You had Nigerian pounds ,you sold them to Ojukwu for Biafran pounds He took the Nigerian pounds which he then scammed and fled.

You then expect Nigeria to redeem the toilet roll Biafra money at parity?


Is that not madness?

0monnak0da:


Eboes and lies

All Eboe adults were allowed to exchange Biafra pounds for Nigeria pounds as a GOODWILL and RECONCILIATION gesture

MAXIMUM twenty pounds. It was NOT an entilement

https://www.nytimes.com/1987/07/14/world/few-traces-of-the-civil-war-linger-in-biafra.html

This article never disputed IGBO claims of 20 pounds theory, neither did it insinuate that Nigeria showed goodwill or reconciliation to Biafrans. You are simply building castles in the air.


See the relevant part of the article you quoted :

During the war, many Ibos lost their fortunes when the Federal Government switched the currency in circulation, declaring the old coins and bills valueless. When peace came, Ibos were allowed to exchange a maximum of 20 Biafran pounds for 20 Nigerian pounds.

It does not in anyway dispute Igbo claims, it only proclaimed one part of the many sides of the twenty pounds policy.

Money belonging to Biafrans were used to give the people of the waste side free education #facts

pazienza:




It does not in anyway dispute Igbo claims, it only proclaimed one part of the many sides of the twenty pounds policy.

Lame Ibo Logic

Provide evidence to substantiate the other part

Just to be clear the other part is that Ibos who fled Nigeria had money in the banks in Nigeria and when they returned that money was confiscated by the government and no matter how much they had they were only allowed to receive twentyy pounds? Is that the claim

It is incumbent on he who asserts a thing to prove it and not he who disputes it to disprove it


Ei incumbit probatio qui dicit non qui negat

pazienza:





During the war, many Ibos lost their fortunes when the Federal Government switched the currency in circulation, declaring the old coins and bills valueless. When peace came, Ibos were allowed to exchange a maximum of 20 Biafran pounds for 20 Nigerian pounds.

The old notes were changed because Ojukwu looted the Banks in the East also he exchanged people's notes for Biafra pounds that was the point at which they lost their fortunes when they entered the Ojukwu ONE CHANCE bus

Thee Biafra bus of no return.

nelxxy:
some people are just heartless fellow, take joy from other people pains. it really sad.

whether £20 is paid or not that is non of your business.

some people don't know what their action or utterance here leads people to do or even shape their mind.

imagine if 18 years old or less of Igbo descent who pass through this thread will think and who this particular thread shape his or her ways of seeing you and your tribe, believe me the traits will be pass on.

What an idiotic post

So because people suffer they have the right to lie and blame others for their suffering - who had nothing to do with it.
Especially when they fail to look at themselves and take personal responsibility

The same thing is happening today

Nnamdi Kanu is fanning the flames of hatred and you all keep silent tacitly encouraging him heedless of the consequences of your folly.

The same folly Ojukwu exhibited 50 years ago
He went to war with no guns, no friends and no plan. A very reckless and irresponsible decision with his people's lives thinking the "justness" of their cause was all that was needed. Did your elders call him to order

Have you called Nnamdi Kanu to order. Clearly nothing was learnt that time

Well folk had better learn from history because this time there will not even be twenty kobo on offer

Spare us the sob story

How much money has been given to the victims of Boko Haram or Fulani Herdsmen

Have Ibos not come to Nairaland to celebrate killings in Plateau and Taraba saying it is just desserts for the role they played in the Biafra war.


Here we want to set the records straight

Twenty pounds was not a compensation payment
It was a goodwill payment

It was not an entitlement
It was not in exchange for money confiscated from anyone's bank account


NO ONE WILL ALLOW you to rewrite history of 1967-1970

Many people from that era are still alive and their minds are very sharp.


If one man is to be blamed for the Ibo suffering that man is Ojukwu.

He was too proud and arrogant to bow to superior forces. The same arrogance that plagues your folk today. You go around calling Yorubas cowards and betrayers and blaming Awolowo for your bitter loss when you need to look in the mirror.

The fact is that as finance Minister Awolowo saved the Allocation for the East Central State for 3 years and handed it over after the war. Would an Ibo finance Minister have done the same?


Instead you now telll your grandchildren lies about indigenization and starvation without telling yourselves the truth about Ojukwu's own role in the starvation of his own people

Or the fact that Biafran army was populated by forced conscripts and that Biafran soldiers raped and brutalized their own people.

War is a messy business and reconciliation is desirable but not at all costs not when one side has a monopoly of victimhood or storytelling.

The Biafra story must be told but it must be fair and it must be true

As long as you continue to lie about the role of the Yoruba there will be no reconciliation

.
The Yoruba did you no wrong in that war. The Yoruba had no quarrel with the Ibo.

It was war. Nigeria versus Biafra. Biafra lost . End of...

There is one fact Ibos must learn

Awolowo was not their enemy

If anyone was their enemy it was Ojukwu

Awolowo and the Yoruba were not responsible for the loss of the Biafra war

This is a fundamental change in mindset which many cannot achieve.

In fact it is psychologically useful to hold these ideas because it gives purpose and meaning to their existence and even keeps alive the foolish hope that they will get revenge one day. Good luck to them with that

During the war, many Ibos lost their fortunes when the Federal Government switched the currency in circulation, declaring the old coins and bills valueless. When peace came, Ibos were allowed to exchange a maximum of 20 Biafran pounds for 20 Nigerian pounds.

Two years later, the Government embarked on a campaign that forced many foreign companies here to take on majority Nigerian ownership. Since the Ibos were destitute, control of the companies largely went to Hausa and Yorubas.

There is no separation of the indigenization policy from the monetary fiat Yorubas carried out on Ndiigbo.
Even the NYtimes post you were quoting didn't fail to link the two events, just as Sanusi did.

If you like you can connect that to the "original sin" when Adam disobeyed God and ate a "forbidden fruit" or to Pharaoh refusing to let the Hebrews go.

All kinds of spurious connections can be made by tormented and frustrated minds

Whether there are connections or not is not the issue here

The issue is

DID THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT OF NIGERIA IN 1970 SEIZE THE FUNDS IN BANK ACCOUNTS BELONGING TO IBOS PAYING THEM TWENTY POUNDS ONLY IN RECOMPENSE



Yes or No

Very simple question

What happens in typical Ibo style when losing the argumen is to wax emotional and change the topc.

You are the ones claiming all over the place that your accounts were frozen and the contents appropriated and you were given only twenty pounds
A blatant lie

The reality is that your worthless Biafran pounds were exchanged for Twenty mint Nigerian pounds. An act of unprecedented generosity by the Nigerian government.

You had all been misled by Ojukwu to exchange your Nigerian currency for the Biafran pounds and he used some of that money to prosecute the war and likely stole a lot of it when he fled.

If Biafra had succeeded would you have brought your Biafra notes for exchange?

You invested in a "bad market" and expect others to pay for your loss?

pazienza:
Why are Yorubas eager to disclaim this monetary fiat they instigated against the Igbo?

Why are they dying on top of the obvious?

I can't believe they revived this disgraceful attempt to cover the sins of their fathers.

According to that fallen hero Fela - "dem no wan take am but dem must take am". You cannot poo and ask poo not to smell. How?

liberalsinnerx:


In reverse psychology when you are guilty of a something or perpetrated by your own, you always try to twist history to justify that evil. This is what Afonjas are known for....twisting every factual history with gross, mischievous and wicked propaganda.

Yes

Majority of Yoruba Are very terrible folks ...so you want to tell me that my dad and other that experienced this lied

I know why this thread ! You guys can't understand why Igbo came back in full force !

It's not our making but God

nku5:




I can't believe they revived this disgraceful attempt to cover the sins of their fathers.

According to that fallen hero Fela - "dem no wan take am but dem must take am". You cannot poo and ask poo not to smell. How?

Majority of Yoruba Are very terrible folks ...so you want to tell me that my dad and other that experienced this lied

I know why this thread ! You guys can't understand why Igbo came back in full force !

It's not our making but God

God ,poo and sundry nonsense

Emotional folks never deal with facts


The issue here is your twenty pound claim.

You claim that your bank accounts were plundered by the Federal Government

Can you offer a shred of evidence to sustantiate this claim instead of invoking God needlessly

Not one newspaper article


Even Achebe your greatest propagandist did not write a single paragraph on this?


Oh he did in his

There was a country


but you are too ashamed to reproduce it?


Twenty pounds that is the topic

The myth has been comprehensively dismantled

Chai some people are just so mischievous.
So, let's get thus straight, the originator of this thread is telling me and other readers that this did not happen? That what my people witnessed and gave full account of is a fairytale? Something our elite musicians like Osadebe, Warriors, Oliver DE coque sang about this. It is also written in our books.... Every generation after the war knows where we started but this people want to wish it away as if it never happen. They are downplaying as if we imagined it.
Kai.....this people are the worst kind in existence....terrible lots.

JoannaSedley:
Chai some people are just so mischievous.
So, let's get thus straight, the originator of this thread is telling me and other readers that this did not happen? That what my people witnessed and gave full account of is a fairytale? Something our elite musicians like Osadebe, Warriors, Oliver DE coque sang about this. It is also written in our books.... Every generation after the war knows where we started but this people want to wish it away as if it never happen. They are downplaying as if we imagined it.
Kai.....this people are the worst kind in existence....terrible lots.

First of all let us be clear what "THIS" is before we can argue about whether it happened or not

I have shown evidence from historical records that the Nigerian government at some point in 1970 exchanged Twenty Nigerian for Biafran pounds in cash. It did not matter whether it was 1 million Biafran pounds or 100 no person was entitled to more than 20 Nigerian pounds. That DID Happen

If the claim is that the bank accounts of Ibo people in Nigerian banks where their Nigerian pound holdings were held were appropriated by the Nigerian government then that is just plain false.

If this did happen it must have been reported in at least one newspaper SOMEWHERE in the world.

It is noteworthy that there were very few banks in Nigeria in those days. The major banks were Barclays Bank(Now Union Bank) and Standard Bank (Now First Bank) both with major British interest.

If the government did that (military government) was there a decree to that effect? Or was it done in secret?
Chinua Achebe never wrote about it anywhere? The propagandist in chief of Biafra?

No one from that era preserved bank records?
Ojukwu never talked about it when he returned from exile?

What about the none Ibos in Biafra were they exempt? NOT one EFIK or IBIBIO man was affected?

How were the Ibo bank accounts identified?

JoannaSedley:
Chai some people are just so mischievous.
So, let's get thus straight, the originator of this thread is telling me and other readers that this did not happen? That what my people witnessed and gave full account of is a fairytale? Something our elite musicians like Osadebe, Warriors, Oliver DE coque sang about this. It is also written in our books.... Every generation after the war knows where we started but this people want to wish it away as if it never happen. They are downplaying as if we imagined it.
Kai.....this people are the worst kind in existence....terrible lots.

That's the manner of people, naive Igbos want to continue sharing a nation with.
Even till this day, many Nazi white sympathizers believe the Jewish holocaust was but a Jew propaganda, and they have a whole load of distorted narratives to justify their claim.
Ottoman turkey still claim that Armenian genocide is an Armenian propaganda that Never happened.

The Yorubas were the instigators of the 20 pounds Monetary fiat against Ndiigbo, they did it to position themselves to inherit the country public foreign firms, immediately after the indigenization policy.
This two events are the root of the wealth of many modern Yoruba wealthy families. This is how they hijacked the Nigerian corporate economy for peanuts and ran it into third world status with mismanagement.

They would do everything possible to distort their monetary fiat, albeit with no sucesss, as even Northern Bourgeoisies were aware of it, but probably let they have their way, since they reasoned it was no more than Ndiigbo deserved for challenging the caliphate rule by going to war with Nigeria.


I had done justice to this here :https://www.nairaland.com/2516282/before-forget

What we are being asked to believe is that in 1970 someone went through bank accounts names to check if it was an Ibo name and if it was the money was seized but if it was Yoruba, Urhobo,Efik,Tiv,Berom,Lebanese, Ijaw, Ikwerre, Fulani,Hausa,Edo,Ibibbio, Ogoni , Kanuri,Edo or Itsekiri the account was left alone.

Who was in charge of this

Operation identify Iboo bank accounts?

pazienza:



That's the manner of people, naive Igbos want to continue sharing a nation with.
Even till this day, many Nazi white sympathizers believe the Jewish holocaust was but a Jew propaganda, and they have a whole load of distorted narratives to justify their claim.
Ottoman turkey still claim that Armenian genocide is an Armenian propaganda that Never happened.

The Yorubas were the instigators of the 20 pounds Monetary fiat against Ndiigbo, they did it to position themselves to inherit the country public foreign firms, immediately after the indigenization policy.
This two events are the root of the wealth of many modern Yoruba wealthy families. This is how they hijacked the Nigerian corporate economy for peanuts and ran it into third world status with mismanagement.

They would do everything possible to distort their monetary fiat, albeit with no sucesss, as even Northern Bourgeoisies were aware of it, but probably let they have their way, since they reasoned it was no more than Ndiigbo deserved for challenging the caliphate rule by going to war with Nigeria.


I had done justice to this here :

The only thing you have done is express bitterness without substantiation. The generational bitterness you inherited and which you will transmit to your children

The FACTS
are that the indigenization decree was enacted in 1972 and implemented by Shehu Shagari who was the Finance minister from 1971-1975

Clearly as you have nothing of value to add to the twenty pound issue the only strategy available to you is to change the subject to how the Yoruba are responsible for the erosion and redness of Ibo soil

This thread is about twenty pounds
Not Nazis and Holocaust.

Provide EVIDENCE to back up your ancient fantasies.
It is clear that the twenty pound story is a LIE and it has been dismantled totally on this thread

aribisala0:
I am very fair to all concerned.

You distort history with that kind of fictitious narrative.

Yes it was a bad war but why must everything be lies.

Your people din not suffer abandon property in Lagos.Many got their property back.Some got their rent collected and delivered to them intact. They were welcomed back into Lagos with open arms. The truth is Yorubas could have been hostile and uncooperative especially in Lagos.They were not.
Igbos did not lose everything that is just fiction. Why must you tell all these lies. I don't know how old you were at the end of the war. Awo put in a lot of money into ACB. A man called Ukpabi Asika was given a lot of resources too .The other thing to bear in mind is Yoruba men typically are not traders and so the trading sector was open with little competition for those into trading. Those that were teachers got jobs all over the SW.

That £20 that you try to make look small was when a loaf of bread was 1 penny
Do you know there was NOTHING like a £20 note

The HIGHEST NOTE WAS £5
In today's terms it is 200000 .It is not a lot but for goverment to pay it out after a war is not easy.

What has government done for IDPs in the NE?

you guys are just too pathetic. How much was in the bank before the war and after? So you mean all those IBOs didnt have morethan that in the bank? Lol. Afonja are true suffering from inferiority complex, I mean some one.lost everything, then crawed back yet you are still comparing with him. Not a single rehabilitation programme. They rebuilt their region without govt help.

What is this mumu saying ?

Did anyone touch anybody's saviings in the bank?

JoannaSedley:
Chai some people are just so mischievous.
So, let's get thus straight, the originator of this thread is telling me and other readers that this did not happen? That what my people witnessed and gave full account of is a fairytale? Something our elite musicians like Osadebe, Warriors, Oliver DE coque sang about this. It is also written in our books.... Every generation after the war knows where we started but this people want to wish it away as if it never happen. They are downplaying as if we imagined it.
Kai.....this people are the worst kind in existence....terrible lots.

You never know average Yoruba and lies....if they tell you good morning look time

They can't even think of how Igbo bounced back and they cooked this

0monnak0da:
What we are being asked to believe is that in 1970 someone went through bank accounts names to check if it was an Ibo name and if it was the money was seized but if it was Yoruba, Urhobo,Efik,Tiv,Berom,Lebanese, Ijaw, Ikwerre, Fulani,Hausa,Edo,Ibibbio, Ogoni , Kanuri,Edo or Itsekiri the account was left alone.

Who was in charge of this

Operation identify Iboo bank accounts?

Obviously the progrom didn't happen too. Igbos were singled out by sight to the extent that even slight semblance to Igbos became a death sentence to most southerners, now imagine what will happen when obvious Igbo and Igboid names were sorted out in the comfort zones of the evil Machiavellis with their rotten policies and economic tactics. Shame on you sir and your cohorts for believing it didn't happen.
Can't believe I share same horizon with you and your ilks. Toddle on please. I should share the pictures of my dead relatives during the progrom and the insult of 20pounds given to my dad, uncles and grandfathers to sooth your ego because you choose to live in denial.
Honestly, this is an exercise in futility... It is a grave insult to people who lived through those times and those who struggled to live after it.

This type of posts makes people sitting on the fence to lean more on the idea of Biafra.

JoannaSedley:
Obviously the progrom didn't happen too. Igbos were singled out by sight to the extent that even slight semblance to Igbos became a death sentence to most southerners, now imagine what will happen when obvious Igbo and Igboid names were sorted out in the comfort zones of the evil Machiavellis with their rotten policies and economic tactics. Shame on you sir and your cohorts for believing it didn't happen.
Can't believe I share same horizon with you and your ilks. Toddle on please. I should share the pictures of my dead relatives during the progrom and the insult of 20pounds given to my dad, uncles and grandfathers to sooth your ego because you choose to live in denial.
Honestly, this is an exercise in futility... It is a grave insult to people who lived through those times and those who struggled to live after it.

This type of posts makes people sitting on the fence to lean more on the idea of Biafra.

Emotional stuff

This thread is about Twenty pounds not your uncles and grandfathers.
Facts not sentiment.

Historian are not interested in sentiments.

If you want to debate the pogrom feel free to create a threa for thatt

Here we are diiscussing twenty pounds.

JoannaSedley:
Obviously the progrom didn't happen too. Igbos were singled out by sight to the extent that even slight semblance to Igbos became a death sentence to most southerners, now imagine what will happen when obvious Igbo and Igboid names were sorted out in the comfort zones of the evil Machiavellis with their rotten policies and economic tactics. Shame on you sir and your cohorts for believing it didn't happen.
Can't believe I share same horizon with you and your ilks. Toddle on please. I should share the pictures of my dead relatives during the progrom and the insult of 20pounds given to my dad, uncles and grandfathers to sooth your ego because you choose to live in denial.
Honestly, this is an exercise in futility... It is a grave insult to people who lived through those times and those who struggled to live after it.

This type of posts makes people sitting on the fence to lean more on the idea of Biafra.

Emotional stuff

This thread is about Twenty pounds not your uncles and grandfathers.
Facts not sentiment.

Historian are not interested in sentiments.

If you want to debate the pogrom feel free to create a threa for thatt

Here we are diiscussing twenty pounds.

When your brethren put forward the narrative that the Yoruba benefitted directly from the Twenty pound saga or even that it was orchestrated so Yoruba can enrich themselves then it is idiotic to expect that to go unchallenged.

That is what many of you tell yourselves

Is it true ?

Where is the evidence

Don't gve me the sob story about pogrom

Was it Yoruba that orchestrated the pogrom
Was there a pogrom in Ibadan


But here we are and someone is telling us the twenty pound saga was orchestrated by Yorubas to enrich themselves at Ibo expense and we are supposed to keep quiet
BECAUSE THERE WAS A POGROM

Is that not stupid

What is the connection?

IkpuMmadu:
Majority of Yoruba Are very terrible folks ...so you want to tell me that my dad and other that experienced this lied

I know why this thread ! You guys can't understand why Igbo came back in full force !

It's not our making but God

I actually feel sorry for them now. The reality of the evil done by their fathers is a bit too much for some of them to bear. Especially as what they tried to do has failed woefully

nku5:


I actually feel sorry for them now. The reality of the evil done by their fathers is a bit too much for some of them to bear. Especially as what they tried to do has failed woefully

They just can't believe that igbo would bounce back and beat them in everything from education to enterprises from sports to commerce , from entertainment to corporate affairs ..they just can't believe that these people that fought war, that were discriminated upon, collected all their money and laughed at would be the managers of the economy

If I am. A Yoruba , I would be so ashamed of myself

The LIE

BIG FAT LIE

of twenty pounds

dismantled

Instead of providing evidence they resort to sentimental sob stories.

We are asked to believe that somehow in 1970 banks were made to identify Eboe accounts and transfer the contents to the Federal Government.

Yet Achebe the Biafra Propagaandist in Chief or Ojukwu never mentioned it ONCE

Somehow all other Biafrans except Eboes were spared

Strange how folk have been permanently silenced now that the truth is out

aribisala0:
In 1970 after the war the Nigerian government generally gave £20 of Nigerian money to every eligible adult but no one has ever done the math.

Let us assume their were one million of them =£20million Nigerian

We know that the Nigerian pound exchanged for £2 pounds sterling in 1970 so
that would be £40 million . What would that be worth today

according to this inflation calculator

https://www.moneysorter.co.uk/calculator_inflation2.html
it would be
£432612859. Sterling
Not sure what sterling is doing these days but @ 475

that is

205491108025 Naira

200 billion

Assuming it was 1 million people that received the money. No one has ever told us how many did but I think it could be double that.

For a country to pay that out immediately after a war of such devastation is a huge feat considering that Nigeria was not even a major oil exporter in1970 and in 1970 oil prices were under $4 which when adjusted for inflation in today's money is $21.

It is a testament to the prudent financial management of Papa Awo who also kept the allocation of East Central state for 3 years and paid it all after the war


But they are not grateful and feel entitled to that payment. What have we done for the NE . Imagine finding 200 billion to give them today when oil prices in real terms are 3 X what they were in 1970

The standard of living was much lower. Let me put it in Perspective our standard of living then, There was no Lagos Ibadan Expressway. No East -West Road. PH to Aba was a single carriage way.The Air assault camp was the main airport in PH Omagwa airport did not exist. There was nothing like presidential jet. Where were the airports?
The country was broke with very little compared to today but still gave generously in the spirit or sacrifice and reconciliation

Dont mind the ungrateful people. If the west possesses half of the hate the east have for the west, by now, they would have become history. During the war, food supplies was coming majorly from the western region because we had farm settlements and the once they had has being destroyed and they were unable to farm because of the war. Also after the War, all their properties and belongings in the west such as in Lagos, Ogun and Oyo was returned to them, even the ones they called their brothers in the South south region did seized their properties and never gave it back to them. The 20 pounds as at then (1970) is more than enough to start up a little trading business with. If not for the great Pa Awolowo that used his influence of being in charge of Finance then, the North is not even ready to give them a dime and the North called them Barawo it was Awolowo that insist that No they have to give them financial boost to ensure they integrate back to the society. After all the West (Yoruba) did for them instead of being grateful, they pay us back with hate, envy, jealousy, insults, wishing for our downfall, etc. Thank God the Yoruba nation is awake, only some foolish elements in the Yoruba nation that is still speaking to defend the igbo such as that idiot call FFK who because he is married to an Igbo lady want to bring want to bring down the Yoruba Nation to Igbos nation level, he has failed already cause Yoruba Nation is awake.

jneutron4000:
Dont mind the ungrateful people. If the west possesses half of the hate the east have for the west, by now, they would have become history. During the war, food supplies was coming majorly from the western region because we had farm settlements and the once they had has being destroyed and they were unable to farm because of the war. Also after the War, all their properties and belongings in the west such as in Lagos, Ogun and Oyo was returned to them, even the ones they called their brothers in the South south region did seized their properties and never gave it back to them. The 20 pounds as at then (1970) is more than enough to start up a little trading business with. If not for the great Pa Awolowo that used his influence of being in charge of Finance then, the North is not even ready to give them a dime and the North called them Barawo it was Awolowo that insist that No they have to give them financial boost to ensure they integrate back to the society. After all the West (Yoruba) did for them instead of being grateful, they pay us back with hate, envy, jealousy, insults, wishing for our downfall, etc. Thank God the Yoruba nation is awake, only some foolish elements in the Yoruba nation that is still speaking to defend the igbo such as that idiot call FFK who because he is married to an Igbo lady want to bring want to bring down the Yoruba Nation to Igbos nation level, he has failed already cause Yoruba Nation is awake.

You people should be ashame honestly, with all the opportunities you had during and after the war, we are still far better than you people. Onitsha, Eungu, Owerri etc were completely destroyed and without shame you peopleare talking about £20.

Ahh, Biafran notes. Interesting topic.

Although Biafra had made a concerted effort to produce the second series of higher quality bank notes, it would appear that their circulation was limited. By the time the notes were introduced in 1969, the country controlled by the Biafran forces had been reduced to a circular area approximately 85 miles across (roughly 5,000 square miles) and all consumables had long been sold. When a foreign journalist, Michael Mok of ‘Life’ magazine, asked a nun working with the Biafrans whether he could make a cash donation to help the starving children, he was told that cash would be useless, as there was nothing left to buy in Biafra. This may have been one of the reasons why so many Biafran notes remained in Europe undelivered – they were a cargo that could bring little practical purpose.

At the end of the civil war there was a critical shortage of the new Nigerian currency, which retarded efforts to replace the currency in circulation in the east. The Central Bank began recalling the Biafran currency and the old Nigerian currency in the war-torn region but, because of the shortage of new Nigerian notes, only receipts were issued to those who surrendered the notes; although during this period of recall it was unclear what rate of exchange would be made for the Biafran notes. Rumours as to what value the Central Bank of Nigeria would place on the Biafran notes became widespread, with many believing one rumour that twenty Biafran pounds would be given the value of one Nigerian pound.

Many impatient people surrendered their Biafran notes to speculators who were purchasing them at fifty Biafran pounds to one Nigerian pound. Ultimately the speculators got ‘burnt’, as the Central bank decided that there would be no exchange of Biafran currency for Nigerian currency, deciding instead to pay a flat rate of twenty Nigerian pounds to each depositor of Biafran or old Nigerian currency with the Central Bank.

It is not known what happened to the Biafran currency that was surrendered, but it was almost certainly destroyed. In addition to the notes that circulated in Biafra, and those which were dumped into the sea (first series), there were also thousands of undelivered notes that survived the war. These undelivered notes were sold into the collector market once they became unusable, and were sold in such numbers that the market became flooded. The sale of the notes had begun in September 1968 when agents of the Biafran government in Geneva offered sets of the second series of Biafran bank notes for sale to ‘collectors and others’ at the price of £20 10s (sterling) per set. It is not known whether the sets were sold at the behest of the Biafrans, or by their agents in an effort to recoup unpaid costs. As the situation in Biafra deteriorated it would appear that the sale of notes escalated and it is probable that some of the larger dealers of coins and bank notes offered to take large amounts of the notes.