Do You Have a Connection to the Post-Biafran War “Twenty Pounds” Policy?

At the end of the Biafran War, in 1970, as part of a “No Victor, No Vanquished” policy ostensibly aimed at reintegrating former Biafrans into Nigeria, the Nigerian government gave every Biafran adult twenty Nigerian pounds. The real intentions of this policy, however, may have been in its implementation, which saw the financial assets of each former Biafran restricted to twenty pounds, regardless of their financial standing before and during the War.

Now, The Republic is trying to find out what happened to the recipients of the post-War government’s twenty pounds. Specifically, we’d like to know how dramatic changes in wealth brought on by the War and its political aftermath played out over the course of the lives of former Biafrans. We have designed this project with several working hypotheses in mind. These include: that the twenty pounds policy had devastating impacts on former Biafrans; and that, however, these impacts were not homogenous perhaps as a result of disparities in non-financial wealth.

If you have knowledge on your family history, or have always wondered the extent to which the War had an impact on your family’s possessions and believe you can use this project as an opportunity to seek and share more information, please let us know by completing the form below.

Once you fill the form, depending on the quality of your responses, our editors and researchers may reach out to you with more questions, to further develop your story. Please note that you retain the rights to all media and responses you supply to us.

We are particularly interested in stories driven by young people using this project as an opportunity to reconnect with older generations and learn more about their own history. The questions apply strictly to the descendants of former Biafrans, but if you do not have this connection and know of someone who does, please do not hesitate to share this with them, using, where applicable, the hashtag #BiafranWealth.

By filling this form, you acknowledge that you have a family connection to someone who received £20 from the Nigerian government at the end of the Biafran War.