Age Grade Associations and Capital Formation: A Case Study of Ndi-Igbo of Southeast Nigeria

Abstract

Ndi-Igbo of southeast Nigeria developed institutions mechanisms that encouraged both their socio-economic development and growth at the individual, group and community levels. In the area of capital formation among the people, age grade associations existed as indigenous institutions through which the people accessed resources to attend to their needs. The paper concluded that age grade associations operated as pressure groups which were pervasively used by the village bureaucracies to mobilize the people to achieve economic, political and socio-cultural gains. As a means of capital creation, the contributions of this viable institution could not be overemphasized. The descriptive and analytical methods were adopted in writing this work.