The financing of the Nigerian civil war and its implications for the future economy of the nation

Lecture delivered under the joint auspices of the Geographical Society and the Federalist Society of Nigeria at the University of Ibadan on 16th May, 1970.

CONTINUED FROM LAST WEEK

It is clear, therefore, that it is not Nigeria that need to be big the foreign exchange elements of any bold and ambitious plan that economically. She is, potentially, an economic giant already. It is we may make. As to what we have to do to overcome these obstacles, we, her sons and daughters, that have need to enlarge our outlook, there can be no dispute or equivocation. We must think, and widen the scope of our planning, to match her in the immediate present, hire the required know-how from natural gianthood abroad, and, as a long-term policy, after the fashion of Meiji.      

In ordinary justice to her size and potentialities, therefore, it is Tenno, the great Japanese Emperor and inspirer of the imperative that we should think and plan big for Nigeria. But even modernisation of Japan sends our boys and girls, our menthe sheer gargantuan nature of our problems demands big and and women, to any part of the world where they can acquire massive approach to the necessary know-how and expertise; and all over the place, we talk about winning the peace. Some think accumulate enough foreign exchange resources on our own that peace can be won by ‘de-biafranising’ the Ibos; others think supplemented with such external aid as friendl; that the way to peace is to create more States in order that some of govemments.and sympathetic foreign institutions may be the citizens of the new States might become Ministers, disposed to give us, to pay for the importation of foreign Commissioners, Judges, Permanent Secretaries, Board Members, know-how, expertise, and capital goods etc.; others still believe that peace can only be secured by keeping during the war, we had to plan rigorously and think big, to survive the army in power for many more years; and so on, and so forth. As we have done, without any blemish on our national honour and offer no comments here on these and other suchlike lines of thinking, self-respect. The momentous challenges of peace. But I say unto you’, that there will be no genuine peace in this acknowledge and proven potentialine, of our great country for country, unless, in the main, the war against grinding poverty, hunger, giant economic growth enjom upon all of us greater exertions of preventable diseases, squalor, and ignorance among the masses of body, brain, and mind – now and in the years to come our people, is waged throughout the land, with the same united purpose, patriotism, and grim determination as we had waged the war against secession. It is, perhaps, not generally realised that, in NATIONAL GOAL CANNOT BE ACHIEVED all history, the root causes of rebellion and violent discontent are the evils which I have just enumerated.

WITH EASE AND SIMPLICITY      

We have won the civil war. Yes, indeed. But to win the war for a powerful national motivation. This is the text of a speech peace, we must recognise the real enemies. Otherwise, all our efforts would be totally misdirected and dissipated. As far as I can discern, the Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry the aggressors against peace and stability in Nigeria are abject and Mines of Nigeria at its First Annual Conference. Poverty, hunger, diseases, squalor, and ignorance. They are more devastating in their ravages, more insidious, more thorough, and it is a great pleasure for me to be given the unique honour of addressing this First Annual Conference of your Association. I want to assure you that, when I say this, I am not merely trying to be courteous or uttering a platitude.

In a temporal sense, this is an infant Association. The truth of this is borne out by the fact that, whilst this is the First Anniversary of your existence, the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry has just held its 80th Annual General Meeting.

In essence, however, and by its sheer composition, this Association can be said to be as old as, and, by analogy, wiser than any of its members.

Speaking from experience of similar organisations in other parts of the world, this is an instance where the whole can be said to be much greater than the sum of its parts. The saying – ‘two heads are better than one’ – does not truly express what is common to the experience of all of us here. For other things being equal, the integration of the exertions of two wise heads in the solution of any problem achieves far greater, far better, and far quicker result than that which can be achieved by two heads operating separately. This is particularly so in economics and other kindred disciplines.

In the Preface to THE GENERAL THEORY OF EMPLOYMENT, INTE”R.EST AND MONEY, the late Lord Keynes speaks of the commission of ‘undue proportion of mistakes if one thinks too long alone in economics …’

It appears that you have succeeded in this Association in providing a forum for the pooling of the rich and diverse mental resources of our great country in order to bring them to bear, in harmonious combination, on the varied and complex economic problems which beset us, without ever running the risk of diminishing returns. In this way, you have done a valuable service to the country’s business interests and to the Federal Government.

Hitherto, the absence of a country-wide organised commercial and industrial body, which can speak with one voice for the whole of the private sector, made it difficult for the Federal Government to ascertain and, wherever possible, reconcile the conflicting interests involved. But henceforth, you have presented the Federal Government with an Association with which it can deal without any doubt as to its country-wide representativeness. For this reason, I assure you that the Federal Military Government will do all in its power to co-operate with, and make use of, this new Association as an effective channel of mutual communication between it and the members of our business community.

CONTINUES NEXT WEEK