PHARMACEUTICAL AND ECONOMIC VALUES OF TREES IN NUPE LAND : A POLITICAL ECONOMY

Abstract

There are conflicting accounts of the exact ethnic and socio- cultural configuration of Nigeria. One account suggests up to Two Hundred and Fifty ethic groups. While some suggest Two Hundred and Fifty (250) ethnic groups and Three Hundred and Ninety Four (394) language groups for the entire country. General Babangida is of the opinion that in the absence of an agreed actual number of ethnic nationalities in Nigeria, people see the country as made up of over Two Hundred and Fifty ethnic groups (250) or about three hundred (300) ethnic groups. The Nupe are one of these multi-ethnic groupings in Nigeria. The word Nupe is the bastardized connotation of an Arabic word “Nefin” which means fugitive. According to Ismaila (2002) Arab scholars like Ibn Battuta, El–Idris, North African traders and some Europeans refers to Nupe people as Nyffe, Nufe and Nefu. They are largely found around the confluence of Kaduna and Gbako Rivers as asserted by Obayemi in Ikimi (1980) or what is referred to as Middle Belt or North Central States of Nigeria, an area today consisting of Kwara, Kogi and Niger States. This paper using both primary and secondary data, examines the rich pharmaceutical endowment of Nupe land and its economic values. Given a committed political will, these ecological endowments can facilitate better life for the people, not only of Nupe land, but the entire Nigerian State. This paper recommends massive investment by the government and private investors in the development of the pharmaceutical trees and Sugar cane for ethanol fuel production.