There existed within the Yoruba country several states during the pre-colonial period. Each of these states or kingdoms had centralized political and social organization with wide geographical limits. At the centre of such elaborate socio-political structure in pre-colonial Yorubaland was a strong economic base. It provided sustenance for the administration and the citizenry. The proper coordination of the varied economic processes or practices in pre-colonial Yorubaland was the direct responsibility of the guild system. It functioned as a legitimate regulatory body that guaranteed efficiency, quality service delivery and best practices in production relations. This study evaluates the guild system in pre-colonial Southwestern Nigeria with emphasis on its forms, operational guidelines, features, activities and membership criteria in different parts of Yorubaland. The study which employs primary and secondary sources for its analysis, argues that the guild system played a very unique role in the process of stimulating change and development in the economy of pre-colonial Yoruba states. The women folk, the study observes, dominated the activities of several guilds. The dominant religious beliefs and practices also had considerable influence on the economic role of most guilds in pre-colonial Yorubaland. Although the nineteenth century wars in Yorubaland fraught the effective conduct of the economic activities of most guilds, the study submits that the guild system remained relevant to the Yoruba economy up to the era of British rule and the post-colonial period.

The state structure of most pre-colonial African societies relied heavily on the economy which had various components. Women's role was indeed critical to the proper functioning of such components. The emirate setting to which Ilorin became sub-summed as from the early 19 th century was originally designed by the Caliphate leaders to restrict women's level of economic participation. This notwithstanding, the pre-emirate Yoruba political and economic background of Ilorin where the women folk played important roles in the process of economic relations seemed to have pre-dominated in Ilorin emirate during the 19 th century. Based on this premise, this study evaluates the economic peculiarities of Ilorin during the pre-colonial period and the extent to which the women were involved in the promotion of economic growth. By using both primary and secondary sources, the paper argues that unlike the situation that obtained in some emirates within the Sokoto Caliphate where women were kept off the stage in terms of economic activities, the Ilorin women during the pre-colonial period were actively involved in pottery, trade and commerce, cheese production, weaving and embroidery works, blacksmithing industry, bead-making, agriculture and craftworks, etc. The Ilorin women established dominance in a wide range of economic activities that enhanced the sustenance of Ilorin before British conquest. As the efforts of Ilorin women were to compliment that of the men which gave Ilorin economy the strength to support the emirate's expansionist programmes and its elaborate administration, the study concludes that women's role was central to the economy of Ilorin during the pre-colonial period.