RENEWED BIAFRAN AGITATION FOR SELF-GOVERNMENT: AN OVERVIEW

Abstract

The threat of secession by a section of Nigeria did not just start with the
Biafran agitation for self-government, at a point, the Action Group (AG)
sort to leave the entity called Nigeria because of “perceived”
marginalization. Biafra held Nigeria to a thirty month long civil war in
order to actualize its desire for self-government, the indivisibility and nonnegotiability
of the Nigerian entity and the right of people for selfdetermination
met at a conflicting juncture. In line with the above, this
paper attempts to examine the Renewed Biafran Agitation for Self-
Government with a view to identifying their flaws. The paper also attempted
a comparative analysis between the strategy employed by states that have
achieved self-government and the Biafran strategy. Hence, the study
leveraged on extant qualitative literature and made use of content analysis
to arrive at a conclusion. Therefore, the paper reveals that the renewed
Biafran agitation for self-government was as a result of perceived
marginalization of those occupying the Biafran area of Nigeria, in the light
of above, the paper recommend that tolerance…, sincerity of purpose,
avoidance of the repeat of history and advocated for following due
international and national procedure to secession and Nigerian federal
government thinking inwards in terms of Nigeria’s current federal
arrangement and return the country to practicing “true” federalism or
better still return to the derivation policy as against the present system of
revenue allocation formula.