Rotimik:


Common, don't go there.

We built our own future.

Between 1954 and1966, we had built enough industrial estates all over the Western region to dwarf whatever advantage Igbos thought they had over us while cheating us out of employment in the civil service and the few companies they dominated at the time. We introduced free education for our people earlier, built University of Ife.

We played fairly. We did not attempt to cheat on other ethnic groups like the Igbos were doing to us.

War or no war. we were clearly ahead of the Igbos in every field of human endeavor in1966.

Obi1kenobi:


You clearly don't grasp the responsibilities of a government. If there's a financial crash for example and you get banks failing, every responsible government in the world looks to intervene and bail out the failing institutions, so depositors don't lose their money. Deposited money in banks is supposed to be Federally insured. To claim the FG has no responsibility is absurd. And even more absurd in the light of fighting to keep a separatist group in the country, only to abandon them to their own fate after their losses. Why would we be grateful for getting less than we're entitled to?

Obi1kenobi:


Why are you quoting me twice?

The overwhelming majority of the largest industries/firms/financial institutions in the 60's were foreign and colonial investments in Lagos: many of which were indigenized post-war. Stop exaggerating as if you were founding major industries all over the South West.

I'm arguing nothing about who was ahead before the war. The point was a massive gap in the corporate industries developed post-war after the SW indigenes who were better poised were able to buy stakes in the firms and Igbos were unable to.
And your assertion you were ahead of us in all fields in '66 has been refuted here severally before. Sure in the early decades of the 20th century, Yorubas who had greater access to Western education and trade were the pioneers in most fields producing the first doctors, professors, industry professionals etc. By the 60's we had bridged the gap. At the time UI and UNN were the only universities in Nigeria, Igbos had comfortably more scholars than any other group in the country.

aribisala0:
Funny.
English is not something I see as a mark of distinction but rather a badge of enslavement. I am not English.
But I know for a fact that if you spent the rest of your inconsequential life studying you can never match my mastery of the Language.

aribisala0:
You see there are so many lies about that time that people believe without questioning.

Some of it they believe because they WANT TO. This may sound strange but people can make a deliberate effort to believe a falsehood like the young lad who walks in and finds his mother in copulo with Pastor Koboko and persuades himself they were praying. The human capacity for self deception is astounding.

Now consider the story told about Awolowo and the indigenization policy. How he conspired as Minister of Finance to facilitate the acquisition of businesses by Yorubas.

The Fact is Awolowo left Gowon's government in 1971 in fact he sent is his resignation letter giving notice in 1970. This is public knowledge.
It is also a fact that the First indigenization decree was promulgated in 1972 With Shehu Shagari as Minister of Finance from 1971-1975. Still you will never hear Shagari's name but Awolowo.

WHY??

The reason is simple.

The civil war brought a new and profound sense of failure for these people and they remained in shock for a long time. They needed a narrative to explain their failure. For them the principal reason for their failure had to be Awo and by extension the Yoruba.Reality was irrelevant.
Well we differ. You lost out not because of Yoruba betrayal(we were not allies politically) but rather because of your tendency to act impulsively without planning or regard to consequences. Just like we have seen recently with Nnamdi Kanu

Essentially they are owned by a deep sense of self hate that is so corrosive internally it had to be externalized and Awo and the Yorubas are a ready alibi.
Till tomorrow they have not been able to confront and process or interrogate the pogroms of 66 and 67 and its perpetrators ,they cannot even look them in the eye. A case of collective Stockholm syndrome.
Well They are entitled to their hate. We are entitled to ensure the fidelity of any historical narratives.

Awolowo was VERY GOOD to them and they should make a big statue for him in Owerri

aribisala0:

Again you must be Young

Which bank>

What were the names of the banks that existed in Nigeria? Do not lie to Yourself.

There were two main Banks Barclays Bank which became Union Bank and Standard Bank which became Firstbank. In the whole of Nigeria there were not up to 50 branches. Barclays was a British Bank until it was nationalized to Union Bank.

One question I always ask folk like you .

WHAT WOULD HAVE HAPPENED IF BIAFRA SUCCEEDED. Were you going to come back to claim your so called money.

The next question is this

I HAVE NOT COME ACROSS ONE IJAW EFIK IBIBIO etc man who claimed to have lost money in the banks

Did Nigeria make any law to seize money in banks?

The truth is those who had proof they had money got it while many typical liars claimed to have lost their documents. Even if that were true . DID THE NIGERIAN GOVERNMENT TAKE THAT MONEY?


The first law about taking money in dormant accounts EVER in Nigeria was debated this year.

So even if they lost money they lost money to the BANKS not the government

Finally the truth is Biafrans knew they were NEVER COMING back most withdrew their money and changed it for the Biafran pounds and Ojukwu used their moneyto buy weapons.Nigeria reacted by changing their currency.

It would be a different thing if you said Biafrans came with old Nigerian money.But the bank account story is something a young person who did not know Nigeria in the 60s or 70s would say.

What cannot be escaped is the question

If these folk had money in banks

WHO TOOK IT.

Show us one Newspaper clipping or legislation that empowered GOVERNMENT to take anyone's money

rlauncher:


The only advantage Igbos thought they had was through job grabbing, not in terms of qualified personnel. We had more doctors, lawyers, engineers, scientist's, management professionals, name it.

aribisala0:
NOTHING TO DO WITH BANK ACCOUNTS

It was an exchange for Biafran Pounds

Every person who had Biafran pounds was given £20 Nigerian whether it was 20 or 1million Biafran pounds

NEW YORK TIMES 1987

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.

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

Ngozi123:


Let me ask you this, why are you so obsessed with Igbo people?

aribisala0:
The next myth to be busted is that 3 million Igbos died in the war.
The reality is that the number is unknown and the 3 million figure has no basis.
In fact I am not even sure that any single town or village has put forward any figure whether factual or estimated

Rotimik:


It was 2M. People died on both sides although Igbos suffer the most

Obi1kenobi:


I've examined this thread and it begs the question:
Which myth or lie exactly do you think you have "busted" here?

SIRTee15:

the myth that Nigeria stole ibo's money and gave them mere 20 pounds...the truth is ibos had no money anybody could steal because all they had was biafran pounds which was useless...
the 20 pounds was a gift by the Nigerian govt in an effort to mop up biafran currency out of circulation and give ibos a fresh start....
its not really much, but at least its something....
So many ibos remained in Nigeria during the biafran war, none of them had their money stolen or confiscated...
and they were not offered 20 pounds...

I think the lesson learnt here is that some gift are not just worth it because it will never be appreciated...
Nigerian govt should have just told the cold truth that biafran pound wasn't a recognised currency, thus wouldn't be exchanged for the Nigerian pounds...
that sounds harsh, but at least hopes wouldn't have been dashed and I'm sure a lot of ibos would have gotten over it quickly....
and of course, there would have no 20 pounds myth.

Obi1kenobi:


Except the bolded is a strawman, cos I have not seen anyone claiming that.

To say what the FG gave a minority of Igbos was a "gift" after what was lost is exactly what makes post-war reconciliation difficult and rendered Gowon's pretensions at appeasement to be worthless. It was the same FG that rendered the old bills Igbos had worthless after switching the currency in circulation. The most pernicious effect of this destruction of the Igbo middle class post-war came with the indigenization of companies immediately after the war.

There have been no myths busted here. All I see is distortions of what Igbos have claimed. Then you argue against those distortions you created.

Obi1kenobi:


Except the bolded is a strawman, cos I have not seen anyone claiming that.

To say what the FG gave a minority of Igbos was a "gift" after what was lost is exactly what makes post-war reconciliation difficult and rendered Gowon's pretensions at appeasement to be worthless. It was the same FG that rendered the old bills Igbos had worthless after switching the currency in circulation. The most pernicious effect of this destruction of the Igbo middle class post-war came with the indigenization of companies immediately after the war.

There have been no myths busted here. All I see is distortions of what Igbos have claimed. Then you argue against those distortions you created.

aribisala0:


No the old notes were exchanged EXCHANGED EXCHANGED for Biafran pounds and Ojukwu use much if not all of it including what he looted from banks to fund the war.. So the FG sensibly put a stop to that.


The blame for the LOSS lies with Ojukwu.
If in the spirit of reconciliation we decide not to play blame game I would agree BUT

Let us STOP this LIE that the remaining Bank accounts in Nigerian Banks were appropriated by government

THAT IS JUST NOT TRUE.


We cannot build anything on lies. We wronged ourselves in that war and the Igbos lost a lot but victimhood is not something to celebrate or distort just to score points. No extant bank accounts were

In practical terms how will it even work without any single newspaper carrying it.HOW??

Chuks0485:


It's obvious that you have not experienced war. He whose house is on fire, does he pursue rat? Your Thought about war and preservance of bank booklet tells me how daft you are about what a war that lasted for about 3 years looks like on the inhabitants.

braivheart:


Take this post down.

You don't have to twist history to justify anybody's actions.

Decide henceforth to be truthful, you'd be respected for it.

mpianya39:



You should have direct this trash to your father,grand father and great grand father....infact!!! All your generation both born and unborn silly FooooOLS

obailala:
The FG didn't pay any money to Igbos, rather they returned a tiny fraction of the seized. If an Igbo man had £10,000 in his account, only £20 was returned to him; if the man had zero in his account, nothing was paid to him.

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

bluke:


in addition to your write up,
the twenty naira policy was a committee recommendation, it was not awolowo's decision.
He was just the finance minister that acted on the report.
so the action was not his fault

GoldNiagara:


The thing too pain you! lol

bluke:


in addition to your write up,
the twenty naira policy was a committee recommendation, it was not awolowo's decision.
He was just the finance minister that acted on the report.
so the action was not his fault

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

Ikechuob:






Then explain to me why my family was affected with the 20 pounds saga then oh history distorter. I'll be waiting.

Considering Asaba was not among the Biafra and my family lived in Lagos prior to the Biafra war, none changed their money to Biafra pounds. Therefore, history rewriter, explain to me why my grandmother couldn't take it her husband's own money from the bank despite she had evidence it belongs to her husband, instead she received 20 pounds. I'll be waiting for that answer. Thank you.

Duru1:


You are an irreparable disgrace to your ethnic nationality in Nigeria. You were not in Biafra or probably not born during the Nigeria/Biafra war yet are bent on making fool of your silly self by posting idiotic conjectures. Again, Nigeria did not give every Biafra 20 pounds. The 20 pounds were given any individual who had proof of certain amount of money in the banks in Nigeria before the war. Based on the situation on the ground by then due to destruction lives and properties by the war, I can say unequivocally that not more than 50, 000 Igbo peeps received the 20 pounds. Before the Nigeria/Biafra broke out, there is an air airport in Umumasi which accommodated planes such as the BOAC DC 3 or 4 and MIG 19s and 21.