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Towards A More Perfect Union:
A Case for Reparation for Biafra-Era Human Rights Violation
Preface
After this education at the Museum, I decided to carry out further research on
the Biafra War and I have now arrived at one conclusion: for Nigeria to move
forward as a country, we must revisit the events of the Biafra War and address
the human rights violation that took place.
In this paper, I argue for the payment of reparation by the Federal Government
of Nigeria to the people of Igbo descent for the Biafra-era food blockade that
resulted in the starvation and deaths of millions of people, majority of who were
children.
A lot has been documented about the Nigerian- Biafra Civil War in the form of
books, video, documentaries, YouTube uploads etc. However, in most parts of
Nigeria, the events that took place during the war appear to have been
consigned to the dustbin of history. There is a ‘forget the past and let’s move
forward’ mentality among most Nigerians with the exception of the Igbo people.
This is understandable for two reasons.
First, the civil war leaves a scar on the moral fibre of Nigeria. According to
Frederick Forsyth, the British novelist “the Biafra war was one of the first
occasions when western consciences were awakened and deeply affronted by
the level of suffering and the scale of atrocity being played out in the African
continent”. Second, even though there was causalities on both sides of the
conflict, the Igbo’s not only lost the war, but they also bore the brunt of the
causalities. It is estimated that over three million Igbo’s died during the war out
of which two million (mainly children) died from starvation resulting from the air
blockade.
A key strategy to achieving this healing would be to bring the Igbo’s back into
the mainstream of Nigerian affairs. I believe that forty years is more than long
enough time for excluding a group of 30 million people from benefiting from the
‘milk and honey’ of the land.
While the Igbo’s have paid the ultimate price for the attempt to breakaway from
Nigeria, it is only fair for the Nigerian Government to also address the atrocities
that took place during the three-year war, which has left a permanent
emotional scar on the Igbo’s and a moral scar on the rest of the country.
To achieve a more perfect union, the issue of reparation payments for the
millions of deaths resulting from the blockades during the war needs to be
addressed.
Should the Nigerian Government pay reparation to the Igbo’s; after all the
Igbo’s are part of Nigeria? Should the Igbo’s as the defeated party in the war
be entitled to any form of reparation? If Biafra initiated the call to secede from
Nigeria, can the Igbo’s still be entitled to reparation? These questions may be
asked by a number of people and they are genuine questions to ask. In the
next couple of paragraphs, I will address why the answer to all these questions
should be a resounding YES.
It is a known fact that in any type of war, there will be loss of lives and the
Biafra war was no exception. However, in any war there is what is known as
the ‘laws of war’. During wars, a) parties in the conflict are expected to
distinguish between the civilian population and combatants b) the party to the
conflict, which has the injured and sick in its power is expected to take care of
them.
While, I will not discuss whether the Nigerian Civil war was justified or not, I will
discuss the violation of human rights that took place during the war.
During the Biafra war, there was an asymmetric skew of civilian causalities
relative to combatants and majority of the causalities were the starving children
of Biafra.
Due to the land-locked nature of the Biafra territory, as the war progressed, the
Igbo’s found themselves surrounded by the Federal forces. As a result, it was
difficult to get food supplies, medicine and clothing to the Igbo’s. An appeal by
human rights agencies, the church etc for the government to relax the air and
naval blockade in order to allow for the free flow of food to the civilians went
unanswered. Consequently, there was an acute scarcity of protein, which
began to affect majority of the civilian population of the Biafra controlled
territories. The adults who could survive without protein were not seriously
affected, but the children who needed it for their survival were significantly
impacted. The consequence of this blockade was the prevalence of
Kwashiorkor, which inflicted millions of children in the Biafra territory.
As images of the starved children were beamed throughout the world, there
was a drive to get food relief to the victims trapped in this war. Unfortunately,
majority of the foreign donations and supplies were unable to reach the
starving children due to these blockades. As the war progressed, a number of
government officials stated that starvation was a critical part of the war policy.
The air blockade was reported to have kept around 7 million people on diets
that were barely above the starvation level. At the height of the blockade, on a
daily basis, there were 10,000 deaths due to starvation. By the time the war
ended an estimated three million people died out of which two million, majority
of who were children died due to starvation. In short, the number of people who
died as a result of starvation was more than those that died from bullets or
bombs.
To put these numbers in perspective, at the start of the war, there were 8
million Igbo’s out of the total Nigerian population of 40-50 million. By the end of
the war, the Igbo population was decimated to 5 million due to the 3 million
deaths resulting from the war. This means that:
a) 37.5% of the Igbo’s died during the war i.e. almost 4 out of every 10 Igbo’s.
b) Two out of every three Igbo’s that died during the war died due to starvation
Form of Reparation
Having established the case for reparation for the Igbo’s, the next issue to
address is the form of reparation payments.
Once a monetary value of the reparation has been derived, there should be an
offset against the damages inflicted on the Federal Government by Biafra as a
result of the war as calculated below:
Some may argue that the Government does not have enough funds to fund
such a reparation scheme. When one considers the leakage out of the system
due to corruption and other wastages, then setting aside funds to ensure a
more perfect union is a cause worth taking. After all, according to Global
Financial Integrity, Nigeria accounted for $130bn worth of illicit financial
outflows between 2008 and 2009. Closing such loopholes will go a long way in
solving Nigeria’s long outstanding problems.
Once set up, the IRC should convene an Igbo Reparation Claim Conference
inviting representatives of the Federal Government. During the conference, the
IRC should negotiate and agree reparation and compensation for damages
caused as a result of the blockade during the civil war. The IRC should also
consider pursuing claims against other external governments that had a direct
or indirect influence over the blockades. The conference should also agree
strategies to bring the Igbo’s into the mainstream of Nigeria Society, which
should be binding on all parties.
Once the terms of the reparation has been agreed, the IRC should also be
involved in the collection, administration and distribution of funds to survivors
and heir to the victims of the starvation war policy. Is there any precedence for
this sort of conference? A similar conference called the Conference on Jewish
Material Claims against Germany took place in the past to negotiate and agree
restitution and compensation for survivors of the Holocaust and heirs of
victims.
An Igbo Reparation Fund should also be set up by the IRC. The proceeds from
the reparation could be invested in this fund. The committee could appoint a
reputable fund manager to manage the assets of the funds. The cash flow from
the fund could be used to develop infrastructure in certain parts of the East that
has been neglected in addition to provide education for Igbo’s unable to afford
the cost of quality education.
Conclusion
Cc
Chinua Achebe
Chimamanda Adichie
Okey Ndibe
Victor Ndu
Omelihu Nwanguma
Nnedi Okorafor
Philip Emeagwali
President Jonathan Goodluck
Prime Minister David Cameron
Frederick Forsyth
PS: If you would like to discuss any of the issues contained in this article
please feel free to contact me by email using the address detailed above,
otherwise, you can go to my blog
http://zangodare.wordpress.com/2011/02/07/biafra/