Broadcast by Chief Obafemi Awolowo as Nigeria s Commissioner for Finance and Vice-Chairman of the Federal Executive, during the Biafran war. The speech was made on 1st October; 1967.
Continued from last week
Good evening.
THE crisis which hit this country some five years, ago has, since it took a dramatic turn in 1965, inflicted enormous damage on: our national life. The period of twelve months, beginning with October, 1965, had witnessed ‘the, exhibition of large-scale violent disturbances in different parts of the country. The calm, which followed this twelve-month period, has now proved, in retrospect, to be our worst national illusion. It is now known that in (spite of Aburi; in spite of the constructive efforts of the National Conciliation Committee; and in spite of the Commander-in-Chief reconciliatory gestures and overtures in accepting and implementing with speed and without reservation, the recodmlendations1,6f’tlle National Conciliation Committee which were wholly based on the terms dictated by Ojukwu himself Ojukwu had spent this period of earnest and conscientious search for peace’ on the’ ‘part of his fellow- Country men in making eIaborate preparations for designed not only to take the former Eastern Region out of the Federation of Nigeria, but also, if possible, to subjugate the other parts of the country.
After several violent border provocations at Igumale and Idah, Ojukwu finally launched unprovoked military attack on the rest of Nigeria. In the face of this rebellion, there was’ only one of two choices open to the Federal Military Government. Either to succumb to Ojukwu’s armed rebellion and allow him to take the ‘then Eastern Region out of Nigeria and thereby bring about the disintegration of the entire Federation, or to put down his rebellion, with all the forces at its disposal, in order to preserve the integrity and oneness of Nigeria. The Federal Military Government chose the latter course.
Hence the Police action which, in consequence of Ojukwu’s aggravating conduct of his rebellious activities, was later escalated to military operations. In the process of all these, many lives have been lost, and the number of wounded and maimed, of orphans and widows in our community, has risen sharply. In a number of places, private properties of all description have been destroyed, lost or damaged, by arson, looting and other forms of violence. A good number of bridges, roads and public buildings have either been destroyed, or put in a state of serious disrepair, by acts of subversion and war.
Many of our fellow-citizens have been rendered homeless. A good many have fled from their places of normal residence or business. There is nothing we can do about the dead. But there is much- very much – that we can do for the living, for the orphans, the widows, the maimed and the wounded, and for the rest of our people who have loyally and uncomplainingly borne the inconveniences and privations which the crisis and the present military operations have imposed upon them, and who have made contributions in cash and kind for the comfort and relief of the federal troops.
Accordingly the Federal Military Government is committed to the following courses of action:
The surviving victims of past disturbances and of the present military operations shall be cared for with the utmost compassion.
- ii) The surviving federal troops shall be amply rewarded for their gallant and devoted services to the nation.
iii) All soldiers, no matter on which side they had fought, shall be rehabilitated and gainfully employed at the end of the military operations. It must be noted in this connection that one of the good things about the present emergency is that it has helped to reduce unemployment throughout the country; it would be a mistaken policy of the worst kind, to allow the federal troops and the rebel soldiers to go back on the scrap heap of the country’s unemployment market. It is for these reasons that the Federal Military Government is resolved to keep, and, considerably, improve upon the blessings of the prevailing high level of employment.
- iv) Those whose properties have been destroyed or damaged, as a result of civil disturbances, shall be reasonably compensated. All those who had fled from their normal places of residence or business shall be resettled; and, if possible, helped to make a new start.
- vi) All the roads, bridges and public buildings, which have been destroyed or damaged, shall be reconstructed with the greatest possible dispatch.
vii) With immediate effect, a special fund into which an amount of £1m will be contributed annually, beginning from the present fiscal year, has been created for the purpose of: stepping up the training of high-level manpower in the Nigerian Universities, at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels; raising the secondary school and trained teacher population in the states which are lagging behind in the respects, and preventing wastes at the secondary school level in the more advanced States, as part of the reconstruction effort; and providing free primary education for the children of all members of the Armed Forces.
In this connection, it is essential to bear three important considerations in mind.
To be continued
and then