By Chuks Eke
Ndigbo Unity Forum, NUF Worldwide has demanded N18 trillion from the federal government of Nigeria as compensation for genocidal attacks allegedly committed against Ndigbo during the Nigeria/Biafra civil war that lasted from 1967 to 1970.
NUF said the amount being demanded as compensation would also cover the failed promises made by General Yakubu Gowon on three Rs of Reconciliation, Rehabilitation and Reconstruction which was not implemented to asuage the feelings of Ndigbo.
In a communique issued at the end of their two-day annual summit/ convention, NUF further demanded that all the political parties in the country should be mandated to field in a president of Igbo extraction as their Presidential candidate for the 2027 Presidential election, as part of measures to give Ndigbo a sense of belonging.
In the communique duly signed by it’s President, Austin Chukwudum, NUF insisted that having massacred over 3 million innocent Igbo civilians during the preplanned war and having failed to reconcile, rehabilitate and reconstruct as promised by Gowon, more that 50 years after the war, Ndigbo in Southeast and Anioma in Delta state, the N18 trillion compensation should be doled out with imnediate effect for use in roads construction, hospitals, agriculture, industries, tourism, education, among other development projects.
The forum also called on Southeast governor’s to harness agriculture, industry and tourism potentials. because according to them, Southeast zone has so much arable lands that can produce all kinds of food in large and commercial quantities ,while we have businessmen all over the world who have developed the host community outside igbo land.
“Those successful businessmen can be encouraged to come home built industries, and also invest in tourism, but all our governor’s both past and present have abandoned the above mentioned so far, thereby depriving the zone so much revenue to the tune of over $50 billon dollars annually and more than 20 million employment opportunities to our able bodied young men and women”.
“We condemn the killing of our people in Enugu state by Fulani herdsmen and we hereby call on Southeast governors to mandate all the local government chairmen, President of town unions and traditional rulers, to set up vigilante groups in all communities to checkmate criminals and herders who are going about killing the people with impunity”.
“We are raising this alarm based on what is on ground in Southeast with influx of these herders into Igbo land. We call on Ndigbo to be vigilant so that these herders can be checkmated to avoid further killing of our people which is ongoing trend in Enugu state”.
“We demand the creation of additional state in the Southeast because we are the zone with five state. while others have six and north west has seven. We call on the national assembly constitution review committee to include equal state for all the geopolitical zones and creation of Anioma state from the present Delta state in their review agenda”.
*We call on President Bola Tinubu to strength our local currency naira by reducing one USA Dollar to N50 since naira was devalued nearly two years ago, just as prices of commodity sky rocketed out of the reach of common Nigerian in the country, which is why people are dying of hunger on daily basis”.
“We also call on President Tinubu to stop exporting crude oil, since we have the largest refinery in the world. It is not proper for Nigeria, to be exporting crude oil, while Dangote refinery, was not allowed to function at full capacity, that we are making this that all the multi nationals must stop exporting crude oil and let government mandate them to refine petrol here and export only finished products and stop gas faring”.
