You've noticed it. Where are the Igbo CEOs of Nigerian banks? The Igbo chairmen of oil companies? The Igbo directors in the NSE top 30?
"They prefer trading," you say. "They're natural entrepreneurs, not corporate types. They don't like structure."
Comforting lie. Brutal truth:
In 1972, General Gowon signed the Nigerian Enterprises Promotion Decree. It divided the economy into schedules:
- Schedule I: 100% Nigerian ownership required (retail, small services)
- Schedule II: 40% Nigerian ownership required (banking, insurance, shipping, construction)
The timing was surgical.
The decree came 24 months after the £20 policy had pauperized the East. While other Nigerians could leverage pre-war savings to buy equity, Igbos had been reset to zero.
The Mathematics of Exclusion:
To acquire 40% of a £500,000 company required £200,000 capital. For a people whose median liquid wealth had been capped at £20, this wasn't "difficult"—it was impossible.
The Nigerian Bank for Commerce and Industry (NBCI), created to finance indigenization, required collateral. The collateral had been confiscated by Decree No. 56.
By 1975, only 33% of companies had complied. The loophole? "Fronting"—where politically connected Nigerians acquired shares while expatriats retained control . The Igbo, lacking even fronting capital, watched from the parking lot.
The 1977 Amendment:
The "stricter" 1977 decree raised Schedule II to 60% Nigerian equity and added petrochemicals, banking, and insurance. By then, first-generation Igbo entrepreneurs had accumulated some capital—but not enough for Schedule II entry.
They were permanently assigned to Schedule I: retail, services, small manufacturing.
The Pivot:
The Igbo didn't "choose" markets over boardrooms. The state sold the boardroom while they were in financial ICU, then mocked them for trading in the parking lot.
The Evidence:
The Nigerian Enterprises Promotion Decree is available at the University of Ibadan archives. The £20 policy is in the Federal Government Gazette. These aren't opinions. They're legislative instruments.
The Uncomfortable Question:
If your grandfather had £20,000 confiscated in 1970, and then the government sold the corporate economy while requiring £200,000 entry fees, where would you be working today?
I used to believe Igbos "preferred" trading. Then I read the Indigenization Act. I checked the dates. I calculated the capital requirements.
Download "THE CALCULATED NARRATIVE". Chapter 2 contains the boardroom floorplans, the schedule classifications, and the capital barrier mathematics. Read it and tell me if you still see "preference"—or if you see assignment.