OHANEZE Ndigbo, the socio- cultural organisation of the Igbo ethnic group, on Monday, demanded from the Federal Government the sum of N2.4 trillion, as reparation for the loss of lives and destruction of properties of persons of Igbo extraction during the Nigeria/Biafra war.
In what appeared like the exhumation of the ghost of the 30-month civil war, which ended 44 years ago, the Ohaneze Ndigbo said it was making the demand because the Igbo ethnic group had suffered series of atrocities in Nigeria over the years.
Chairman, Ohaneze Reparation Committee, Chief Mbazulike Amechi, said the demand was based on the archival records of the atrocities penetrated against the Igbo race, as well as from the interviews from some of the survivors of these inhuman acts.
Amechi urged the Federal Government to invest in the massive replanning of Igbo cities with proper structures and provision of urban water works, a sort of marshal plan devised for a war ravaged area.
He also demanded a state apology to Igbos for the wrongs the Nigerian state had visited on the people.
“It is incalculable to put a price on the lives of millions of Igbos who were killed in the civil war and on other occasions. The Federal Government should pay N400 billion each to five states of the South-East as compensation to those who lost their loved ones and properties and for those suffering dislocation in Nigeria.
“The same amount should also be paid to the government of Delta State for the benefit of the people of Aniona area of the state,” he said.
In a related development, some delegates at the national conference, on Monday, made a case for the extension of the proposed national intervention fund to the South East and South-South zones of the country.
The group, led by a former Minister of External Affairs, General Ike Nwachukwu, demanded that since the proposed fund was meant to address the vexed issues of devastation and upheveals caused by act of war or by outright war, the South East and South South zones should be adequately taken care of by the fund, in terms of the physical infrastructure, rehabilitation and development.
In a statement signed by the leaders of the group, they argued that the former Eastern region and former Mid-West region were theatres of the civil war which devastated the two regions and brought untold hardship to their citizens.
Source: Tribune
