The Biafran Genocide: Never Again?

• In Event: Roundtable: The Biafran Genocide: A Critical Analysis

Abstract

The Nigerian-Biafran civil war witnessed the first Black-on-Black pogrom in Africa. The Nigerian military killed millions of innocent civilians via Air-raids in schools, hospitals, markets, and the economic blockade of the southeastern region of Nigeria. The post-war promise of the “3Rs” – Reconciliation, Rehabilitation, and Reconstruction never happened. The Federal government of Nigeria seized properties of Igbos scattered all over Nigeria on the pretext of abandoned property. The government gave every Igbo man only 20 pounds irrespective of the amount kept in the Bank before the civil war. The land-use decrees deprived southeasterners of the right to resources in their native lands. The Nigerian security forces have murdered youths from the south-south and southeast for expressing the right to seek autonomy. The questions remain, whither Nigeria; where do we go from here?

Authors

• Damian Odunze, Delta State University, Cleveland, MS

• Declan Onwudiwe, Texas Southern University