₦airaland Forum

this quote is cut out from a very lengthen British memo during the Nigerian civil war. it shows Britain never meant well for Nigeria and everything was done tactically for better administration. the only way to enslave the north is to put all together and the only way to enslave the south is to keep all together. but sadly the north are so blind to see their potentials.

What is crystal clear is that the wishes of the Biafrans were never a major concern of British planners, what they wanted, or what Nigerians elsewhere in the federation wanted, was simply not an issue for Whitehall. There is simply no reference in the government files, that I have seen, to this being a consideration. The priorities for London were maintaining the unity of Nigeria for geo-political interests and protecting British oil interests. This meant that Gowon's FMG was backed right from the start. But the files also reveal astonishing levels of connivance with the FMG's aggression.

Nigerian aggression, British support

British interests are very clearly revealed in the declassified files. 'Our direct interests are trade and investment, including an important stake by Shell/BP in the eastern Region. There are nearly 20,000 British nationals in Nigeria, for whose welfare we are of course specially [sic] concerned', the Foreign Office noted a few days before the outbreak of the war. Shell/BP's investments amounted to around 200 million British pounds, with other British investment in Nigeria accounting for a further 90 million British pounds. It was then partly owned by the British government, and the largest producer of oil which provided most of Nigeria's export earnings. Most of this oil was in the eastern region.

Commonwealth Minister George Thomas wrote in August 1967 that: 'The sole immediate British interest in Nigeria is that the Nigerian economy should be brought back to a condition in which our substantial trade and investment in the country can be further developed, and particularly so we can regain access to important oil installations'.

Thomas further outlined the primary reason why Britain was so keen to preserve Nigerian unity, noting that 'our only direct interest in the maintenance of the federation is that Nigeria has been developed as an economic unit and any disruption of this would have adverse effects on trade and development'. If Nigeria were to break up, he added: 'We cannot expect that economic cooperation between the component parts of what was Nigeria, particularly between the East and the West, will necessarily enable development and trade to proceed at the same level as they would have done in a unified Nigeria; nor can we now count on the Shell/BP oil concession being regained on the same terms as in the past if the East and the mid-West assume full control of their own economies'.

Another revealing thread. OP thanks

Link us to a source now!

Flyingngel:
Link us to a source now!

well read from here.

http://www.ekwenche.org/britain-secret-file-aganst-biafra-1966-70-exposed.html

Fact!!