Since Achebe released his book, ‘There was a country’, in the United Kingdom a week ago, lots of Nigerians have stated their stands on the touchy issue of Nigeria’s Civil war, either agreeing or disagreeing with the renowned author on the role played by Chief Obafemi Awolowo.

Some have wondered how Awolowo would have responded to Achebe’s criticism if he was alive. Well, it so happens that we know how he would have responded, because he did respond to these same accusations when he was alive. They were issues and controversies that followed him throughout his years on earth.

First, this is what Achebe wrote about Awo:

“The wartime cabinet of General Gowon, the military ruler, it should also be remembered, was full of intellectuals, like Chief Obafemi Awolowo, among others, who came up with a boatload of infamous and regrettable policies. A statement credited to Awolowo and echoed by his cohorts is the most callous and unfortunate: all is fair in war, and starvation is one of the weapons of war. I don’t see why we should feed our enemies fat in order for them to fight harder’.

“It is my impression that Awolowo was driven by an overriding ambition for power, for himself and for his Yoruba people. There is, on the surface at least, nothing wrong with those aspirations. However, Awolowo saw the dominant Igbo at the time as the obstacles to that goal, and when the opportunity arose with the Nigeria-Biafra war, his ambition drove him into a frenzy to go to every length to achieve his dreams. In the Biafran case, it meant hatching up a diabolical policy to reduce the numbers of his enemies significantly through starvation eliminating over two million people, mainly members of future generations.”

So how would Awo have responded? Thanks to www.nigeriavillagesquare.com, we have transcripts of an interview in which the late Yoruba sage personally responded to some of these issues raised.

In the build up to the 1983 elections, as Chief Awolowo went campaigning, he was hosted to a town hall interview in Abeokuta, where in addition to other pertinent topics of the day, he spoke on his role in the civil war, the 20-pound policy, starvation as a weapon, change of currency, abandoned property and many more.

Read below, and tell us what you think:

CIVIL WAR

MODERATOR: Yes Mr…….Mr. Oparadike.

QUESTION: Chief Awolowo, your stand on the civil war…Your stand on the civil war, however unpopular it may have been to the Biafrans or Ibo people, helped to shorten the war. Today, you’re being cast as the sole enemy of the Ibo people because of that stand, by among others, some of the people who as members of the federal military government at that time, were party to that decision and are today, in some cases, inheritors of power in one Nigeria which that decision of yours helped to save. How do you feel being cast in this role, and what steps are you taking to endear yourself once again to that large chunk of Nigerians who feel embittered?

AWOLOWO: As far as I know, the Ibo masses are friendly to me, towards me. In fact, whenever I visit Iboland, either Anambra or Imo, and there’s no campaigning for elections, the Ibo people receive me warmly and affectionately. But there are some elements in Iboland who believe that they can maintain their popularity only by denigrating me, and so they keep on telling lies against me. Ojukwu is one of them. I don’t want to mention the names of the others because they are still redeemable, but ….Ojukwu is irredeemable so I mention his name, and my attitude to these lies is one of indifference, I must confess to you.

I’ve learnt to rely completely on the providence and vindication of Almighty God in some of these things. I’ve tried to explain myself in the past, but these liars persist. Ojukwu had only recently told the same lie against me. What’s the point in correcting lies when people are determined to persist in telling lies against you, what’s the point. I know that someday the Ibos, the masses of the Ibo people will realize who their friends are, and who their real enemies are. And the day that happens woe betide those enemies. The Ibos will deal with them very roughly, very roughly.

That has happened in my life. I have a nickname now, if you see my letterhead you’ll find something on top, you’ll find a fish done on the letterhead. Some people put Lion on theirs, some people put Tiger, but mine is Fish. And Fish represents my zodiac sign, those of you who read the stars and so on in the newspapers; you’ll find out that there’s a zodiac sign known as pisces, in Latin pisces mean Fish.

So I put pisces on top, that’s my zodiac sign being born on the 6th of March,…er well, the year doesn’t matter, it’s the day that matters. And then on top of it I write Eebudola. All of you know the meaning of that. You know I don’t want to tell a long story but….Awolowo school, omo Awolowo, the started in Urhobo land, in Mid-west in those days. They were ridiculing my schools, I was building schools -brick and cement, to dpc level, block to dpc level and mud thereafter. And so the big shots in the place..”ah what kind of school is this? Is this Awolowo school? Useless school” and when they saw the children..”ah these Awolowo children, they can’t read and write, Awolowo children” that’s how it started, with ridicule, and it became blessing, and now they say “Awolowo children, they are good people” no more ridicule about it, that’s how it started, so the Eebu becomes honor, the abuse became honor.

And so when I look back to all my life, treasonable felony, jail, all the abuses that were heaped on me, to Coker Inquiry, all sorts, and I see what has happened to the people who led, who led all these denigration campaign, where are they today? Those that are alive are what I call Homo Mortuus- dead living, oku eniyan, that’s what they are, those that their lives have gone.

So when I look back, I come to the conclusion that all these abuses which have been heaped on me all my life for doing nothing, for doing good, they have become honor, and so Eebudola is one of my nicknames.

So I’ve cultivated an attitude of indifference, I’ve done no evil to the Ibos. During the war I saw to it that the revenue which was due to the Iboland- South Eastern states they call it, at that time..east central state, I kept it, I saved the money for them. And when they ….was librated I handed over the money to them- millions. If I’d decided to do so, I could have kept the money away from them and then when they took over I saw to it that subvention was given to them at the rate of 990,000 pounds every month. I didn’t go to the executive council to ask for support, or for approval because I knew if I went to the executive council at that time the subvention would not be approved because there were more enemies in the executive council for the Ibos than friends. And since I wasn’t going to take a percentage from what I was going to give them, and I knew I was doing what was right, I wanted the state to survive, I kept on giving the subvention – 990,000 almost a million, every month, and I did that for other states of course- South eastern state, North central state, Kwara and so on.

But I did that for the Ibos, and when the war was over, I saw to it that the ACB got three and a half million pounds to start with. This was distributed immediately and I gave another sum of money. The attitude of the experts, officials at the time of the ACB was that ACB should be closed down, and I held the view you couldn’t close the ACB down because that is the bank that gives finance to the Ibo traders, and if you close it down they’ll find it difficult to revive or to survive. So it was given. I did the same thing for the Cooperative Bank of Eastern Nigeria, to rehabilitate all these places, and I saw to it as commissioner for finance that no obstacle was placed in the way of the ministry of economic planning in planning for rehabilitation of the war affected areas.

TWENTY POUNDS POLICY

That’s what I did, and the case of the money they said was not given back to them, you know during the war all the pounds were looted, they printed Biafran currency notes, which they circulated, at the close of the war some people wanted their Biafran notes to be exchanged for them. Of course I couldn’t do that, if I did that the whole country would be bankrupt. We didn’t know about Biafran notes and we didn’t know on what basis they have printed them, so we refused the Biafran note, but I laid down the principle that all those who had savings in the banks on the eve of the declaration of the Biafran war or Biafra, will get their money back if they could satisfy us that they had the savings there, or the money there.

Unfortunately, all the banks’ books had been burnt, and many of the people who had savings there didn’t have their saving books or their last statement of account, so a panel had to be set up. I didn’t take part in setting up the panel, it was done by the Central bank and the pertinent officials of the ministry of finance, to look into the matter, and they went carefully into the matter, they took some months to do so, and then make some recommendation which I approved. Go to the archives, all I did was approve, I didn’t write anything more than that, I don’t even remember the name of any of them who took part.

So I did everything in this world to assist our Ibo brothers and sisters during and after the war. And anyone who goes back to look at my broadcast in August 1967, which dealt with post-war reconstruction would see what I said there.

STARVATION POLICY

Then, but above all, the ending of the war itself that I’m accused of, accused of starving the Ibos, I did nothing of the sort. You know, shortly after the liberation of these places, Calabar, Enugu and Port Harcort, I decided to pay a visit. There are certain things which I knew which you don’t know, which I don’t want to say here now, when I write my reminisces in the future I will do so.

Some of the soldiers were not truthful with us, they didn’t tell us correct stories and so on. I wanted to be there and see things for myself, bear in mind that Gowon himself did not go there at that time, it was after the war was over that he dorn himself up in various military dresses- Air force dress, Army dress and so on, and went to the war torn areas. But I went and some people tried to frighten me out of my goal by saying that Adekunle was my enemy and he was going to see to it that I never returned from the place, so I went.

But when I went what did I see? I saw the kwashiorkor victims. If you see a kwashiorkor victim you’ll never like war to be waged. Terrible sight, in Enugu, in Port Harcourt, not many in Calabar, but mainly in Enugu and Port Harcourt. Then I enquired what happened to the food we are sending to the civilians. We were sending food through the Red cross, and CARITAS to them, but what happen was that the vehicles carrying the food were always ambushed by the soldiers. That’s what I discovered, and the food would then be taken to the soldiers to feed them, and so they were able to continue to fight. And I said that was a very dangerous policy, we didn’t intend the food for soldiers. But who will go behind the line to stop the soldiers from ambushing the vehicles that were carrying the food? And as long as soldiers were fed, the war will continue, and who’ll continue to suffer? And those who didn’t go to the place to see things as I did, you remember that all the big guns, all the soldiers in the Biafran army looked all well fed after the war, its only the mass of the people that suffered kwashiorkor.

You won’t hear of a single lawyer, a single doctor, a single architect, who suffered from kwashiorkor? None of their children either, so they waylaid the foods, they ambushed the vehicles and took the foods to their friends and to their collaborators and to their children and the masses were suffering. So I decided to stop sending the food there. In the process the civilians would suffer, but the soldiers will suffer most.

CHANGE OF CURRENCY

And it is on record that Ojukwu admitted that two things defeated him in this war, that’s as at the day he left Biafra. He said one, the change of currency, he said that was the first thing that defeated him, and we did that to prevent Ojukwu taking the money which his soldiers has stolen from our Central bank for sale abroad to buy arms. We discovered he looted our Central bank in Benin, he looted the one in Port Harcourt, looted the one in Calabar and he was taking the currency notes abroad to sell to earn foreign exchange to buy arms.

So I decided to change the currency, and for your benefit, it can now be told the whole world, only Gowon knew the day before, the day before the change took place. I decided, only three of us knew before then- Isong now governor of Cross River, Attah and myself. It was a closely guarded secret, if any commissioner at the time say that he knew about it, he’s only boosting his own ego. Because once you tell someone, he’ll tell another person. So we refused to tell them and we changed the currency notes. So Ojukwu said the change in currency defeated him, and starvation of his soldiers also defeated him. These were the two things that defeated Ojukwu. And, he reminds me, when you saw Ojukwu’s picture after the war, did he look like someone who’s not well fed? But he has been taking the food which we send to civilians, and so we stopped the food.

ABANDONED PROPERTY

And then finally, I saw to it that the houses owned by the Ibos in Lagos and on this side, were kept for them. I had an estate agent friend who told me that one of them collected half a million pounds rent which has been kept for him. All his rent were collected, but since we didn’t seize their houses, he came back and collected half a million pounds. So that is the position. I’m a friend of the Ibos and the mass of the Ibos are my friends, but there are certain elements who want to continue to deceive the Ibos by telling lies against me, and one day, they’ll discover and then that day will be terrible for those who have been telling the lies.
http://www.ynaija.com/in-his-own-words-how-awolowo-defended-himself-from-achebes-accusations-when-he-was-alive/

front page please.... This is the kind of truth that shld make the front page... I am so glad this came out, now I know better...

psalmizt: front page please.... This is the kind of truth that shld make the front page... I am so glad this came out, now I know better...

Knowledge is Power my dear,
Most of those fools don't have knowledge of the past and that's why they are misled by selfish leaders .

Mysteriously this channel is quiet. Where are Achebe monkeys to chippy -chap on this revelation?

Dudu_Negro: Mysteriously this channel is quiet. Where are Achebe monkeys to chippy -chap on this revelation?

But you know what the COWARDS do...

............happen was that the vehicles carrying the food were always ambushed by the soldiers. That’s what I discovered, and the food would then be taken to the soldiers to feed them, and so they were able to continue to fight. And I said that was a very dangerous policy, we didn’t intend the food for soldiers.[size=14pt] But who will go behind the line to stop the soldiers from ambushing the vehicles that were carrying the food?[/size] And as long as soldiers were fed, the war will continue, and who’ll continue to suffer? And those who didn’t go to the place to see things as I did, you remember that all the big guns, [size=14pt]all the soldiers in the Biafran army looked all well fed after the war, its only the mass of the people that suffered kwashiorkor.[/size]


Even during warfare today, UN would ensure a safe passage for humanitarian supply gets to the needy by providing soldiers and guards, this is to prevent an hijack by the soldiers,
because there was no gaurantee of safe delivery the supply had to stop.
Notice the second bolded even the soldiers looked better than the civilians.

when the ugly devil raises his head you cut it fast and bury it.
End of story.

Interesting.

Dudu_Negro: Mysteriously this channel is quiet. Where are Achebe monkeys to chippy -chap on this revelation?

Bush man. Awo is a terrible, greedy, foolish power hungry gaffe. Thank God he neva got it during his stay in life. Even his kinsman frustrated him during Shagari era.
D yoruba's should accept d truth. Fani Kayode also said d same time some few weeks back

Honestly, I think with this level of information accusations and counter accusation goes to show that the proverbial ONE NIGERIA dream is a farce.... We are not a united nation. The Yorubas don't trust the Igbos, the Igbos don't trust the Hausas, neither do the middlebeltans agree they are northerners (REF: http://www.punchng.com/news/kwankwasos-comment-on-extra-state-in-seast-laughable/)... Honestly it is things fall apart all over again. The truth is NO REGION IN THE LAND IS SAINTLY, WE ALL HAVE OUR FLAWS. We can only move forward when everyone APOLOGISES FOR THE WRONGS OF THE YESTER YEARS....

psalmizt: Honestly, I think with this level of information accusations and counter accusation goes to show that the proverbial ONE NIGERIA dream is a farce.... We are not a united nation. The Yorubas don't trust the Igbos, the Igbos don't trust the Hausas, neither do the middlebeltans agree they are northerners (REF: http://www.punchng.com/news/kwankwasos-comment-on-extra-state-in-seast-laughable/)... Honestly it is things fall apart all over again. The truth is NO REGION IN THE LAND IS SAINTLY, WE ALL HAVE OUR FLAWS. We can only move forward when everyone APOLOGISES FOR THE WRONGS OF THE YESTER YEARS....

You are damn bloody right.

The painful thing is that only half of the Biafran Civil War Story was said.
Why has Chinua Achebe and his miserable cohorts decided not to write in their memoirs that the International Community intervened and the then Federal Government of Nigeria offered to make a food corridor to Biafra for the sake of the Civilians and Ojukwu refused, saying anything they want to give them must be through the air (so that they can smuggle more weapons in through that channel)?

Interesting thread. Still at page 0. Truth is indeed power.

indeed.

Notice that they didn't have the stones to talk much when the man was alive.

They waited 20+ years after he is dead to open up

useless and cowardly people

I might not argue convincinly that the Indigenization/nationalization policy was a "deliberate conspiracy", but I can say that it is a "subtle opportunistic conspiracy". You might use "bad timing" to refer to the policy, but I choose "opportunism". Awolowo decided to kill two birds with one stone by enforcing the policy when his rival tribe was economically incapacitated. I can't say for sure that Awolowo had indigenisation policy in mind when he enacted the £20 policy. I will defend my use of "subtle opportunistic conspiracy" by starting with £20 policy.







1. The 20 pound policy was crafted in the context of the power struggles that wrecked our nation. These power struggles had, above all, an ETHNIC coloration, especially between the Hausa-Fulani, the Yoruba and the Igbo. That struggles were the reason, above all, why the Biafran war of brother against brother was fought in such an utterly barbaric and wicked way. When the war ended, the players did not change. They did not convert into saints overnight. Ethnic warlords merely pursued their Power agenda in different ways, using, for example, the 20 pound policy and the indigenization decree.







2. Biafra was NOT a Banana Republic. It may have lost the war, but it was not a lawless entity. It had a functional Government. It had functional institutions. It had an Economic and Monetary Framework. Above all, it had a Central Bank that issued and controlled legal tender. Before they announced the 20 pound policy, they DID ask people to deposit ALL the money -including Biafran Pounds, in banks, abi? This were now Nigerian Banks, not Biafran banks, remember? So they know how much money that was in circulation. Remember that they insisted on only exchanging the money in the banks deposited before the deadline.







3. Biafran currency was NOT printed inside Biafra. They were printed in Portugal and Switzerland. The same way that Nigeria prints Naira in France. Therefore there was no rogue money in circulation.



Biafran money was a SCARCE commodity in Biafra! Sometimes, Biafran Banks were closed for days on end , because, they had no Biafran cash to dispense. When they did open, they often had to ration withdrawals. Everybody knew this. The Economists on the Federal side knew this







4. Awolowo's argument that Biafran money will overwhelm the Nigerian economy does not hold water. When the war ended, the Nigerian nation acquired another 16 million citizens -who were already using some form of money. Its like the EU absorbing Greece or Turkey. You do a straightforward currency exchange, however determined. Is it rocket science ?? This fake difficulty was invented by Awolowo and his gangs to justify £20 policy.







5. At the end of the war, people DID expect Nigeria to exchange the Biafran Pound with the Nigerian Pound. Now, most people thought that the Feds would use some ridiculous exchange -something like 20 Biafran Pounds to one Nigerian Pound. Greedy and opportunistic speculators expected the Government to be wicked, but even they, they prepared to make a kill, and in anticipation of an exchange, they purchased Biafran Pounds at the rate of £50 Biafran Pounds to £1 Nigerian Pound. Guess what? Awolowo and his Economists broke the ALL the record and expectations - even the one set by uber-greedy speculators!!! They delivered a fiat 20 pound policy to the priviledged few who had bank accounts!!! Even the speculators went broke!







(to be continued)

Just like I remarked in my previous post, I'm unsure if Awolowo had indigenization policy in mind when £20 policy was enforced. Awo woke up after £20 policy to discover that the economic backbone of his rival tribe has been broken. He decided to make a kill by promulgating indigenization policy knowing fully well that it will mostly benefit his kinsmen cos he's well aware that his kinsmen has displaced their rival tribe from the apex of the economic pyramid in the country. He made the time so short so that the easterners will not recover to fully participate in the indigenisation policy. Remember that it's been 12yrs since independence, so why the mad rush to nationalize foreign companies? Why wont a provision be made for the people who are still recovering from the war to participate in the process? Can you see that the policy was "opportunistic"? Though Awolowo may/may not have the policy in mind when he set out to reduce Igbo millionaires to £20 owners, but at the end of the day, he achieved his aim of fatally weakening his rival tribe, then displacing them for good from the upper echelon of the economic pyramid. So he killed two birds with one stone. So his policy can be labelled "subtle opportunistic conspiracy".

ekt_bear: Notice that they didn't have the stones to talk much when the man was alive.

They waited 20+ years after he is dead to open up

useless and cowardly people

Those accusations levelled against Awolowo have been there when he was alive. Why did he grant this interview if had not heard of the said accusations?

ACM10:
3. Biafran currency was NOT printed inside Biafra. They were printed in Portugal and Switzerland. The same way that Nigeria prints Naira in France. Therefore there was no rogue money in circulation.



Biafran money was a SCARCE commodity in Biafra! Sometimes, Biafran Banks were closed for days on end , because, they had no Biafran cash to dispense. When they did open, they often had to ration withdrawals. Everybody knew this. The Economists on the Federal side knew this







4. Awolowo's argument that Biafran money will overwhelm the Nigerian economy does not hold water. When the war ended, the Nigerian nation acquired another 16 million citizens -who were already using some form of money. Its like the EU absorbing Greece or Turkey. You do a straightforward currency exchange, however determined. Is it rocket science ?? This fake difficulty was invented by Awolowo and his gangs to justify £20 policy.

What should the exchange rate be between what was at that time a strong currency (Nigerian pound) and a worthless currency (Biafran money)?

Nobody was under any obligation to exchange useless and valueless currency for something real........

Dada-Stephen:
The painful thing is that only half of the Biafran Civil War Story was said.
Why has Chinua Achebe and his miserable cohorts decided not to write in their memoirs that the International Community intervened and the then Federal Government of Nigeria offered to make a food corridor to Biafra for the sake of the Civilians and Ojukwu refused, saying anything they want to give them must be through the air (so that they can smuggle more weapons in through that channel)?

We will be glad if you share evidence with us.

ACM10:
5. At the end of the war, people DID expect Nigeria to exchange the Biafran Pound with the Nigerian Pound. Now, most people thought that the Feds would use some ridiculous exchange -something like 20 Biafran Pounds to one Nigerian Pound. Greedy and opportunistic speculators expected the Government to be wicked, but even they, they prepared to make a kill, and in anticipation of an exchange, they purchased Biafran Pounds at the rate of £50 Biafran Pounds to £1 Nigerian Pound. Guess what? Awolowo and his Economists broke the ALL the record and expectations - even the one set by uber-greedy speculators!!! They delivered a fiat 20 pound policy to the priviledged few who had bank accounts!!! Even the speculators went broke!

Anyone who expected exchange rate of 20 Biafran pounds to 1 naija pound was an id1ot. An exchange rate of 1 million Biafra pounds or 1 billion is more realistic.

Unless your currency is backed by gold or some sort of other valuable resource, it is essentially only worth as much faith as one has in the government issuing it.

And given that said government had just gone defunct....

Such currency is only useful for wiping one's ass or perhaps feeding to animals.

ACM10:

Those accusations levelled against Awolowo have been there when he was alive. Why did he grant this interview if had not heard of the said accusations?

And he debunked them when he was alive. So....what else is there to say?

I will print my own Bear Kingdom money, with an official exchange rate of 20 Bear Dollars to USD.

Clearly the US government would be evil to not accept my exchange rate, yes?

This whole discussion is r3tarded. Supply and demand, yes? If nobody wants to buy what you are selling at the price you want, then find another buyer, right?

How can the person SELLING Biafran pounds dictate to the buyer how much to buy it for?

If you don't like the price the Nigerian government is offering for your Biafran pounds, find another buyer who will give you hard currency for it.

Surely there would have been some Swiss or US bankers who would have been happy to exchange gold, dollars, or swiss francs for the valuable Biafran currency......

ekt_bear:
What should the exchange rate be between what was at that time a strong currency (Nigerian pound) and a worthless currency (Biafran money)?

The problem that I have whenever I debates you is that you allow your bias to affect your judgement. A currency is a currency. Even if it is as worthless as Zimbabwean dollars. Biafran currency can exchange favourably with Nigerian currency. Any economist can do this calculation. Exchanging £20 with any amount of Biafran currency was a downright wicked policy.

Nobody was under any obligation to exchange useless and valueless currency for something real........

How do you know that Biafran currency is useless and valueless currency?

Lord Almighty. Currency is one of the things you don't play with. If you exchange Nigerian pounds for useless Biafran currency, you'll create massive, Zimbabwe-style inflation.

God bless Awolowo for not doing something that stvpid.

ACM10:
The problem that I have whenever I debates you is that you allow your bias to affect your judgement. A currency is a currency. Even if it is as worthless as Zimbabwean dollars. Biafran currency can exchange favourably with Nigerian currency. Any economist can do this calculation. Exchanging £20 with any amount of Biafran currency was a downright wicked policy.

Supply and DEMAND. Where was the DEMAND for Biafran currency? How does one set the price?

How do you know that Biafran currency is useless and valueless currency?

Who had any desire for Biafran currency except for Biafrans?

Were Biafrans able to buy guns, weapons and food from abroad using Biafran currency? Or did the seller demand hard CASH or gold.

Do you know the difference between a hard currency and the currency any little fly-by-night or insignificant country produces?

ekt_bear:

And he debunked them when he was alive. So....what else is there to say?

He debunked nothing! He struggled all through his life to answer those questions. He resorted to making callous allegation against Ojukwu who had never criticized him or the policies he masterminded publicly.

So this whole 20 pound saga was you guys b1tching about Awo not giving you a nice exchange rate for your worthless currency?

Lord Almighty. So when does the loser of a war get to dictate to the winner at what rate the winner must buy his WORTHLESS currency

How can you make me buy something from you that you and I both know is worthless, which nobody else on earth has any interest in buying?

My question at this point is, why did Awo even do the 20 pound currency?

Even that is too generous. The Biafran currency was worthless.

Perhaps I am misunderstanding what exactly the 20 pounds was in exchange for.

ekt_bear:
Supply and DEMAND. Where was the DEMAND for Biafran currency? How does one set the price?

Where is the demand for Zimbabwean dollars? Where is the demand for Afghanistan currency? Where is the demand for Haiti's currency? There are criteria for estimating the value of a currency. It goes beyond the law of demand and supply. Ask any economist who studied macroeconomics.

Who had any desire for Biafran currency except for Biafrans?

Were Biafrans able to buy guns, weapons and food from abroad using Biafran currency? Or did the seller demand hard CASH or gold.

Do you know the difference between a hard currency and the currency any little fly-by-night or insignificant country produces?

Does Nigeria buy weapons and ammunitions with Naira? In case you don't know, the major dealers on weapons and ammunition during those cold war era were US and the Soviets. Their allies must get an express approval from them before they sells weapon to you. Do you really know the politics behind the purchase of weapons? Weapons are not freely available in the open market. Those available in the black market are tightly regulated.

ACM10:

Where is the demand for Zimbabwean dollars? Where is the demand for Afghanistan currency? Where is the demand for Haiti's currency? There are criteria for estimating the value of a currency. It goes beyond the law of demand and supply. Ask any economist who studied macroeconomics.

http://www.xe.com/ucc/convert/?Amount=1&From=AFN&To=USD

So currently, I can go visit my bank and purchase X units of Afghan currency for $1. If Afghanistan stabilizes or strikes oil somewhere, no doubt the demand for Afghan currency will increase.

Anyway, this is pretty much supply and demand...like trading potatoes or wheat. Forex is actually the biggest market by volume. There are some macroeconomic aspects no doubt...but from the perspective of someone asking the question, "How much is currency X worth today?", that is a fairly self-contained question with a clear answer.

Does Nigeria buy weapons and ammunitions with Naira? In case you don't know, the major dealers on weapons and ammunition during those cold war era were US and the Soviets. Their allies must get an express approval from them before they sells weapon to you. Do you really know the politics behind the purchase of weapons? Weapons are not freely available in the open market. Those available in the black market are tightly regulated.

No, they convert to some other currency. At which exchange rate? What ever the market (supply and demand) is willing to bear.

Anyway, long story short....the only demand for Biafran currency at that time was Nigeria and Biafrans. Nobody else had any interest in it. So the value of the currency upon Biafra collapsing was pretty much zero..

Incidentally: http://fx-rate.net/HTG/

One USD is approximately 43 Haitian Gourdes.

If Nigeria today wants to buy some land in the US for an embassy, here is what they'll do:

1) Visit the forex market, buy USD with Naira
2) Use that USD to buy the land

Given that the universe of buyers for Biafran pounds at the time of Biafra's surrender was essentially only just Nigeria, how on earth do you expect to dictate the price at which Nigeria buys your money

If you are selling a hat, and only one person wants to buy it, then you are in no real position to expect a good price for your product.