When war becomes business

It appears that the echo of the giggle of the Nigerian Civil war is still resounding with a subtle thunder clap: “To keep Nigeria one is a task that must be done.” This giggle looks like a vow to sustain the result of the 1914 amalgamation of the Northern and Southern protectorates by the British. […]

It appears that the echo of the giggle of the Nigerian Civil war is still resounding with a subtle thunder clap: “To keep Nigeria one is a task that must be done.” This giggle looks like a vow to sustain the result of the 1914 amalgamation of the Northern and Southern protectorates by the British. Given that millions of people have been killed in the past in the effort “to keep Nigeria one” and that some people today still question the true and authentic unity of Nigeria call for a further enquiry if war is not perhaps a mere business. This is important because the Nigerian/Biafra civil war does not seem to have achieved the aim of keeping Nigeria one. Could it be that this concept of unity has a different meaning from the dictionary meaning of unity? Can we say that the North West, North East and North Central are united irrespective of religious differences? What is the bond of unity in the South West, South East and South-South of Nigeria? What was the common factor or bond of unity in the Northern and Southern protectorates that was obvious to the British?
“To keep Nigeria one” with war is a mockery of unity because the regions that now make up the modern Nigeria had fought wars before the amalgamation of 1914. The first Ife-Modakeke war took place in 1835. This war had been repeated seven times until the most brutal one of 2000. The establishment of Arochukwu Kingdom was a result of the Aro-Ibibio wars. The Fulani/Hausa warled to the establishment of SokotoCaliphate and Kano Emirate by Uthman Dan Fodio (1804-1808). The Kiriji war by the Yoruba (1870-1886) lasted for 16years, the longest war by any ethnic group(http://damouche.blogspot.com.ng).There are values that keep people together and war is excluded from these values. Whatever binds people together along ethnic divides must have led to the formation of the pre-independence political parties along tribal interest such as “Northern People’s Congress (NPC)”, formed by Abubakar Tafawa Balewa and Sir Ahmadu Bello in 1949; “National Council of Nigeria and Cameroun (NCNC)”, formed by Nnamdi Azikwe and Herbert Marcaulay in 1944 and “Action Group (AG)” formed by Chief Obafemi Awolowo in 1951. Even today, some political parties are still agitating for rotational presidency among the zones whereas Nigerians had engaged in a civil war “to keep Nigeria one”. Chief Mike Ozekhome (SAN) calls for a total healing of this syndrome in his book: “Zoning to Unzone, the Politics of Power and the power of Politics in Nigeria” (2015).
After the war that lasted from 1967-1970, Yakubu Gowon declared, “We desired to preserve the territorial integrity and unity of Nigeria. For as one country we would be able to maintain lasting peace amongst our various communities; achieve rapid economic development to improve the lot of our people; guarantee a dignified future and respect in the world for our prosperity and contribute to African unity and modernization.” For Odumegwu Ojukwu, “It is only those who have not been involved in a war that will always push war as the first solution to any problem. War does not solve, it cowers but the problem remains”. If war is not a mere business, what was the programme put in place to heal the wounds of those affected such that many years after, no part of the nation would think of liberation like a conquered territory?
Among the visible responses to the aftermath of the Nigerian civil war were non-governmental organizations like Médecins Sans Frontières that was created in 1971 by Bernard Kouchner and other French doctors who had worked in besieged Biafra. This NGO developed into a leading humanitarian agency. There were other agencies founded by people who worked in the Biafra relief program(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nigerian_Civil_War).
I would be glad if the living Nigerian veterans could show us the programme put in place by the federal government to reconstruct and re-unite Nigeria in terms of conflict resolution and conflict transformation that could heal the memory of those wounded and mend the broken hearts after the civil war. Otherwise, the spate of insurgency and agitations in Nigeria today would be enough to conclude that the civil war merely created business for some opportunists at the expense of human blood and property. It has been estimated that up to three million people may have died due to the conflict, most from hunger and disease (“Biafra/Nigeria”. eNotes.com, Retrieved 30 August 2009). The Nigerian government officials were even accused of diverting resources meant for reconstruction in the former Biafran areas to their ethnic areas. Many people were relieved of their jobs and the properties of some people were sold as abandoned properties. 
In every war, there are profiteers, those who make profits from warfare. War enables business people who trade on arms to sell their weapons. Many countries spend a lot on military technology and some corporations gain from scientific research on weapons of mass destruction to kill human beings and not bush meat. During war, there is shortage in the supply of food and other commodities. For instance, “prior to the invasion of Iraq in 2003, oil production was controlled by the Iraqi government, and was off limits to western companies. As of 2014, foreign owned private firms dominate Iraqi oil production (Juhasz, Antonia. “Why the war in Iraq was fought for Big Oil”; cnn.com, Retrieved 22 October 2014).Among the fall out of the war in Iraq is the proliferation of terrorist’s organizations that keep wearing the garb of religion. Oil has become one of the major reasons of war in our world today because it makes big business. The Niger-Delta of Nigeria would have enjoyed more peace without oil. They could survive on fishes and agricultural products.
A defence contractor Brent R. Wilkes was ecstatic when he heard that the United States was going to war with Iraq. He was really excited about doing business in the Middle East (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_profiteering).When al-Zawahiri whose Salafism was extreme with the concept of takfirism befriended bin Laden, he was put on a direct collision course with Abdullah Azzam whose jihad targeted the West and Israel. Al-Zawahiri and Azzam hated each other and competed for bin Laden’s attention and money (Michael Weiss and Hassan Hassan, ISIS, Inside the Army of Terror, New York, Regan Arts, 2015, P.5).
Every responsible government should source for means to keep “the nation one” besides war even if this would require a sovereign conference. Nigeria is no longer fighting a civil war but the persistent insurgency, agitations, “war against corruption” and the horrible living conditions of many Nigerians appear to portray a nation that is in a state of war. Many people in Nigeria are dying slowly of pain, hunger and lack of social amenities. The expressions, “War” or “Fight” are negative concepts that make a nation look like a glorified military barrack. Change is deeper than war. People do not want war but food on their tables and fuel to drive their vehicles. People normally hope for the change that could transform their pains to gain maximum comfort and basic necessities of life. We pray that all forms of war should come to an end, so that all may not die before the advent of the promised change!

Fr. Cornelius Omonokhua
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