 


Introduction 
It is appropriate at the beginning of this lecture to express pleasant sentiments of goodwill and congratulations to our royal celebrant, Omo N’Oba Erediauwa, CFR, Uku Akpolokpolo, Oba of Benin, on the celebration of the twenty-fourth anniversary of his ascension to the and distinguished throne of Oba of Benin.
As we felicitate with our Oba, we cannot but use the opportunity to reflect on the uniqueness and creativity of our traditional institution which are largely derived from the era of the Ogiso dynasty. Another aspect of uniqueness of the traditional institution in the last quarter century is its love of intellectual discourse, its formidable academic background, as well as the rich and multifaceted professional experiences of its leading lights. It is, therefore, not a light matter to be invited to deliver a lecture to such an accomplished audience, which is highly distinguished in wisdom and poise.
It is generally known among scholars that not much has been written on the Ogiso era of Benin history. This does not mean that we are significantly ignorant of the history, tradition, institutions, technological achievements and religious practices of that era. For much of what is known of that era today are contained in oral tradition handed to the current generation by the Ughoron (Emwanughoron) who have been aptly described as “the mouths of the gods, the eyes of time, the hands of the earth, and the ears of heaven.” They were the royal chroniclers, historians and bards, (O.S.B. Omoregie, Great Benin 3: the age of Ogiso Foundation, 1997, Pp. 50-51). Details of life in the Ogiso era have been discussed in considerable details by Dr. O.S.B. Omoregie in his ground breaking series of books on that period of Benin history. My access to these publications has considerably facilitated work on this lecture which analyses two contrasting approaches to the problems of famine and inflation in the 7-year period between 1119 and 1125 AD.
The following principles of governance are discernible from a close scrutiny of the Ogiso dynasty (900 AD – 1130 AD). These, in summary form, are:
Political, economic and social creativity providing a solid foundation for the succeeding Eweka dynasty, (D.N. Oronsaye, 1995).
Superiority of spiritual considerations or factors over the material;
Dangers posed by excessive love of money for political and social stability;
Strong link between economic instability and political unrest;
The stand-off between monarchical and republican political systems during the interregnum (1130-1200 AD) and problems derivable from the simultaneous existence of the two diametrically opposed systems in an amorphous political system eight centuries after the establishment of the Eweka dynasty;
Consciousness of a rudimentary quantity theory of money during the reign of the 29th Ogiso (Obioye) and the 30th Ogiso (Arigho) (Prince Ena Eweka, p.4);
No concept or theory is really new as ancients who are erroneously considered as unlearned had intuitive knowledge of so-called modern theories and actually employed them as frameworks in the solution of problems.
We shall return to these principles later when we consider the implications of the Ogiso anti-inflation policies in the period 1119-1125 AD for economic policy formulation, implementation, and the impact of such policies on political and social fortunes of the people. 
II	Genesis of the Great Famine (1119-1125)
	The reign of Ogiso Uwa (1085-95 AD) is generally acknowledged as one of great prosperity powered by international trade. (Omoregie Great Benin I. 1999, pp. 62-65). An incident occurred during that regin which had far-reaching implications for Benin. Ehima of Okhorho (Ovio), one of the most affluent chiefs, had ambition of becoming Ogiso. His arrogance and unbridled ambition alienated him from Ogiso Uwa and the other chiefs, resulting in his persecution and exile eastwards towards River Niger in 1090. In spite of the poor relationship between the Ogiso and Ovio, the former magnanimously granted the latter his Asa an instrument which enabled Ovio and his descendants to set up several political systems East of Agbor usually known as the Chima Clans. Ovio is believed to have gone to Uhe, North-East of Benin to complain to the “great Potentiate of the Interior” – the priest that looked after the Ohene shrine at Uhe, who was also king of the place, about the way he was forced to emigrate from his fatherland. It is important to note that Benin people migrated to their present geographical location from Uhe after the Age of Iso Norho with Ogiso Igodo laying the foundation for the Ogiso dynasty in 900 AD. It is also generally believed that Uhe exerted strong spiritual influence over Benin until the reign of the Oba Ewuare in the 15th century who led the last royal pilgrimage to the place.
Ovio’s supplications at Uhe appear to have been answered by God. A divine judgement of severe punishment was then passed on Benin, a judgement which Ogiso Oduwa sought to avert by offering three times the gifts normally given at the Uhe shrine. While his gifts successeded in pushing forward the prophesied calamities to the time of his son (Obioye) and grandson (Arigbo), it failed to prevent the great famine of 1119-1125, the scourge of Osogan, and a 70-year period of political uncertainty (1130-1200) represented by the Esian/Ogiamie experiment with republicanism.
III.	Ogiso Obioye’s Anti-Inflation Policy 
	Previous rulers of Benin had made institutional arrangements for specialization in production of goods and services, during the dispensation of the Edionwere, the major economic activities included farming, iron-working, wood-working, leather-working, weaving, pottery, hunting and distributive trade (Omoregie, Great Benin 2, 1997, P.22-23). That era also  made provision for use of cowries as money, performing the functions of standard of value or numeraire, medium of exchange, and store of value, with 200 (uri) being the basic unit, and higher values measured in multiples of 200. Thus, 1,000 was arriasen, 200,000 i.e. uri in 1000 places was equivalent to one ebo, and 1000 ebo (1000 x 200,000 = 200 million cowries were stored in specially dug holes in the ground called Uye. The use of cowry as commodity money facilitated production and profitable exchange between transactors. This institution by the Edionwere laid the foundation for the prosperity enjoyed during the Ogiso dynasty, specially during the reigns of Uwa, Ehenneden, Ohuede and Oduwa (Omoregie, Great Benin 4, 1999, p. 71). An important innovation introduced by Oluede (11110-1112 AD) was the Ugbo Owinna system, which made portions of farms in the villages available to artisans and members of guilds to harvest for their own use. This was to discourage members of guilds from diverting their attention from their primary occupation to farming to supply the food requirements of their families. This ingenious decision by Ohuede promoted occupational specialization and ensured that enough goods and services were produced for domestic use and for export.
Ogiso Obioyo undermined the careful arranged economic and monetary arrangements of his predecessors in his effort to bring under control inflation ( a rapidly increasing rate of increase of prices) which saw one Agban of ten yams exchanging for one ebigho (200,000 cowries). This experience definitely foreshadowed another inflationary period almost 800 years later in republican Nigeria where “Ghana must go” bags are used to move money around for unethical political purposes.
Obioye was not conscious of the spiritual nature of the famine which itself produced the inflationary situation. A correct approach would have been to lead a national repentance for political sins committed during Uwa’s reign. This attitude again foreshadow the reluctance of Nigerian political leaders and followers eight centuries later to confess that they have sinned against God and man, repent and seek for foreignness. Rather, Obioye rained curses on his predecessors for their extravagance. His policy response was lamentably simplistic. He forbade money transactions and significantly demonetized cowries, which, while reaming a standard of value and store of value, was not to be used as medium of exchange. The economy became a barter system where people were encouraged to exchange goods for other goods. By encouraging a barter economy, Obioye made the people of lose the welfare benefits derived from the use of money as a medium of exchange. Obioye’s anti-inflation policy also included employment of austerity measures such as outback on eating and spending. He led by curious example by limiting his diet to roasted yam and raw palm oil to resist the temptation of eating food with soup and meat. This measure not only reduced aggregate demand in the economy but also aggregate production as people were discouraged from producing goods and services beyond their immediate needs. Thus, with a crude quantity theory of money framework where MV = PT 	
Where M = money supply 
	V = Money velocity 
	P = price level 
	T = transactions a proxy for total goods produced               
Obioye expected that his discouragement of consumption would reduce V as well as P, in the process bringing inflation under control. However, his policy measures including encouragement of barter transactions did not have much impact on prices where money transactions occurred but unexpectedly reduced production of goods and services. In effect, reduction in consumption not only reduced velocity of money but also production of goods and services. This compounded the inflationary situation.
Obioye failed to bring inflation under control but his effort has given an expression Ighobiove to Benin people signifying excessively expensiveness. 
Through Obioye’s economic policies failed to bring inflation under control, due largely to his failure to engineer increased production of goods and services, he inadvertently enriched the Edo language by introduction of ighobiove to indicate high value.
IV	Ogiso Arigbo Anti-Inflation, Policy 
	Arigho, who was Ogiso in the last four years of the great famine, had an urbane and business background. His having experienced affluence early in life made him to reject the ineffective austerity policies of Obioye. Guided by the crude quantity theory of money framework, he pragmatically sought to reduce the supply of money as policy action towards reducing prices. To achieve this, he introduced a decree which stated that “if any person bought anything, whether in the market, farm, streets or private areas, as long as payment of money was involved, that amount must be collected twice by the seller. The second payment so collected must be paid into the king’s treasury in the palace or at oguedion depositories located in different parts of the kingdom. If any person embezzled the king’s share of the money, he would have to pay it back twice. This decree was confirmed by the Royal Council”. (Omoregie, Great Benin 4, 1999, p. 97).
This requirement of double payment for transactions became known as Igho Arigho (Arigho’s money). The double payment per transaction was an ingenious attempt at combining tight fiscal and monetary policies to control inflation. The requirement of double payment was in effect a 100 percent sales tax or vales added tax imposed on transactions. The implementation of this tax increased money accumulated in the king’s treasury to unprecedented levels. This policy effectively mopped up “excess liquidity” in the system so long as Arigho refrained from spending the accumulated stock of money. In this project, he was outstandingly successful as he accumulated uye ihinron (7 deeps) each of which contained 200 million cowries, totaling 1,400 million cowries left as sterilized reserves in the king’s treasury. 
The anti-inflation policy of igho Arigho significantly controlled inflation before economic stability was fully restored at the end of the famine in 1125.
V	Implications for Current National Situation 
	A close scrutiny of the economic policies of Obioye and Arigho indicates that they had far-reaching implications of politics and social organization. Let me spell out in a sketchy manner some of the implications: 
Mass emigration of people to avoid economic hardship. Almost eight centuries, after in the early years of the 21st century, we notice a similar emigration of young people to other countries considered as capable of providing people a good standard of living.
The lesson here is that Government has no moral right to discourage emigration of citizens especially where its policies bring unnecessary hardship on the people.
Arigho’s policy of double payment created an unprecedented stock of money in the kings’ treasury. This treasure attracted the attention of the leading chiefs who wanted a share of it. The unwillingness of Ogiso to share out the accumulated reserve created hostility and intrigues among chiefs against Ogiso. The generally historically accepted orthodoxy is that the 31st and last Ogiso, Owodo, was deposed and banished because of “misrule”. Through it is true that he had more than his fair share of domestic trouble, particularly from Esagho, it is possible that the senior chiefs fermented crises and unrest against him because of his refusal to share out Igho Arigho. This uncompromising stand must have generated a lot of unfair propaganda against Owodo and led to the final collapse of the Ogiso dynasty.
The lesson for current national leader is that when there is a major source of wealth and money under the control of the government, important stakeholders such as ethnic nationalities, politicians, businessmen, youths and key professional associations would like to have their fair share. When national leaders seek to monopolies the enjoyment of national resources without considering the just demands of areas from which such national wealth is derived, there would be organized agitation to overthrow the ruling group. Demands such as the call for a sovereign national conference, the on-shore off-shore oil dichotomy controversy, the emergence of ethnic militias and the do-or-die approach to electioneering campaign in 2003 are signs of political unrest capable of truncating the Nigerian fourth republic.   
Seven years of severe famine and inflation and the repressive economic policy response by the Ogisos gave rise to a welter of social problems, the most important of which was the Osogan phenomenon at Okedo. The “monster” brought severe pain and suffering to the citizens. It required the bravery of Evian to kill the “monster” and receive in payment from Benin the title of Okaevbo for a period of 40 years. Osogan, in the modern context may be taken to include all forms of social malaise arising from stringent economic policies since the introduction of SAP in 1986. Current examples are armed robbery, trafficking of young girls abroad for prostitution, widespread dishonesty among the people, corruption among the political elite and political assassinations. A modern day Evian coming to the rescue of the country would inevitably dismantle the current political dispensation and seek to establish an alternative political paradigm.
A political collapse would not quickly be followed by the establishment of an alternative political dispensation. In the case of the Ogiso dynasty, it took 70 years (1130-1200) before the successor Eweka dynasty could be established. In the modern Nigerian case, the process of political collapse may be traced to the Action Group crisis of 1962, the imposition of republicanism in 1963 on a country whose constituent parts are solidly monarchial, the intrusion of the military into government in 1966, and the curiously recurring crises of political legitimacy experienced in 1975, 1983, 1993, and now in 2003. A new political paradign would emerge out of the people’s experience, suffering, mistakes, and political creativity at an appointed time in the future.
Probably the most important lesson to be learnt from the anti-inflation policies of Obioye and Arigho is that there is no problem now manifesting itself that has not been experienced and solved by our constituent ethnic nationalities in the past. Our ancestors devised policies they thought out on their own without any impudent proding from external powers. It would serve this country and her leaders well to know that they have a reservoir of useful experiences of problem solving if only they can humble themselves to learn from the wisdom of the ancients. The current orientation of Nigerian leaders readily accepting policy advice from external sources even when such advice is assessed as counterproductive by national experts would have to change.
Economic policies introduced by Obioye and Arigho failed to realized that economic recovery can only be sustained if adequate provision is made for increased production of goods and services which in turn promotes employment opportunities. A significant proportion of the 1.4 billion cowries accumulated in Arigho’s royal treasury could have been better invested in enterprises producing goods and services for export and domestic use. This options would have limited the Osogan syndrome experienced after the period of inflation.
The lesson form modern Nigeria is that not much is achieved by accumulating external reserves when a majority of the people live in abject poverty. It is generally known that poverty breeds political and social unrest. Government should therefore strive to address the basic needs of the people to avoid political instability.
Your Majesty, members of the Benin Traditional Council, distinguished ladies and gentlemen, I am afraid this lecture is getting longer than planned, but as we progressed, pertinent issues suggested themselves for consideration. What needs to be noted by Nigerian leaders are the following. They should avail themselves of the considerable wisdom and knowledge accumulated by the ancients in their attempts at solving national problems. They should realize that problems having their origins in spiritual shortcomings can only be resolved through repentance and forgiveness from God. Finally, they should come to the realization that the running of parallel monarchical and republican systems of government is confusing and will always generate anomic. The way to future greatness is political creativity. The Ogisos demonstrated political creativity which provided a solid foundation for the Eweka dynasty which has lasted eight counties. 


References 
Egharevba, J. (1960). A Short History of Benin. Ibadan: Ibadan University Press.
Prince Eweka, Ena Basimi, 1992 Evolution of Benin Chieftaincy Titles, Benin City: Uniben Press.
Omoregie O.S.B. (1999), Great Benin: 1-5, Benin City; Neraso Publishers 
Oronsaye, D.N. (1995), The History of Ancient Benin Kingdom and Empire.