ABSTRACT
The Nigerian Civil War was fought between the Federal Military government under General Yakubu Gowon and the Republic of Biafra under General Odumegwu Ojukwu started in 1967 and ended in 1970. This followed the series of protracted negotiations and disagreements between the Gowon led Federal Government and Col. Ojukwu led Biafran Republic following the collapse of the Aburi Accord that took place in Ghana under the auspices of the Ghanaian leader, General Ankrah, it became clear that the stage was set out for an all-round hostility. The Aburi Accord was supposed to be the last hope of averting the hostility, but for the continuous insistence of both leaders on their policies, it became clear that the civil war was inevitable. The war that was intended to be a ″police action″ by the Federal Military government and hoped to last for just few weeks eventually lasted for two and a half years. The war led to a lot of technological innovations and advancement on the part of the Biafra. After successful blockages of all fronts of arms supply to Biafra, available ammunition was inadequate to fight the well equipped and superior weapons of the Nigerian government. To augment the shortage of arms, the Biafran government established the Research and Production Unit to manufacture locally produced Biafran war weapons.
This research has established that the Nigerian Civil War certainly induced scientific innovations, promoted the acceleration of scientific discoveries, and technological innovation on the Biafran side. Between 1967 and 1970 a domestic arms industry, forced by pressing military demands emerged in Biafra. A Research and Production unit was established with a common purpose and necessity with courage to complement the shortage of arms needed to prosecute the war. This reinforced the link between war and technological advancement. However, one of the limitations experienced in the making of arms in Biafra was that it was carried out on a relatively small-scale with low cost scientific research and by individuals and small groups.1 Huge capital investment in domestic arms procurement is required for the growth of domestic arms industries. In the absence of this, such an industry would only survive but not thrive.
The Biafran domestic arms industry failed to transform into a large-scale arms industry partly due to the low level of government attention in terms of capital investment. Adequate government attention was rather given to the external sourcing of arms through third party actors and the young arms industry in Biafra was used to complement this feat. Commenting on this great indigenous technological achievement, the Biafarn leader, general Ojukwu, avers that:
In the three years of war, necessity gave birth to invention. During those three years, we built a rocket launcher, modified aircraft to fighter’s jet, refined petrol at the back gardens. I the tree years, we became the most civilized; the most technologically advanced black people on earth. In all of these, the civil war supposed to be as source of lessons for the federal government and the Nigerian leaders seemed not to have learnt anything from the war. Today, corruption that formed part of the complaint of the failed Nzeogwu croupiest is on the highest order. The cabals the croupiest complained about is still holding on fight to power. The technology that was developed during the Biafran struggle was abandoned. This brings us to the focus of corruption, tribalism and nepotism as the two steel industries that were established by the post-war federal government are now shadow of themselves.2
The armored tank christened ‘Genocide’ was regarded to be the first armored tank to be put together by a black man in Africa over four decades ago that had the ingenuity to build a war machine in the form of an armored vehicle and send it to confront British made armored vehicles like the ferret, Saladin and Saracen that were being used by the federal government at the war fronts. The Federal government re-enact those achievements by developing them so as to lift the country up technologically. The war ought to set the stage of scientific and technological development for Nigeria. The creation of RAP to produce ammunition and other materials to support the war effort was a thing of pride. Those technological inventions are housed at the national war museum at Umuahia.
Despite the achievement in local arms production, Biafra encountered some problem in terms of arms procurement during the civil war. According to Umoh, ″Biafra invested so much in arms bargain and supplies but achieved far less. With tedious bargains, inflated costs and erratic supplies, Biafra lavished its foreign reserve on the procurement of arms and ammunition which failed to produce the desired military result. This would have had a greater diversionary effect if invested in the young arms industry. The injection of funds would have further financed Research and Development (R&D) taking it a more realistic step further than what mere patriotism and zeal provided. Proper investment in capital and infrastructure was needed to boost the size and structure of Biafran arms industry. This was relatively ignored by the Biafran government. Close relations between the Science Group, the Military Government and the fighting forces which defines the Military Industrial Complex (MIC) was also at its lowest
