WHY BIAFRA WILL NOT GO AWAY (PART 2)

By Olisa Akukwe


Major General Aguiyi Ironsi was gruesomely murdered as the head of state in July 1966. His murder was singularly significant for its unprecedented cruelty. It was like the first incarnation of ISIS. The ‘official’ reason attributed to the bloody coup that took his life (the revenge coup) was that he wanted to institute Igbo dominance by making Nigeria a ‘unitary system’.

I have tried to find out the exact actions he took that signified his ‘unitary system’ intentions. Indeed I found them.


On 24th May 1966, he promulgated two fateful Decrees: Decrees 33 and 34 of 1966. Decree 33 was known as the public order Decree and it proscribed political parties, as well as tribal and cultural leaning organisations.

But it was the Decree 34 which abolished the regions, regional governments and civil services and re-introduced the provinces and military administrators for the groups of provinces, that was interpreted rightly as the creation of ‘unitary state’. After this, by 29th and 30th May, all hell was let loose with industrial scale murder of Ndi-igbo in Northern Nigeria.


The rest, as they say, is history. Let us examine the northern government that took over from Aguiyi Ironsi for a moment. Did they reverse the ‘unitary state’? Were we returned to the regional government? Were the federal civil service and judiciary abolished? Were we returned to regional civil service? The answer to all these is a sadly perplexing ‘NO!’


If Aguiyi Ironsi and over 200 mainly Igbo officers were killed for the ‘unitary state’ crime, how come Yakubu Gowon, Murtala Mohammed, and T.Y Danjuma – the coup leaders, did not revert to the regional system? Rather what happened was that the new northern leaders now took the ‘offensive’ policy and made Nigeria a truly unitary state, after Ironsi was murdered for this 'crime’.

The federal civil service, federal judiciary, federal police force, etc are very much the reality of Nigeria today.

The provinces that Ironsi wanted to re-introduce are now known as states. The long and short of this drama is that Aguiyi Ironsi, Fajuyi, and hundreds of other people killed in the revenge coup were just sacrificed to introduce a northern-led government. It was not based on any ‘fear’ either of a unitary state or of Igbo dominance. It was intended to restore the north to power!


Subsequent policies reinforced this perception. The most essential tool of this new hegemony was the revenue matrix.

Before the government of Yakubu Gowon, Nigeria has had five revenue and fiscal commissions. Starting from Sir Sydney Phillipson commission of 1946; to K.J Binns commission of 1964. All the 5 commissions made derivation principle the prime determinant of revenue to each region. Everyone knows that the legendary Main Market Onitsha was built from funds generated by palm oil. Chief M.I Okpara commissioned the construction firm Messr Brioni and Co, with full funding, to design and build the market in its modern form. It was already the largest market in west Africa, before Murtala Mohammed shelled it during the civil war.


In July 1968, just two years into his government and with a civil war raging, Yakubu Gowon constituted committee of 8 known as Dina Committee (Dina was the Chairman) to look at issues of revenue sharing among the newly created 12 states. It is on record that the Dina Committee was the first revenue and fiscal commission that relegated ‘derivation principle’ to the bottom of the revenue sharing mix. Unsurprisingly, Obafemi Awolowo (who was then the Federal Finance commissioner) and the entire 12 states finance commissioner rejected the Dina committee recommendation. Mysteriously, Gowon implemented the Dina committee report. This was a determined step to fully implement the unitary state agenda, for which they had killed Aguiyi Ironsi.


The first step to accrete revenue to the northern-led federal government was Decree 13 of 1970. The decree introduced the following changes:

1. 100% export duties to states of origin was reduced to 60%. 40% went to the Federal government.

2. 100% duty on fuel consumption that went to the state of consumption was reduced to 50%. 50% went to the Federal government.

3. 50% mining rents and royalties to state of activity was reduced to 45%. 55% went to distributable pool and federal government.

4. All excise duties now went to federal government and distributable pool.

5. The distributable pool sharing formula was made 50% equality of states and 50% population.


Remember that the last census before the civil war was massively rigged to favour the North and it was subsequently rejected by Zik and Awo. But under military rule, Decree was total.

This Decree 13 of 1970 was the provenance of all economic injustice the Biafra ‘region’ (south-east and south-south) has suffered and still suffers.

In 1971, though Decree No. 9, all the rents and royalties of offshore oil were transferred from the states to the federal government. The unitary government initiative was almost total.


It was finally culminated through Decree Nos. 6 and 7 of 1975. Through these Decrees, the North-led federal government took:

1. The remaining 45% of mining rents and royalties previously left for the states.

2. All import duties, while transferring half to the distributable pool

3. Likewise personal income tax


The takeover was now total. The minority ethnic groups (south-south) have paid the most price for these appropriation of resources by North-led federal government. Ndi-igbo lost the most because merit was forever shackled in the dungeon of state mendacity. Effort, endowment and enterprise were no longer directly proportional to reward.


Today, Lagos state pays as heavy a price as the ‘Biafran nation’ that they helped to subdue. I read in the news few days back, that the former head of the Lagos State Board of Internal revenue, William Fowler, has been appointed chairman of FIRS. He was said to have expanded Lagos IGR from N3.6 billion to N20.5 billion in a month. Great. The implication is that he is appointed to do same or similar feat for the federal government. I am worried because, it is a plan to continue the milking and exploitation of Southern Nigeria, in this union. It is no secret that over 80% of current federal government revenue came from the former Biafran region. Almost all federal government revenue comes from the south. Now Fowler is tapped, to further milk resources from the long suffering southerners, in other to keep Nigeria ‘one’.


I implore all citizens of former Biafra to speak up with a common voice and demand monthly publication of the state by state contribution to the federation account. For purposes of clarification, the federation account consists of:

1. Company income tax

2. Import duties

3. Export duties

4. Excise duties

5. Petroleum profit tax

6. NNPC earning from direct sales

7. Pipeline license and other fees

8. Surplus arising from sale of gas

9. VAT

As Fowler is coming to further increase revenue, he must be ready to be totally transparent. State contributions to the federation account must be published monthly.


The greatest calamity to have befallen the former Biafra and the most compelling reason for the persisting Biafran dream is economics. The former Biafran nation is now made up of 9 states. It is however postulated that the current Delta state would have joined a free Biafran nation, if the dream had succeeded. Taking these 10 states together, you can account for almost all the oil and gas resources in Nigeria.


From 1970- 2014, Nigeria has reaped about 30 billion barrels of oil, from the region that ‘Was A Country’. From available data, Nigeria oil production has varied between 1.241 million barrels per day to 2.627 million barrels per day, from 1980 till date. The 70s show similar trend. Oil price has also varied between 10USD to 140USD, in changing dollar value. Taking a conservative 40 dollars value as a benchmark, the Biafran region has ‘lost’ about 1.2 trillion dollars from oil revenue alone, on the minimum.

Add that potential investable funds, to a population that has an incredibly high talent-to-GDP ratio, with an enterprising culture and republican leadership, and you will get the first and only African tiger economy. The infrastrutural investment in Biafra would have surpassed that of Holland and Belgium.


The entrepreneurial and innovative capacity of Ndi-igbo is not in doubt. The confidence of the Niger-Delta nationalities is also indomitable. The technological exploits of Sam Orji and C.D.C Akpudo, amongst many others were legendary during the civil war. If it was not for the policy of benign neglect practiced by past military and civilian governments in Nigeria, the Igbo heartland would have been the driving force of African renaissance.


To put it in current perspective, removing the oil revenue from former Biafra, the Naira today would have been trading at about N550 –N600 to the dollar, except there is a Currency Board in Nigeria. On the contrary, if Biafra had survived and been an independent country, her foreign reserve will be above that of Singapore and her currency can only be kept low by running huge current account surplus; for the purposes of having inevitably export-led economy.


It would not be difficult to visualize that Biafra would have had world-class infrastructure that would spur investment and incredibly high productivity for a historically hardworking and meritorious society.


The reason Ndi-igbo flock to Lagos, Abuja, is because of relatively better infrastructure built by the federal government in those cities. Similar infrastructural investment was never made in the Igbo heartland.

In the era before the first coup and subsequent revenge coup, Ndi-igbo controlled heights of Nigerian economy. An Igbo man, Sir Louis Odumegwu Ojukwu, was reputed the richest man in West Africa. He was the chairman or director of Nigeria’s most profitable firms then (including Shell, Guinness, etc}.


He was the founding and first president of the Nigeria Stock Exchange. Indeed he was knighted by the Queen of England for his legendary business acumen.

It was a testament to the economic resilience of Ndi-igbo, from defunct Biafra, that after the civil war physical and financial devastation, they toiled back to the economic heights of Nigeria. Despite the known policy benign neglect of Igbo land. Igbo land got an international airport, 43 years after the civil war. This was decades after Lagos, Kano and Port Harcourt had international airports. Despite the fact that Ndi-igbo are arguably the nucleus of international trade in Nigeria.


An appraisal of the list of Nigeria’s richest, published by the reputable Forbes Africa, is revealing. Of the 10 richest, 4 are from the north, 3 from the south-west, two from the Niger-Delta and one is from the Igbo heartland. It is instructive that all the 4 from the north made their wealth from natural resources. We know that natural resources in Nigeria have been appropriated by Federal government. It is only through crony capitalism that you can become rich from ‘natural resources’ in Nigeria.


The list showed that:

Aliko Dangote made his wealth from cement, sugar, flour

T.Y Danjuma – from Oil

Abdulsamad Rabiu – from cement, sugar, flour

Mohammed Indimi – from Oil

These four are from the north.


The three named from south-west made their wealth through natural resources also:

Mike Adenuga – Oil, Telecom

Folorunsho Alakija – Oil

Femi Otedola - Oil


It is only the three from Niger-Delta and Igbo land that are not listed as making their money from natural resources. They are:

Tony Elumelu – Investments

Orji Uzo Kalu – Investments

Jim Ovia – Banking


Note that these classifications were made by Forbes, not me.


However, it is interesting to note that all the people listed as having Oil as the main source of their monumental wealth, none comes from the region that produces oil. This top ten richest Nigerians’ list is food for deep thought.


The idea of Biafra remains attractive, because the ‘Biafran’ people know too well the heavy price they pay for the Nigerian union, with little or no reciprocation. They know that indeed “There was a country”. They dream of what it could have been. They yearn for true, objective merit. They pine for opportunity. They yearn for justice. And they wait and wait and wait and wait for Nigeria to embrace merit, opportunity and justice. While waiting, they remember Biafra with understandable nostalgia.


Until Nigeria realizes her prodigal nature and comes ‘home’ to the truth of restructuring, Biafra will not go away!

Dreaam on

dapsoneh:
Dreaam on

Leave Biafra alone or face High blood pressure.

kernel501:


Leave Biafra alone or face High blood pressure.

dream on joseph

Biafra or everything in the zoo is made history.

ok na

OP you are talking nonsense. thousands of Biafrans people protest yesterday in Delta state about Biafra i know Nigeria news will not report it

dapsoneh:
dream on joseph

Is a joke, yet you obsessed. Is nothing yet you are crawling daily on every Biafra thread.

kernel501:


Is a joke, yet you obsessed. Is nothing yet you are crawling daily on every Biafra thread.

hug transformer... dream on mr joseph

dapsoneh:
hug transformer... dream on mr joseph

Tribal low esteem is your problem.

dapsoneh:
hug transformer... dream on mr joseph

My people have become too cowardly in this nigeria. They are now clowns, ibos have become their nightmare, that they even see ibo giants in their dreams...

My people has turn the sophisticated odua nation to laughing stock...they have shown the world that they are weaklings and O'yes to the Hausa / Fulani muslims. ..it is shame that my sophisticated and progressive people are a bunch of confused people who have no aspiration whatsoever. ..

It seems musiwa and I are the only brave people among our kins. ...musiwa want a western nigeria and I want a sophisticated and progressive Odu'a. ..but my coward folks want to keep being slaves to their Hausa / Fulani masters. ..

Let us that agitating for odua republic where there be no ibos, where lagos will not be no man's land...yorubas wake up. ...we can't remain cowards

My people should stop behaving like clowns ....only God can deliver my people

yorubatic:

My people have become too cowardly in this nigeria. They are now clowns, ibos have become their nightmare, that they even see ibo giants in their dreams...

My people has turn the sophisticated odua nation to laughing stock...they have shown the world that they are weaklings and O'yes to the Hausa / Fulani muslims. ..it is shame that my sophisticated and progressive people are a bunch of confused people who have no aspiration whatsoever. ..

It seems musiwa and I are the only brave people among our kins. ...musiwa want a western nigeria and I want a sophisticated and progressive Odu'a. ..but my coward folks want to keep being slaves to their Hausa / Fulani masters. ..

Let us that agitating for odua republic where there be no ibos, where lagos will not be no man's land...yorubas wake up. ...we can't remain cowards

My people should stop behaving like clowns ....only God can deliver my people

I insist, go and hug live trnsformer

kernel501:


Tribal low esteem is your problem.

u can go to helll for all I care, I insist, go hug a fvckn transformer