However, I did notice a flaw in the script, which I have to point out lest it lead to a revision of our history. And that is that the information passed out by the Odogwu character, played by Kanayo O Kanayo, that the Igbos were given just £20 after the Nigerian Civil War, irrespective of whatever deposit they had in the bank, is actually a lie.
And I am very shocked that that lie has made its way into a movie, where it will mislead people and can even rewrite history.
That is not what happened.
The whole issue about the twenty pounds arose because after declaring the independent Republic of Biafra, the authorities of that Republic declared the Nigerian Pound non-legal tender, and on January 29, 1968, they introduced the Biafran Pound as the legal tender of Biafra.
The Federal Military Government, led by General Gowon, immediately countered before the currency was declared by declaring that the currency was illegal and would not be recognised or accepted by Nigeria. Nigerian citizens, including those who referred to themselves as Biafrans, were urged to reject the new so-called currency.
Upon this announcement by the Federal Military Government, many prudent ‘Biafrans’ withdrew all their Nigerian Pounds and kept them at home. One such Biafran was Evelyn Okororie, who is still alive and told her story to CNN, which published it on January 16, 2020, in a piece titled ‘Biafra war: Survivors relive account 50 years after Nigerian civil war ends.’
It is necessary to note that though Haiti, Zambia, Ivory Coast, Tanzania, and Gabon formally recognised the Republic of Biafra, none of them accepted the Biafran Pound as a currency freely convertible with their local currencies. Meaning that if you somehow found your way out of Biafra to those nations, you could not exchange your Biafran Pound for their local currency.
Also, when Colonel Ojukwu fled Biafra, he left with Nigerian and British Pounds. He did not escape with Biafran Pounds.
After the Republic of Biafra was militarily defeated and the East Central state rejoined the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, the then Minister of Finance, faced a conundrum. What was Nigeria to do with the Biafran Pound?
The currency was illegal and had been printed without the backing of the Central Bank of Nigeria. It was not backed by any gold reserve or foreign reserve. It was just a fiat currency created with no real substance to back it up.
There was no way to verify who had genuine Biafran Pound because Biafra had collapsed, and those responsible for printing the currency had either died, fled the country, or denied involvement.
As a personal initiative of Chief Awolowo, who refused to take his plan to the Federal Executive Council for fear that it would be defeated by hawks in General Gowan’s cabinet, especially Brigadier Murtala Muhammed, who, at that time, was virulently anti-Igbo, the Ministry of Finance issued a circular to pay £20 to those former Biafrans whose account records of monies domiciled in Nigerian Pounds were lost, and to those who held their bank balances in Biafran Pounds.
Every account holder received a blanket £20. That money was a gift from Nigeria and, more specifically, from Chief Awolowo’s humanness. Former Biafrans who could prove their account balances in Nigerian Pounds received all their money.
The late Senator Arthur Nzeribe is an example of an Igbo who could prove his account balances in the Nigerian Pound. After the war, all former Biafrans who had accounts in banks outside the Eastern Region got access to all their funds. The late Chief Alex Ekwueme is an example of this.
Others, like the late father of John Nwodo, also recovered their entire fortune left in a Nigerian bank.
Furthermore, Chief Awolowo paid the East Central state all their monies from the Federation Account from 1967 to 1970 after the war. He had invested the funds and returned them to them, for which he was acknowledged by SG Ikoku, the Commissioner for Economic Development in East Central State, in the Daily Times of May 22, 1971.
After the Union defeated the Confederate States during the American Civil War, the Confederate States’ dollars became worthless on May 26, 1865. The Union did not give any $20 to holders of the Confederate States dollars, as it should have. After the war, holders of the Confederate States dollars just lost their money, period. That is the sad reality of war.
But in our case, Chief Awolowo, out of the goodness of his heart and not out of any obligation, gave £20 as a gift to all Biafran Pounds account holders.
If the Biafran Pounds had any value whatsoever, why did Colonel Emeka Ojukwu not take them with him when he fled Biafra for the Ivory Coast?
And to even the field and create a level playing ground, he took the extraordinary step of abolishing the Nigerian Pound and introducing the Nigerian Naira. He introduced the policy in 1971, although it was not implemented until January 1, 1973.
I have named names, dates, and places, so my readers can fact-check me. Please do not come here with just insults.
I cannot understand why the National Film and Video Censors Board would allow such a blatant misrepresentation of history to be told in a movie. It is wrong and would feed anti-Nigerian bias among certain segments of our population.
I urge filmmakers to be mindful of Nigeria’s delicate past when writing scripts so they do not reopen old wounds that are better left to heal.
Reno Omokri
