The Press FRIDAY, JANUARY 30, 1970. Nigeria’s Plight

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32209, 30 January 1970, Page 12

The Press FRIDAY, JANUARY 30, 1970. Nigeria’s Plight

Just how bad conditions are among the Ibo peoples of what was once Biafra remains unclear, but the Nigerian Federal Government has so far barely scratched the surface of the massive task of relief and rehabilitation. Assurances that all was well, from U Thant, who visited Lagos for 24 hours but did not go inside the former Biafran enclave, have been flatly contradicted by his representative, Brigadier Said-Uddin, of Pakistan. The Brigadier toured the stricken areas with the first party of foreign journalists and confirmed their reports of starvation, lack of medical services and a breakdown In discipline among some Federal troops. The Nigerian Government dismissed the reports as “ heinous “ propaganda ”, but its own representatives in Biafra at the same time submitted reports which substantially confirmed those in the press. No complete account of conditions in the former ! Biafra has been given; probably none ever will be. | The journalists were confined to the main roads.> Many young Ibo men and women are reported to. have taken to the bush. Some towns and many villages in the area have still not been visited by anyone who has made his observations known. Mr Wilson was justified in saying that the sensational newspaper reports were “ episodic ”, but not in saying that the more cheering reports of his own special envoy to Nigeria (Lord Hunt), who saw even less than the journalists, gave an “ over-all picture ”. Mr Wilson, on that occasion, must have been more concerned to win friends in Lagos than to reassure a doubting readership in the United Kingdom.

Nevertheless, progress is being made. Last week the Nigerian Red Cross distributed 1400 tons of food. It expects to increase this rapidly to 4000 tons a week. Many thousands of Ibos may have already died of starvation, but the worst crisis in feeding the survivors is over. The United States has offered 10,000 tons of food a week for as long as is necessary. Vehicles to distribute food and medicine have been arriving steadily. from Britain. Even the Federal Army has been making amends for its excesses by feeding refugees from its own limited resources in the field. Nigeria has opened three airports in the Eastern Region to relief flights, though none of them is in the worst affected area. About 600,000 persons are in refugee camps and the number is expected to rise to more than a million. Radio and telephone communications are slowly being restored, making it easier to direct help where it is needed most.

In the longer run the signs are less encouraging. There has been no genocide against the Ibos, and no reports of last-ditch Biafran guerrilla attacks. But Nigerian newspapers are still boasting of the Federal victory and demanding public loyalty oaths from the secessionists before they are readmitted to the administration. The Federal Government’s perform-' ance in restoring normal life where it has had the chance has been poor. Enugu, once the capital of Biafra, has been in Federal hands for nearly 18 months, but it still has a population of only 4000 and no public services. Before the war it was almost as big as Christchurch. The most pressing problem now is to persuade Ibos hiding in the bush to come out and to find means of returning perhaps two million displaced people to their homes. The villagers must plant crops before the spring rains come in April—or relief feeding must go on until September, 1971. Seeds are said to be available for yams, the chief crop in the villages, if people can be given a chance to use them. Worst of all, according to welfare teams, a long delay in a return to normal farming and village life could leave the majority of the Ibos with a “refugee psychosis”, similar to that of Palestine’s Arab refugees; a tendency to do nothing, to sit and “ wait for something “ to happen ”, amid a growing dependence on outside relief and sustenance. General Gowon has insisted he wants normality restored as fast as possible; with ample material help now on hand he should have every chance to make good his promises.