As BGIE, we need to lead our people from the front. Sometimes, that means leading from behind or even from within—and all at once. At all times, it boils down to thinking outside the box of experience and life in which we are all  certainly immersed. We need to do a little more and see a little further than the collective.

We are looking to establish, in an enduring schema:

1)      An organ, not an organization, association, group, or movement

2)      An institution, not a movement, an individual, a hero, or messiah

3)      A structure, not a party, a chamber, or a parish

4)      Bureaucrats, not figureheads, self-appointees, office-holders or godfathers

And we want such established in our homeland, not in diaspora, not elsewhere in Nigeria; but right there in Igboland / Biafraland.

Credo

It is our conclusion that until Biafra is actualized, efforts and acts to obtain an Independent Biafra (by any name or configuration) will persist. It is also our prediction that there may even come a period of time when it appears that such activity has been defeated or forgotten, but this will be followed by a sudden unstoppable resurgence seeming to come out of nowhere, leading quickly to a certain achievement of independent Biafra. For this reason, no one who is into the struggle should lose faith or hope; by the same token, no one opposed to our pursuit of Biafra should rejoice with mockery during the ebbs of this movement to actualize Biafra.  Biafra is here and stays. And it comes about either in the natural course of Nigeria disintegrating, or through principled Self-determinism.

Current Status

Let’s say Nigeria evaporates today; then, Biafra will emerge—independent, the same day. There will be an unavoidable vacuum which relatively well-organized pro-Biafran groups will attempt to fill—at least, initially— divided by partisan politics and destined for internecine conflict. At the same time, former Nigerian politicians choose between fading into ignominy while retiring with ill-gotten wealth and fighting for relevance and importance in the new Biafra dispensation. Other Igbo / Biafran organizations which failed to support pro-Biafra activism will not leave Biafra now; they will instead scramble to grab power, showing neither shame nor remorse for stepping in, proverbially, to reap where they did not sow. One does not need a crystal ball to see the result: chaos, generating violence and hardship, leading to paralysis, the type of Biafra that detractors are waiting for to mock us with “…’told you so!...”

What to Do

To avoid the scenario above and start Biafra on a sound footing, we need to take the following steps which focus on initiating, building and sustaining enduring living political, social, economic, education and Public Health structures and institutions (not in any particular order).
1) Secure, support and promote a legitimate, legal single holistic Biafran people’s political organ which will represent the people’s collective political aspirations and push and implement the people’s political agenda in all its political ramifications including diplomacy and international relationships. This organ is
not for control, governance or partisanship and does not participate in Nigeria’s politics. This organ is not of or about any pre-existing pro-Biafran groups.
2) Institute an Education agenda: supplement Education for Biafran children and youth by designing and implementing syllabuses and content which have been tried and tested in advanced Nations of the world; and by employing tools such as the ubiquitous Internet and its media along with its enabling connectivity, focusing at the same time on excellence in both practical, STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) and intellectual learning and research.
3) Re-introduce basic Public Health principles: emphasize sanitation, personal hygiene, home and environmental hygiene, clean streets and clean public spaces, exercise, good nutrition, moderation in consumption; and rejection of drug use and abuse.
4) Restore sense of community: trust, neighborliness, extended family, equity, justice, fairness, merit. Orderliness. Restore cultural activities and cultural artefacts. Review traditions and customs and shun practices that are clearly harmful, outmoded, racist and chauvinistic or victimize innocent people and or alienate people. Place our society within the context and light of the rest of the world, especially, the best of the world.
5) Exploit, embellish and grow our economic prowess. Diasporan Biafrans send home up to an estimated $10B-$20B pure cash annually: let’s task ourselves to show something for that. The so-called re-basing of Nigeria’s economy only revealed, highlighted and acknowledged Biafrans’ contributions to Nigeria’s economy and its ranking as the largest economy in Africa; before now, Nigeria would not give Biafrans the credit. Sponsor at least one commercial bank. Sponsor at least one insurance company (for property and business protection). Invest in our homeland. Build manufacturing industries in our homeland. Build Service industries in our own homeland. Provide jobs, opportunities and apprenticeships for our youths and graduates and other able-bodied men and women. Rebuild our homeland. If our people will not invest and rebuild Biafran homeland, then we invite, encourage and subsidize foreign investors to come in and do so.
These steps are all centered on the same ground-zero: our homeland—Igboland or Biafraland. It cannot be over-emphasized that any meaningful and contributory activity shall have its root and stem in our home and land proper.

Summary

Our task is to begin, continue and sustain, in our homeland, the structures and institutions which will address the five points above. And, we need to sensitize our people on the need for and value of these institutions. How (well) we transition in Biafra at independence and post-independence depends on how we score on these points.

Signed:

Government of the Federation of Biafra
Biafra Provisional Government
Biafra Government In Exile
Biafra Shadow Government

Email:  BGIE@biafraland.com
September 2014