The Economics of Reality

It’s the custom and tradition of my family and tribe for children, young or old to sit with the aged members of the family at least once in month in order to listen to their historical narratives of events, and also to share words of wisdom with them. During my last visit to Nigeria in 2010, I was opportune to share that moment with my aged father alongside my other siblings. During our chit chat, one of my nieces asked why my grandfather had many wives and my father only married one wife.

In response to her question my father said that during the days of his great-grand fathers up to the generation of his own father (my grand-father) that the wealth of a family was measured by the numbers of wives and children. It was considered a failure if a man married only one wife both economically and socially.

How come?  I asked him.

He responded  that farming was the major occupation in those days and unlike this present  generation where there’s technological advancement whereby machineries have taken over human power which he explained was the only means and  dependable tools for farming and harvesting in those days.

So at that time it was profitable for a man that could afford a large family because as the family increase so was human power and that would result in huge harvests and revenues.

Thinking back to that response from my father and with what I’ve learnt so far in my Sociology class, I realize why Sociologists said that "sociology is the reflection of modernity.”  Intellectual revolution and rapid technological advancement has speed up the transformation of our society.

My conclusion is that marriages in the days of my ancestors were based on economic benefits and not love (or how is it possible for a man to share love with more than five women equally) and with people like my great-grandfather as one of the beneficiary ( he married many wives and bore many children). He was considered wealthy because he was able to acquired and maintained vast acres of land for farming.

Uh!!! Thank God I wasn't born in that generation...