The last time many Nigerians heard about you
was during the PDP Convention of 1999. Since
then, you have literally been off the scene. Why?

My wife was ill in the United States of America
(U.S.), and my children, who were there, felt that
I should come and stay with her because, usually,
in the morning when they would have gone to
work, she would be alone. It was not an easy
decision for me to make. But considering her
situation and how highly we regarded her, I
decided to abandon everything here and move to
the U.S. to stay with her and nurse her. That was
how, I, more or less, disappeared from the scene
in Nigeria.

Now that it is presumed that you are back, what
do we expect from you?

Strictly speaking, nothing; because I am merely
visiting. My wife did not survive the sickness. She
eventually died in 2010 and my children insisted
that I must remain in U.S. I have been there
since then. I visit Nigeria once a while. So, I am
merely on a visit. I don’t intend to get involved at
this time in anything happening in the country.
Accept our sympathy, sir.
Thank you.

Is it not curious that given your status as an
elder statesman, you are saying that you do not
want to get involved, even with the way things
are going?

Yes, things are bad; but I cannot make any
difference, if I were to be active. Many times, I
have even wondered whether the service I
rendered in this country did any good at all. But
that is gone. Our situation is very serious. I don’t
think a Sylvester Ugoh playing any part in Nigeria
today can, alone, change anything. It is really not
worth my while to spend any time here trying to
correct the ills of the society.

How bad is the situation that you see and why do
you think you can’t make any difference?

I my view, things are worse today than they were
20 years ago. In other words, whereas other
countries are moving forward, if you check any
area of our endeavour, you will discover that we
are moving backwards. I don’t think we are
successfully tackling the situation. So, being just
one man, as I said, I don’t think I can change
much, even if I were to put in the best that I have
to offer.

You are a founding member of PDP. Do you still
recognise the PDP that you people founded in
1998?

Things are worse today than they were when we
founded the party. The party we founded is not
the same today. It is the same in name; but the
philosophy, the values and the commitment are
not the same. Many people are in the party for
what they can get out of it, and not for what
service they can render to the country. That, I
think, is what makes the difference.

Have you, in any way, expressed this concern to
the leadership of the party?

No, I haven’t; but I don’t think they need my
comment to know that the situation is grave. Any
of them who is discerning would accept what I
am saying to be true.

Olusegun Obasanjo was not part of those that
founded PDP. To what extent do you think his
emergence as Presidential candidate of the party
in 1999 contributed to the decline of the value
system you talked about?

Strictly speaking, Obasanjo was imposed on the
party. When the party was being formed, he was
not available because he was not around. But the
retired Army Generals felt that he would give
them the security which they thought they needed
and, so, imposed him on the party. As far as I am
concerned, he ran the party as if it were a military
organisation. From that day, the party started to
decline, and one can hardly recognise it as what
we had in mind when we were running around to
form the party.

At that point of imposition, what did you, the
civilians, do?

The civilians could not do much because, whether
you like it or not, the military has a strong hold
on Nigeria. Look at the people selected for the
national conference. How many Generals do you
have there? That gives you an idea of the strong
hold the military has on the country.

Do you then see much coming out from the
conference?

I don’t think the conference, as such, can solve
our basic problems. This is because our basic
problem, really, is not the constitution but the
people who operate the constitution. I don’t think
the conference is going to discuss the value
system; or the fact that one can commit all sorts
of crimes and get away with them. You don’t see
any of the people committing these crimes being
prosecuted and jailed as deterrent to others. So,
many people in Nigeria believe that they can do
anything and get away with it. That is the
tragedy of the country.

During the General Ibrahim Babangida transition,
you were the vice presidential candidate of the
then National Republican Convention (NRC).
Given the insinuations that the transition was
programmed to fail, do you think your efforts
were worth the engagement?

Of course, not! Babangida had no idea of handing
over power. He maradona-erd (deceived) every
Nigerian to believe that he was going to hand
over power, when he had no intention of doing
that. So we were all sucked in. There was no
doubt that that exercise was really futile because
it didn’t lead us to anything, except that there
was a swell of disgruntlement and
disappointment that made the military to ask
Babangida to “step aside”. That was the only
thing it achieved and not much else. But then,
(General Sani) Abacha was not better than
Babangida. It was a continuation of the same old
military junta running the country as if it were
their private estate.

Though you have not been in the country, from
what you have heard and read, how would you
assess the current administration?

I have not been around. But the current
administration is bedevilled with so many
problems. Its authority is even questioned in
some parts of the country; some of its intentions
are, to many people, suspect. So, it has all these
negative issues to deal with. Of course, as I had
said, the incidence of people committing all sorts
of crimes without being prosecuted, has
continued. That hasn’t helped them. This is in
addition to the fact that since 1999, when
Obasanjo promised us that within the end of his
first year, we would have uninterrupted supply of
power. From that day till date, we still do not
have uninterrupted supply of power. Without
regular supply of power, the economy cannot
move. So, the current administration has too
many problems, and I don’t think it is making
much progress in solving them.

Do you think it is due to lack of capacity or
political will?

I don’t know what is responsible. All I know is
that from what I see, not much is being done to
solve our basic problems. Whether it is because
of lack of capacity or lack of will, I don’t know. I
am not close enough to know the reason. All I
know is that I can see the evidence of lack of
progress.
Obasanjo comes around today to pontificate and
make comments, even passing judgement on
those that succeeded him. Given what he did or
failed to do in eight years he was in the saddle,
do you think he has the moral right to criticise
others?

In my view, he should just do what (former
President) Shehu Shagari did – go home and keep
quiet; ‘sidon look’ as he would say. But coming
out to pontificate is merely exposing himself
because he did worse things than his successors,
though much was expected of him.

Let us go back a little. You were the governor of
Central Bank of Biafra. How did you run the
economy of that obviously besieged nation for
three years, yet Biafra did not have the problem
we are encountering now?

It was a different situation. Practically, most
people in Biafra were interested in the success of
the war. They were not interested in amassing
wealth. So, the commitment was stronger than it
is today. The people were prepared to make
sacrifices which, today, people are not prepared
to make. So, the situation is different. That, I
think, explains your observation.

What did you do, practically, to run that
economy?

I did not really run the economy as such. What I
did was that, with the withdrawal of the Nigerian
currency from Biafra, we had to try to create a
money system that could be used to substitute
for the Nigerian Pound, to facilitate buying and
selling of goods and services. So, my primary
attention as governor of Central Bank of Biafra
was really to make sure that we had enough
currency to facilitate the running of the economy.
That was the only thing we did because we were
in a war situation and could not engage in other
activities that a Central Bank ordinarily
undertakes..

Were you printing currency?
Of course, yes. We did. We had to create a Biafran currency. We had to print the notes and put them into circulation. That was what was used for trading once the Nigerian currency was withdrawn from circulation.
Inflation was not as high as it is today. How did you achieve that?
As I told you, commitment by the people was stronger. Moreover, we had help from the International Red Cross (IRC) and other donor countries. Also, people who were not involved in military activities farmed anywhere they wanted. Even school football fields were converted into farms. So, we were, at least, able to produce something, though the problem Biafra had was that as the war situation got worse in some areas, the people from there moved to other areas. Of course, there was hunger. We cannot run away from that.
What was your relationship with the Biafra Head of State, Emeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu?
There was nothing much. He just handed over the bank to me and asked me to take care of it, so that he would not have to worry himself about what was happening in that field. Even when I asked him to appoint some other members of the board to help me run the place, he said he had not complained about my running it alone; that I should go ahead; that he didn’t have any more people to give me; that everybody else was busy. He had complete confidence in me and allowed me to run the bank as I would because he felt I was doing the right thing. Only on a few occasions would he send for me, if he needed some information; otherwise, he left me to run the bank without any interference.
How many people were on the board of the Central Bank of Biafra?
There were only two of us. Even then, the other person was on the warfront. So, I was a one-man board, in fact.
Who was the other person?
The late (William) Uzoaga, who was a professor of Business Administration, University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN). He was in the Military Intelligence; so, I never saw him.
Chinua Achebe, in his book, There was a country, blamed Nigeria’s problems on the exclusion of the Igbo. Do you think Nigeria could have benefited from the civil war if the authorities had handled Biafra differently?
There is no doubt about that. You know that, in Biafra, we had research and production department, called RAP. Most of our scientists and engineers were involved in trying to develop and produce different things. At the end of the war, if Nigeria or those in charge with her administration had cared, they would have assembled most of those scientists and engineers to create for them facilities or employ them in existing facilities to continue to develop things they were developing during the war. But because the scientists were Igbo and they saw no need to encourage them, they were left to go. Thus, years after when the Ministry of Science and Technology was established, those people who would have been really the core of scientists and engineers that could go into development in various areas of science and technology, had been dispensed with or had dispersed and could not be reached. That was a terrible thing.
By the time the Biafran experiment collapsed, how did you feel?
For me, it was unfortunate. But I am one of those who, in whatever they want to do, put in their best. If at the end of the day, my best does not succeed, I accept it as the will of God because I couldn’t have done better than what I had already done. That was how I took the Biafran experience. We put in our best.
Do you have any regrets getting involved in the exercise?
Absolutely, no!
Looking back, do you think that war was inevitable?
At the time, yes. I don’t think we could have stopped it. And the sad thing about it all is that I don’t think that even we in Nigeria have learnt anything from that tragedy. We have continued to accept the philosophy of unity, but not its consequences or implications.
Why do you think so?
You can see what is happening in the country. Weren’t the Igbo again killed in the North? Haven’t they been driven out of the North? Now, Boko Haram is killing their own children because there are no more Igbo to be killed in the North. This, I think, is a tragedy. At the confab, I think they should really decide if we want to stay together as a country. This is because I don’t see what can be done. I do not know the value system that informs people killing their children because other children are no longer available to be killed. Is that how we are going to develop? Recently, some youths who went for job interview were killed in stampede.
What do you think is the way out of the unemployment situation in the country?
If you do not have uninterrupted supply of power, you cannot have a sustainable manufacturing industry. You don’t manufacture with generators; no country does that. That is why my greatest disappointment is that, in 2014, we still do not have uninterrupted supply of power, when we have gas, hydro, coal and all the resources needed to generate power. I understand that distribution of power has been privatised; but privatised to whom? Do the people it has been privatised to have the capacity, experience, resources? I don’t see why we should limit ourselves to Nigerians, if Nigerians don’t have what it takes. There wouldn’t have been any harm in getting Nigerians, giving them certain percentages and making sure that foreigners who have the experience are involved. Then you would be sure of result. But to privatise the thing to the old Generals and old politicians is just a waste of time. Nothing will change. One should not use such a vital sector for political patronage.

What was your worst nightmare during the civil
war?

Of course, our worst nightmare was that we
would be routed. Don’t forget that the problem
we had was that Biafra had no Army. We just had
some Igbo or Eastern military officers and men
who ran back from other parts of the country.
Most of them came back empty-handed; no guns,
no equipment; worst still, no support from any
European country because Britain made sure that
didn’t happen. There was no support from any of
our neighbouring countries because these were
practically colonial creations. Their colonial
powers wouldn’t allow them. When Bangladesh,
which was Eastern Pakistan, decided to break off
from Pakistan, with the support of India, this was
possible. If India had not supported the move,
there would have been no Bangladesh. Biafra did
not have an India as a godfather.
This was the problem we had. The British were so
anxious to control the oil in the delta that they
were prepared to get the Igbo destroyed, to retain
that oil. Perhaps, if there had been no oil, they
wouldn’t have cared whether the Igbo became
independent or not.

There is still this issue of Obafemi Awolowo
advocating starvation as war strategy against the
Igbo. Achebe commented on this in his book. Do
you agree with views held by Achebe?

Awolowo, don’t forget, had been prosecuted and
jailed by the previous civilian federal government.
He was serving his term in Calabar, Eastern
Nigeria. And there is no doubt that Dr. Michael
Iheonukara (M.I.) Okpara, who was the Premier of
Eastern Region at the time, did try to make his
stay there as comfortable as possible. But when
General Yakubu Gowon took over power and
reconstituted his government, he released
Awolowo and made him his number two man. He
gave him a lot of responsibilities in government.
Awolowo’s main interest was to make sure that
Nigeria won the war. So, as far as he was
concerned, whatever policy that would help him
win the war was acceptable. And he followed it.
That was his own idea. You would find out that
even at the end of the war, Awolowo, who was an
alumnus of UNN, did not lift a finger to help
rehabilitate the institution. So, he did what he
thought was the best thing for Nigeria. I don’t
think anyone denies that it was his position that
everything, including starvation, was fair in war.
That was his position.

Do you mean that Awolowo was an alumnus of
UNN?

Yes, he was given an honourary degree by the
institution. I was teaching at UNN at the time.
So, I know what I am talking about.
In present-day Nigeria, the economy of the East
does not seem to be faring well, despite the
people’s entrepreneurial spirit.

What do you think has gone wrong with the Igbo man?

A lot of things have gone wrong. The value
system in Igboland now is not what it was before
the civil war. That is part of it. Money,
irrespective of how it is made, means everything
to many people, now. This is why people are
prepared to counterfeit drugs – literally killing
people to make money. It was not like this before
the civil war.
Secondly, agriculture, which was very important
under Okpara, the last Premier of Eastern Nigeria,
has been completely neglected.
Of course, the school system has totally
collapsed. So, when you think seriously about our
problem, you would see that we are in a deep pit
and it will take us some time to come out. This is
really the problem of Eastern Nigeria.

Do you think it has to do with the quality of
leadership, particularly the kind of governors we
have had since 1999?

The governors have something to contribute. If
you look at some of our governors, they don’t
even have the right conception of what
governance should be. They don’t see it as
service; service to the people. When we were in
politics, for me, it was a matter of service. But
today, it is a matter of personal aggrandisement.
If that is the ambition or objective of whoever
that is there, the people come second or even
third in his order of priority. So, the governors
have their share of blame. But don’t forget that,
really, the federal government has to give the
framework for the states to move in and work.
However, you find out that in most of the states,
the government does not collect taxes. They do
not have independent sources of revenue;
absolutely none. Every month, they go to Abuja,
cap in hand, to collect the revenue allocation for
that month, come home and share it and wait for
the end of the next month to go back. Many of
them have even no projects to talk about.
You had held many prominent positions, yet
people do not know you as a ‘rich’ man. How did
you resist the temptation of amassing wealth?
I am rich; I have children who are successful in
their own right. That makes me rich. It was never
my ambition to amass wealth; I didn’t need it. All
I needed was to educate my children, and I could
do that with the resources available to me. I
don’t envy those who have billions and trillions of
naira. It makes no sense to me.
If you have the opportunity of living your life all
over, would you still hold on to that philosophy?
Absolutely! This was something I learnt, not only
from my parents but from the schools I attended.
I went to Catholic primary and secondary schools
before I went to university in the United States. I
was taught, and I learnt, not to touch anybody’s
thing. When I was in government, I was clean.

You are 83. Looking back, would you tell us how
it was with you while growing up?

We grew up under colonial government in a very
rural area, in what today is called Imo State. I
went to a school in my village – St. Patrick’s
Catholic School. Because the Catholic priests and
managers of the schools were so particular about
which secondary schools the children wanted to
go, we were channelled to go only to Catholic
secondary schools. At that time, there were only
six Catholic secondary schools in the whole of
Eastern Nigeria – CKC, Onitsha; CIC Enugu; QRC
Onitsha (for girls); St Patrick’s College, Calabar;
Holy Family College, Abak; and CCC, Uyo (for
girls) in what today is called Akwa Ibom. Those
were the only Catholic secondary schools. We had
to get into one of them. So, the competition was
very keen. Our priests who were teachers and
those they trained to teach us were particular
about our moral upbringing. I grew up with it. We
were very proud of our schools and one wouldn’t
do anything to soil the name of their schools.
What do you think is the way out of the huge
mess we are in today?

Frankly, it is my view that if we want to move
forward, if we want a change for the better, we
have to live by example. That has to start from
those at the top. People are lawless in Nigeria
because they feel they can get away with it. Once
they know they can’t get away with it, everybody
will sit up. In civilised countries, everybody is
under the law. But in Nigeria, there are many
people who are above the law. That is the
problem...

https://www.thenicheng.com/how-i-ran-central-bank-of-biafra-ugoh/

Okay

God bless and keep you alive sir we will still need your advice by 2023, insha Allah.

This man is really truthful.
The interviewer was pushing so many things to him but the man spoke his mind which I think is what really happened

Hmm

Awolowo.

Baba mo juba.

Biafra wil b revived just a matter of time

if any one accuses me of hate i would accept it when it involves the British. I hate them with a passion. most of the problems in this world are done by them. but i believe in the justice of karma. no matter how long you evade her, justice would be served to you cold and well deserved.

-Hmm God is alive that I know.

-God bless Biafra, God bless Eastern “Nigeria”, and God bless you Boss!

-As for “the British”, their time would come. Their women are already pissing on the head of their men and the rest licking the anus of their fellow “men”. It’s only a matter of time.

mrbaba18:
Biafra wil b revived just a matter of time

The man didn't talk about reviving Biafra.

This interview was in 2014 but it still rings true today.
The military really scattered a beautiful Nigeria.

Silvester Ugo Central Bank Governor of Biafra

Silvester Ugo Vice President Candidate NRC 1993

Silvester Ugo an Elder Statesman

The Biafran currency is very durable. Many Igbos still have it 50 years after the war and they have stood the test of time.

The Biafran central bank did a good job