Rex Uzo Ugorji and Nnennaya Achinivu

The significance of bicycles in a Nigerian village

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The Journal of Social Psychology,
1997, 102, 241-246.

Yale University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Nigeria
Department of Psychology
Box 11A, Yale Station
New Haven, Connecticut 06520

Received in the Editorial Office. Provincetown, Massachusetts, on May 3, 1976.
Copyright, 1977, by The journal Press.

This paper was first presented at the Second International Conference. International Association or Cross-Cultural Psychology. Queen's University, Kingston. Ontario. Canada.
August 6-10 1974.

Excerpt from: Bicycle Reference Manual for Developing Countries. Edited by Barbara Gruehl Kipke, April 1991.

This report presents a descriptive integration of field observations and informants' statements of the various ways in which the bicycle has affected the individual and the Nigerian village of Umuaro.

Since its introduction 65 years ago, the bicycle has become the most important technological innovation in the life of the inhabitants. It has helped to bring them into the modern world and has acted to change their attitudes and the structure of their activities.

Umnaro is an Igbo village cluster located in the Imo State of Nigeria 12 miles north of the city of Aba. The population is estimated to be between two and three thousand. The primary occupation of the great majority of adults continues to be agriculture, both for subsistence and for an increasingly large component which enters the market economy. Oil-palm products are the principal cash crop and, along with yams and cassava, are the basic source of money income. A large number of villagers also engage in petty trading and a variety of part-time commercial and craft occupations. About 75 residents of Umuaro, not all of them native to the community, hold full-time salaried positions, either as school teachers or low-level civil servants.

Umuaro is linked to the larger economic and political systems of the region by fairly modern roads and at Omoba by a railway line. While Umuaro continues to maintain two traditional periodic markets ("Eke" and "Afo"), Aba, a rapidly growing commercial center of more than 200,000 people, exerts a great "pull" on the villagers as the primary market for their crops and the source of manufactured goods they desire. The "Eke" market is the most popular, attracting well over 500 people and approximately 300 bicycles on its market days.

In connection with a study of social change (3) data were obtained in 1974 through case studies, naturalistic observation, participant observation, and interviews; thus a combination of psychological and anthropological technique was employed. Early history of bicycles in Umuaro was obtained via oral interviews with the five oldest members of the village (average age 85). In addition, a random sample of 100 adults above the age of 21 were interviewed with a questionnaire designed and administered in both Igbo and English in order to determine the variability and/or possible individual characteristics associated with adoption and use of bicycles in the village.

The interviews revealed that the bicycle first appeared in Aba Township and subsequently in Umuaro in the early part of the 20th Century; most Umuaro elders specify the date as 1912. Before then, the only means of transportation was by foot-"trekking"-no matter what the distance. People went on foot to trade as far as Port-Harcourt, Onitsha, Oguta (distances approximately 100 miles away from Umuaro).

At first bicycles were as dreaded as the first white men who rode on them. Later on they gradually gained acceptance as a few privileged village chiefs and traders were seen riding on them and transacting business along with the early European traders and colonial administrators.

During this early period also, people were said to have constantly queued along the sides of village footpaths to cheer and wave at the early owners of this new "inyinya-igwe" or "iron-horse" as it was then called. So great was the initial impact of this invention that some pregnant women were re- ported to have smeared the sand collected from the tire-marks on the road upon their bare stomachs as a memorable event in their lifetime and that of their yet unborn children.

By 1950, bicycles had already come to be regarded by most villagers as a most functional object. as well as a status symbol. Not only were they used by both male and female to ferry their farm products to the markets, but they were also used for the transportation of passengers to many parts of the vicinity.

Results from the questionnaire from 90 respondents indicate that ownership of bicycles is significantly related to (a) Sex: 93 percent of the males but only 25 percent of the females owned at least one bicycle (X² = 41.44, df 1, p < .01); (b) Marital Status: more married than unmarried couples owned bicycles (X² = 6.83, df 1, p < .01); and (c) Occupation: more of the self-employed -farmers and traders- owned bicycles than any other occupational category in the village (X² = 47.79, df 2, p < .01).

The bicycle is reported to be highly prized in Umuaro as one of the most important means of transportation, since it extends the range of the rural villager and changes his sense of time and distance. Indeed most villagers are very conscious of the force of bicycles in their lives. For example, most of our informants, particularly the older citizens, never failed to report how different life was without bicycles in the olden days when trekking to and from long distances was common and hazardous. Individuals had to wake up as early as 5 a.m. in order to cover a distance of five to 10 miles before the burning tropical sun was overhead.

Today most villagers (expect some traders and farmers) can afford to have a relaxed sense of time: they sleep comfortably and wake up as late as 7 or 8 a.m. to get to Aba - a distance of 12 miles - in order to do their buying, selling, visiting, etc. One often hears some villagers say "Obughi igwe La mu ji aga, mji ubwu aga" which literally means, "Since I am not going to trek, I might as well take things easy and not rush things."

Apart from placing rural villagers in a position of relative control over time and distances, the bicycle serves as a means of business entrepreneurship and technological inventiveness. It is modified in various ways by the villagers themselves and used for the transport of more people and goods on a commercial basis. In fact there are over 20 taxi bicyclists in Umuaro. These are men who earn a substantial part of their living by transporting persons and their goods from one village or city to another. The commercial cyclists are serviced regularly by the five local bicycle repairmen in the village. Some of them and also repairmen belong to bicycle unions in the village and at Aba.

For a considerable number of rural villagers, the bicycle is still a source of prestige and a symbol of recognition for its owner. Since by village standards a bicycle is costly ($180 - $200), a villager who saves and invests such a large amount of money is respected and admired by his peers. If a relatively well-off villager buys a second-hand bicycle or very old one, therefore, it is not usually considered a great achievement. The situation is the same for a well-off villager who persists in using his old bicycle, "alikirija," for many years without changing it; such a person comes to be nicknamed "onye akankpi" - a miser.

The newer their bicycles, the more some villagers are concerned with the problem of lending them. If a child is permitted to ride a new bicycle in order to fetch water or run an errand, he is properly warned to be extremely careful with it or face the consequences. Since there are no children's bicycles in the entire village, the child is usually permitted to use the older bicycle alikirija (i.e., if a family is fortunate to have a new and an old one'. But even the alikirija do become sentimental objects for their owners who may never easily part with their old bicycles.

Some villagers decorate their bicycles with new gadgets: e.g., with more expensive bells, horns, flags, seat-covers, etc. A few go further and inscribe their personal philosophy on the bicycle frames or the bags attached to the rear. Thus, one reads on frames such mottoes as "Echi di ime" (meaning, literally, "Tomorrow is pregnant" but loosely interpreted as "You never know what tomorrow has in store"), "One with God," etc. But the women tend to find all this gadgetry on bicycles to be unnecessary. They consider the practices to be the fad of men.

An elaborate etiquette governs the proper use of bicycles (1). More often than not, the men carry the women on their bicycles either on the frames or at the back on the bicycle carriage. Unless the man is ill, it is usually a man's prerogative to carry the woman on the bicycle. If the man has a grownup boy, it is the boy who carries the man or woman on the bicycle. If a man rides out alone, on his return his wife or one of his grownup children collects the bicycle from him. It is usually considered rude if, when a man returns home tired, the children do not collect the bicycle from him and immediately carry it into the proper room of the house. Similarly, it is considered rude for a younger person quickly to ride past a familiar elder person without showing any sign of respect by way of greeting. Nor is it considered polite for such a young person to sit balanced proudly on a bicycle while being addressed by an elder person - particularly when the elder person is not on a bicycle.

Obviously, the bicycle has not yet become a sporting or recreational device. But a significant feature of festive occasions are performances by "magic cyclists" "Ndi oji Ogwu agba igwe" - men who ride bicycles with juju. These men are actually from the city of Aba who come into the village from time to time to display their prowess and acrobatic skills with bicycles. In one such display, a cyclist rode with his two legs up and pedalling with his hands. His head appeared permanently planted on the seat of the bicycle as he moved it. In another instance, the cyclist rode the bicycle with two men standing on his two shoulders.

There are quite a number of places (stalls) provided for the safety of bicycles. In these market or church stalls one can observe people go to park their bicycles and remove them after their transactions. Some villagers meet in these places and, while resting or removing their bicycles, they spend a few minutes exchanging greetings or gifts, or discussing further the general nature of the day's business.

Nowadays, some churches and markets provide security men (church wardens) whose responsibility is to ensure the security of members' bicycles. This is usually the case because in Umuaro, if one's bicycle gets lost (stolen by thieves), it is generally regarded as a great blow for the victim and for the community. Some villagers visit such a victim in order to register their sympathy while village elders initiate actions aimed at getting all sections of the village alerted to mount a search.

Of all the "behavior settings" (2) in the village, however, the most important are the repairers' workshops or sheds. Most inhabitants visit these strategically located workshops on road junctions to have their bicycles mended, to deliver messages, to look at passersby along the Trunk A Aba-ljmuahia road, to buy and sell their goods, and above all for the older folks to gossip with either the repairman himself or whoever happens to be there at the time.

In fact, one can safely say that for a number of reasons, the bicycle workshops have emerged as an indispensible village setting. Bicycles have given rise to "ecological influentials," the repairmen who serve not only as experts on bicycles but also on a variety of other matters ranging from politics to brands of aspirin.

In addition, bicycles have had certain negative effects. Among these is the problem of "have-nots" who do not possess the means to acquire this increasingly desirable item. There has been a demonstrable rise in frustration levels, envy, and the use of illegitimate and harmful means of acquisition, such as robbery, burglary, etc. Correspondingly, there has been an increase in fear, suspicion, and mistrust in interpersonal relationships. There are also cases of seemingly irrational priorities: quite limited household incomes are expended to provide the funds for original purchase and continuing costs of maintaining this item.

1. ACHINTVU, N. S. The Sociology of the Bicycle. Unpublished B.A. (Hons.) thesis, Department of Sociology/Anthropology, University of Nigeria, Nssukka, 1974.
2. BARKER, R. Ecological Psychology. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford Univ. Press, 1968.
3. UGORJI X. U., & BERMAN, B. J. Orientation of Umuaro villagers to development. Unpublished project report 41972-1974), Department of Psychology, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, 1974.