Biafra War: Why Ojukwu Failed —Former Central Bank Governor

<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>Biafra war and the failure<&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;">OpenLife Nigeria<&sol;a><&sol;strong> reports that as the drumbeat of war gets louder in the enclave of Biafra secessionist agitators&comma; a major actor in the Nigerian civil war&comma; Dr Sylvester Ugo&comma; has made further disclosure on why the Biafra war failed&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;The Nigerian Civil War was a civil war fought between the government of Nigeria and the Republic of Biafra&comma; a secessionist state which had declared its independence from Nigeria&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;The war fought between July 6&comma; 1967&comma; and ended January 15&comma; 1970&comma; was led on the Nigeria side by General Yakubu Gowon&comma; while Biafra was led by Lieutenant Colonel Odumegwu Ojukwu&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Speaking to Osita Benjamin Chidoka&comma; 50&comma; former Corps Marshal and Chief Executive of Federal Road Safety Corps and past Minister of Aviation&comma; Dr&period; Ugo pointed out that &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Emotions” were partly responsible for the Biafra failure&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Ugo who served as the Central Bank Governor of the Republic of Biafra also pointed out that &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Poor planning and lack of international supports” accounted for the botched mission of Ojokwu&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;The 90 years old Harvard-trained economist and running mate to Bashir Tofa in the June 12&comma; 1993&comma; elections maintained that quality education is a way to go for Nigeria’s all-inclusive developments&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;He however expressed worries about the challenges facing education in the Northern parts of Nigeria due to banditry and growing violence&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;He noted that Nigeria holds a lot of promises and the leadership should focus on educating the people and building a public service anchored on service and not personal enrichment&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;The Former Ministers of Education and Science and Technology further narrated how he became the Governor of the Central Bank of Biafra&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;According to him&comma; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;late Dr Pius Okigbo&comma; returned to Eastern region before the hostilities and started a small group of intellectuals to plan for various scenarios&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;The scenarios included how to manage the economy&comma; currency and regulate Banks in the event of secession&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;The work of that small group formed the initial economic ideas for the new country&comma; and Okigbo recommended him for the Central Bank Job&comma;” he disclosed&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;He however explained an interesting story about the difficulties he encountered to get printers for the Biafran currency&comma; a development that partly frustrated the funding of the Biafran operations&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;He expressed strong views about the <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;punchng&period;com&sol;">1966 coup<&sol;a>&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;According to him&comma; he was in Zaria for a conference when the soldiers struck on January 15 1966&period; The coup&comma; he noted&comma; damaged Nigeria&comma; in his opinion&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;It was unnecessary&comma; he said&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;