Civil War: ‘Why Igbos Want N2.6trn Reparation’

Forty-four years after the
Civil War, Igbo delegates at the National Conference have asked for N2. 6 trillion as reparation and compensation for the devastation Igbo land experienced during the 1967 to 1970 war.
In an amendment to the proposed National Intervention Fund, the South-East delegates said the former Eastern region and part of the former Mid-Western region which are now in South-East and South-South zones were centres of war, with high level of devastation that brought untold hardship to their citizens.
In a document titled: “Atrocities and Injustices against Ndigbo: Ohaneze demand for Reparation”, which was circulated with the amendment to the proposed National Intervention Fund, the delegates said it was incalculable to put a price on the death of millions of Igbo who were killed in the civil war and other occasions.
They said: “The case of the South-East, which bore the full brunt of the civil war for 30 months, is particularly tragic. Most of it remained a wasteland, despite General (Yakubu) Gowon’s declaration of the three ‘Rs’, Reconstruction, Rehabilitation and Reconciliation.
In a motion sponsored by former Minister of Foreign Affairs and a delegate on the platform of elder statesmen, Gen. Ike Nwachukwu, and 14 others, the Igbo stressed that the demand became imperative following the “atrocities and injustices committed against Ndigbo in Nigeria over a long period.”
They argued: ”All fair minded citizens of this country are  to agree that the former Eastern Region and part of former Mid-Western Region, which encompass the present day South- East and South- South zones of Nigeria were theatres of the civil war which devastated the two regions and brought untold hardships to their citizens.
According to them, the case of the South-East, which bore the full brunt of the civil war for thirty months, is particularly tragic. Most of it has remained a wasteland, despite General Gowon’s declaration of the three “R”, Reconstruction, Rehabilitation and Rehabilitation.
In their prayers they said, “that Since the proposed National Intervention Fund is to address the vexed issues of devastation and upheavals caused by an act of war or by outright war itself, that the South East and the South-South zones be adequately taken care of by the fund in terms of the physical infrastructure, rehabilitation, development and other losses resulting from the civil war. That the Federal Government sets up a body to work out agreed reparation to settle the civil war issue once and for all.
The Igbo, who lamented that several panels set up by the Federal Government, including the Oputa Panel, had approved reparation for war damages but till date this has not been addressed.