The osomalo were active traders, mainly of Ijesa-Yoruba origins. Tough with money and debt collection, the osomalo relied on the use of credit to make huge profits, to the extent that the name described both a trading practice and cruel habits.
The osomalo, well dressed, riding a bicycle or walking in the company of his carriers, would visit during the dry season when people were short of cash. Full of good humor and sympathy, the osomalo would tempt the villagers to buy all sorts of goods on credit, promising that they could repay him in the next season, some four months later. The osomalo would break his promise, coming back at an earlier date to demand payment of the first installment. When the debtor had no money, the osomalo showed his true colors, using force and verbal attacks to obtain his money. The name osomalo itself derived from the statement, “I will squat down until I collect my money.” The itinerant trader became a sedentary debt collector, taking control of the debtor’s life. The osomalo did not require the police and the law to enforce payment, only the use of insults and force to humiliate the debtor.
The osomalo was so “wicked” that he could constitute a nuisance. He could prevent the debtors from eating, use foul language on house members, turn their living room into a toilet, and block the entrance to prevent people from moving in and out. By avoiding the use of law and intermediaries for debt collection, the osomalo reduced his management costs. To the osomalo, there was no “bad debt” to be forgiven. Rather, all debts must be collected to send a powerful signal to the debtors and others that they must always pay or get into serious trouble.
If we took the position of the osomalo, the story would be one of trade and business management. The osomalo obtained imported items, mainly textiles, from bulk dealers such as European and Indian firms. He divided the items into smaller pieces, carrying them to villages.Knowing very well that the clients did not have money for much of the year, the osomalo sold on credit.
Many did not know what the osomalo did with that money, since they also cultivated the image of miserliness. The osomalo trusted the villagers with the goods, which was why he sold on credit. But the villagers misunderstood the friendship and jokes of the osomalo to mean that he would be kind when they defaulted. If the teeth can smile, what about the heart? The friendship of the osomalo was transient: a strategy to sell. The strategy had to change in order to collect the debts.
As the osomalo descended on them, blocking their doors and announcing to the public that debtors lived there, he became nothing but an enemy. As the debtor agonized, he or she looked at the cloth purchased many months ago: it had become a rag or gone out of fashion. The debtor finally realized that being well dressed does not solve the problem of poverty. The debtor hated himself, the item purchased on credit, and the osomalo who had sold it. The debtor could blame the rag or kill himself, but he could castigate the osomalo as evil. The fates of the poor villager and the rich osomalo were bound together, but it was like putting gunpowder and fire in the same bed.
SOURCE: A MOUTH SWEETER THAN SALT: AN AFRICAN MEMOIR BY TOYIN FALOLA;
PROFESSOR OF HISTORY, UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
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