BIAFRA : Biafra in the eyes of an environmentalist

This week, we witnessed a lot of important voices raised in remembrance of the Nigerian Civil War, which lasted for two and a half years, from July 1967 to January 1970. What stands this year’s Armed Forces Remembrance Day out from previous commemorations is not just because it is the 50th Anniversary of the end of the war, but also because Nigerians have suddenly decided to talk about the elephant in the room: Biafra. Indeed, Channels TV gave it a full primetime package tagged, “Biafra: 50 Years After: Healing, Reconciliation and Reintegration”.

Before now, we were satisfied with just celebrating the annual Armed Forces Remembrance Day, as if the day had nothing to do with the Nigerian Civil War. Coupled with the fact that our country threw history out of the window a long time ago, many a Nigerian does not actually know that there is a connection between the Biafran surrender and the January 15 memorial. The word “Biafra” was a taboo, and citizens were encouraged to celebrate soldiers that died, without mentioning where they died, why they died, and what they died for.

To be clear, the first casualty of war is the environment, and the most important element in the environment is the human species. Therefore, no environmentalist anywhere in the world supports war and conflict. We are peacemakers. Period. This is why the United Nations, in 2001, declared November 6 of every year as the International Day for Preventing the Exploitation of the Environment in War and Armed Conflict, aimed at educating people about the damaging effects of war and armed conflict on the environment. This caveat is necessary because somebody might misconstrue my intention for writing on this topic.

To me, war is like an open wound. The best way to help it heal permanently is through diligent nursing: Open it up for ventilation, toss out the old bandage, apply salve, and put on fresh dressing. Without this constant procedure, the wound will fester and become cancerous, and then cause even more severe disability that would lead to death or amputation, if the patient is lucky.

Before now, Nigeria was adept at concealing her war wounds. As a result, the gaping wound was festering, and is already gangrenous, now threatening to become cancerous, which would require the inevitable amputation of her extremities. And if the amputation were carried out, her cosmetic cover-ups would have been exposed.

But thank Goodness, this January, perhaps, her healing has started. Prominent personalities – from former military dictator Ibrahim Babangida to Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka – joined the medical team to begin immediate treatment of the gangrene. On Channels TV, prominent Biafran Army veterans – like Sam Obaji and Okechukwu Unegbu – proudly faced the nation in their capacity as former military commanders. These Nigerians gingerly opened the dirty bandage over our wound. Surprisingly, nobody flinched at the stench from the rotten infection. We all want to heal!

However, we must ensure that this first damage assessment is sustained with further checkups and dressing of the wound, if not, there would be a relapse. There are two manifest truths that we must face. First is that another civil war needed but a little spark to be set off. The second is that the harm of another war will be too damaging to imagine: We may end up begging to be colonised all over again, by fellow African nations; our ecosystem will be so unhinged that we shall no longer be able to differentiate between rainy season and dry season; and all the advantages we enjoy as the biggest and smartest African enclave shall evaporate. Yet, the scariest truth is that none of our present problems would be solved by such a conflict.

The environment will be the first, and silent, casualty of any armed conflict. From the contamination of land and the destruction of forests to the plunder of natural resources and the collapse of management systems, it will be “dog eat dog” and “all man for himself”. The consequences will be widespread and devastating. It will be worse than the past civil war, because our population is higher and our hinterlands are now sitting ducks.  Technological advancement, which now seems like an advantage shall turn out to be a booby-trap.

The young Nigerians who are, today, on the social media taunting and provoking each other, easily forget that an all-out war will totally wipe out their internet connections. The day they will receive a rude shock and wake up from their ignorance is when they are herded together for compulsory conscription, given guns, and put under a commander, who will confiscate everything they own as a matter of routine.

When they will see no fast food joint to pop in and have a binge. When they will not find a fancy pharmaceutical store to pick up their prescription drugs, and would be lucky to find even a malaria medicine. When they would have to learn how to survive without cooked food for weeks on end. When they would be taught to destroy their own environment so as to discourage their enemy from “enjoying” their resources as they retreat further into the bushes for safety. When the only politics they would become used to is guided by survival instincts, based on the lies and distortions spewed out from propaganda machines.

The Rwandan genocide happened about 24 years after Biafra. It led to the killing of roughly 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus. The war created massive migration of nearly two million Hutus fleeing Rwanda over the course of just a few weeks to refugee camps in Tanzania and now modern-day the Democratic Republic of the Congo. This large displacement of people in refugee camps put pressure on the surrounding ecosystem. Forests were cleared in order to provide wood for building shelters and creating cooking fires. These people suffered from harsh conditions and constituted an important threat impact to natural resources. Today the Rwandan government is determined to keep these dark memories alive in the minds of present-day Rwandans and survivors of the genocide.

Nonetheless, it is instructive to note that there are still Hutu rebels operating in some border communities of Rwanda, even as the government is determined to chart a new course for the country – which is now the pride of Africa in terms of economic development and environmental stewardship.

So, we do not need to be veterans to know that Biafra was destructive, neither do we need to become diplomats in order to solve the problems that caused the war, even as we still face them now. The peaceful and united Europe of today was the scarred continent of yesteryears, a region plagued by wars and violent conflicts. France and Britain were historical foes, but today they are allies. They have decided to solve their problems using only diplomatic channels.

Likewise, the United States of America fought a civil war (1861-1865), which polarized the country into two clear ideological regions. The vestiges of that crisis still exist today, but that did not make the country sweep the memories of the conflict under the carpet as we are wont to. They ventilated the issues in their educational, religious, political and cultural institutions. They etched the war stories in museums, films and theatre houses. Hence, when some Americans began to call for secession, like they did recently, the protests became just the cathartic voices of social dissenters seeking for attention, but lacked the energy to summon the spirits of the citizens – because their war-wounds are already healed.