Former Military Head of State, Yakubu Gowon, has said that the Igbo were compensated for their losses after the Biafra Civil War.

According to Gowon, Igbos who had money in the bank were paid back with interest after the war ended.

The Biafra civil war started on July 6, 1967, and came to an end on January 15, 1970. Gowon was the Head of State during that period, while the late Obafemi Awolowo served as the Federal Finance Commissioner.

Gowon also defended Awolowo against unfair criticism. Some people had blamed Awolowo for giving them just 20 pounds, even though they claimed to have had millions of pounds in the bank before the war. Gowon dismissed these accusations.

The former leader spoke about this in his memoir, My Life of Duty and Allegiance, where he explained that the policy on controlling money after the war was the final decision taken by the Federal Government.

According to Gowon, the Central Bank set up a panel to look into how the Biafran pound could be converted into another currency. But this was always going to be difficult, because the Biafran currency was never officially recognised as legal tender in Nigeria.

Since so many Biafran pounds were in circulation, the Federal Government realised it could not exchange all of them at the same value as the Nigerian currency without causing the economy to collapse.

Economic experts therefore suggested that every adult from Biafra be paid around 20 Nigerian pounds, no matter how much Biafran money they brought back in.

Gowon said the government agreed to this proposal and made it an official policy, partly because they could not work out the details needed to print the Biafran currency.

However, he stressed that everyone who left Nigeria but had proof of money in Nigerian banks received their full amount plus the interest earned, all in Nigerian currency. He said taking a different path would have been a bad idea.