Folktales Among the Tiv People of Nigeria: Prospects for Combating Economic Recession

Abstract

From year 2016 to date, Nigeria has been in recession, one of the worst so far in her economic and financial history. The attendant  consequences of the recession are mass poverty, high rate of unemployment and insecurity among others. There are claims from the  Buhari government that recession is over. This is far from the truth. Obviously, creative measures need to be taken to stabilize the  economy and bring it to equilibrium. It is on this premise that Tiv folktales is studied in its oral form to bring to fore how it could be  harnessed to strengthen indigenous norms and values to combat economic recession. In this study, selected Tiv folktales are used and  the study found that folktales when communally performed its didactic quality endears it to the people. This study recommends that,  President Buhari‘s anti-recession strategy tagged: Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) launched on 5th April, 2017 should  harness folktales as a medium of communicating the designed message to the populace. The study contends that in a country degraded  by greed, individualism and excessive materialism, the emphasis on solidarity, brotherly feeling and communal existence as embedded in  indigenous norms and values should be strengthened in order to get the country out of economic recession.