Indigenous bankers, agricultural finance and the cooperative movement: The Co-operative Bank of Western Nigeria, c.1945–1962

In the late colonial period following WWII, British policies in Nigeria focused on expanding exports and restructuring the market for agricultural finance. African farmers, merchants and bankers in the southwest’s extractive economy resisted and adapted to colonial interventions in commercial agriculture. A key site of financial innovation throughout this period was the cooperative movement, which integrated local political, economic and business structures with the export sector’s seasonal credit demands. The Co-operative Bank of Western Nigeria, founded in Ibadan during the 1950s ‘indigenous banking’ boom, quickly emerged as a key financial and political intermediary of anti-colonial resistance and growing Yoruba nationalism, challenging decades of African marginalisation in commercial agriculture. Drawing on colonial reports, business records and Akinpelu Obisesan’s personal archives, this article examines the bank’s early organisation, operations and political engagement, highlighting the mobilisation of African business networks, credit and political leadership between WWII and the consolidation of Nigerian independence.