The recent action of the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) in collaborating with the proprietor of Facebook to shut down Radio Biafra and the account of Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) seem to sustain the fact that the FGN led by President Muhammadu Buhari (PMB) , like the one led by General Yakubu Gowon and others after him are missing the positive side of Biafra.
Immediately after the civil war, General Gowon caused the word Biafra to be expunged from the world map with a decree that was later gazette. Prior to that unilateral action , what we had in world map was Bight of Benin and Biafra. General Gowon renamed it Bight of Benin only, yet the spirit of Biafra lives.
Nigeria missed the positive side of Biafra by not taking advantage of persistent patience of the Igbo race in re-building Nigerian political space after the war. Had General Gowon and other Heads of State after him not been busy fighting an undeclared war on the Igbo race ( successor to Biafra nation) Nigeria would have become a great country . Yes, Nigeria would have been great militarily and economically had successive governments not been using the instrument of government to marginalize and suppress the Igbo race. Of all the governments after General Gowon, it is PMB that came out openly to declare that the South East is not in his development plan because he cannot leave those that voted 95% for him and pay attention to those who voted 5% for him . Let me quickly explain what I mean by persistent patience by relating it to history of space exploration and satellite communication.
Available records have it that WERNHER VON BRAUN (VON BRAUN) used persistent patience in developing rockets that paved the way for space exploration and satellite communications. In the 1920s, as a teenager, Von Braun dreamed of human beings exploring the moon one day. In those days, the idea of human beings venturing into space was pure fantasy. But the Germans in 1930s saw the potential as weapon and Von Braun was put to work in building rockets. Using missiles for war was not the use Von Braun had in mind for rockets and so in 1944 he was put in jail. Soon his talents were recognized as vital to German war effort and he was consequently released from prison. He was asked to put deadly rockets in space against England.
After World War 11 in which Germany lost, Von Braun directed the team that put the first American satellite , Explorer 1 into orbit. His team also launched the flight of America’s first astronaut, Alan Shepard in 1961. Von Braun played the largest role than any person in the first moon landing. No one did so much to introduce the world to space age than Von Braun and he did it through being persistently patient.
Like I said earlier, Nigeria missed the positive side of Biafra by not taking advantage of the persistent patience and the talent of the Igbo race in rebuilding post –war Nigeria. The war ended in 1970 only in theory. The fact is that Nigerian state started another undeclared war there after against the Igbo race. .
With no intention whatsoever to re-open old wounds since we cannot re-write history, I crave the indulgence of the reader to go into some historical facts, just for the records. First was an economic war in which all Igbo families with bank account in Biafra Pound in banks were given twenty Nigerian Pounds irrespective of the bank account balance. As if that was not enough, the second undeclared economic war followed in 1972 when through Indigenization Decree the sam e General Gowon FGN nationalized between 40% and 60% of foreign companies and sold the shares to Nigerians . At that time , Igbo race were just recovering from the scares of a brutally fought war and had no money to buy shares Another war was on Igbo assets scattered all over the country. They were declared abandoned property and forfeited , especially in Port Harcourt , Rivers State where Igbo owned most of the property . The apparent futility of this undeclared was is that today, to the glory of Almighty God , the Igbo race is not the poorest of the poor in Nigeria so why make such policies in the first place if indeed Nigeria is for all of us?
What Nigerian Government would have done after the civil war was to build on Biafra talent and technology in manufacturing potent military hardware and oil refining. Imagine where Nigeria would have been today technology wise, had they absorbed Biafran scientists and technologists in manufacturing Biafran land mine and flying rocket called ‘ogbu na igwe’ ( mass killer) in the fight with Boko Haram . Added to this is the ‘shore battery” used by Biafran Navy to sink ships. This would have been deployed in Lake Chad for maximum attack in Sambisa forest to deny the enemy Boko Haram water for survival.
Furthermore, had Nigeria built on Biafran crude oil refining technology, we will not be importing refined petroleum products . What about common salt? Ebonyi state would have been supplying the whole country ,if not the whole world with various grades of edible and industrial salt. The Aso Rock Villa idea, arguably, is copied from Ojukwu ‘s underground bunker in Umuahia, capital of Abia state . Surprisingly, that seems to be the only positive side of Biafra that got the attention of the Federal Government.
As I write , Nigeria is still missing the positive side of Biafra because the FGN keeps looking at the negative side. The Federal Government led by PMB sidelined the South East in his economic team and development agenda. Where have they landed? President Obasanjo from the South –West of Nigeria relied on merit and found South East professionals worthy as economic team in his government. Ditto President Yar’adua and President Johnathan from the North and South -South respectively. These forward looking past Presidents adopted this approach because they recognized the persistent patience of South East and above all their patriotism in their quest for nation building . Above all they all gave merit a chance in the choice of members of their cabinet.
The clamour for Biafra is largely because of the neglect of Igbo patriotism by the FGN. That is why the Igbo race are not happy that a country they call their own , and in which they contribute their quota in resources and nation building within the context of national constitution that says you can feel free to settle anywhere in Nigeria, is waging an undeclared war on them in all parts of the country and in every sphere of life.
Nigeria is missing the positive side of Biafra because it does not operate the philosophy of fair competition which is the hallmark of the Igbo race. In his book , THE TROUBLE WITH NIGERIA, Prof Chinua Achebe (of blessed memory) wrote at page 59 ff “The rise of the Igbo in Nigerian affairs was due to self-confidence engendered by their open society and their belief that one man is as good as another, that no condition is permanent…The Igbo towns competed among themselves for certain kinds of social achievement like building of schools, churches, markets, post offices, pipe borne water projects, roads etc. They did not concern themselves with pan-Igbo unity nor were they geared to securing an advantage over non-Igbo Nigerians. “
It is not too late in the day for PMB led government to retrace its steps and embrace the positive side of Biafra. FGN should , in the spirit of nation building, challenge the Igbo race to launch Nigeria into the technology era in metal fabrication, motor assembly plants, Information Technology , power etc and see if it will not be achieved in a very short time. For the records, the University of Nigeria, Nsukka performed the first open Heart surgery in Nigeria as far back as 1974. Many of us who witnessed it as undergraduates at the Enugu campus of the university at the time laugh ourselves to scorn, when some Nigerian Universities less than a year ago beat their chest and announce to the world that they performed open heart surgery, a feat achieved by UNN More than thirty years ago. Yet, this is a University that was insulted by the media at its opening in 1960 with unpalatable appellations like BA (Nsukka) M.A (Awomamma) and PhD (Onitsha ) which did not sound like BA (London) MA (Oxon) PhD ( Cantab) By their products in the Nigeria labour market, you know them.
Love them or hate them , the Igbo race is not in the least Nigeria’s problem. In fact Nigeria needs the Igbo race for development more than the Igbo race needs Nigeria. The sooner FGN understands this hard fact and stops fighting the undeclared war, the better for our nation building efforts.
*Enyinnaya is a fellow of Chartered Institute of Bankers.
