Excerpt on Biafra Memorial Day
Originally Published By BBC
He was a physics lecturer at UNN when the civil war began.
For the next 30 months, he headed the Research and Production (RAP) group comprising Igbo scientists from various fields.
Its primary responsibility was to provide technological support to the Biafran army, which was poorly equipped.
The RAP’s most notable product was the “ogbunigwe”, a weapons launcher of remarkable and devastating effect which influenced the outcome of many battles in Biafra’s favour, according to historical reports.
“Without us, the war would have lasted only about 30 hours,” said the 85-year-old.
“When the war started, there was not a single weapon either in a store or anywhere throughout Biafra. They only had knives and cutlasses. No gun, no bomb, no nothing.”
In the aftermath of the war, the Nigerian government did not want to impose any form of collective punishment.
Nevertheless, the Igbo faced some devastating consequences, particularly economically as the Biafran currency that people had accumulated became worthless.
Many Igbo still feel sidelined in Nigerian politics, as since the civil war no-one from the ethnic group has become president.
Mr Oragwu wishes that the Igbo had paid less attention to the scramble for power at the centre, and instead distinguished their region by advancing the technological gains of the war.
“Biafra would have been a technological nation and would have been able to compete with anybody,” he said, anger in his voice.
“That is what makes me sad. By this time, we would have been competing with at least South Korea.”
The scientist’s wartime accomplishments had caught the attention of the Nigerian authorities and he was invited by the government to pioneer a special science and technology programme for the country.
He was behind the setting up of four universities of science and technology in different regions of Nigeria and after retirement he published Scientific and Technological Innovations in Biafra, a book he hoped would inspire young Nigerians.
“Nigeria was programmed by the British colonial authorities not to participate in production and manufacture of global technologies,” he wrote in the book.
“The war gave the opportunity to… reject the colonial design.”
