Dr. Sylvester Ugoh, the Governor of the Central Bank of Biafra explained how he ran the two-man director institution for the 30 months the civil war lasted.
The Harvard-trained economist and former Minister of Science and Technology, narrated this during an interview with Vanguard.
Let us go back a little. You were the governor of the Central Bank of Biafra. How did you run the economy of that obviously besieged nation for three years, yet Biafra did not have the problem we are encountering now?
It was a different situation. Practically, most people in Biafra were interested in the success of the war. They were not interested in amassing wealth. So, the commitment was stronger than it is today. The people were prepared to make sacrifices which, today, people are not prepared to make. So, the situation is different. That, I think, explains your observation.
What did you do, practically, to run that economy?
I did not really run the economy as such. What I did was that, with the withdrawal of the Nigerian currency from Biafra, we had to try to create a money system that could be used to substitute for the Nigerian Pound, to facilitate buying and selling of goods and services.
So, my primary attention as governor of Central Bank of Biafra was really to make sure that we had enough currency to facilitate the running of the economy. That was the only thing we did because we were in a war situation and could not engage in other activities that a Central Bank ordinarily undertakes.
Were you printing currency?
Of course, yes. We did. We had to create a Biafran currency. We had to print the notes and put them into circulation. That was what was used for trading once the Nigerian currency was withdrawn from circulation.
Inflation was not as high as it is today. How did you achieve that?
As I told you, commitment by the people was strong. Moreover, we had help from the International Red Cross (IRC) and other donor countries. Also, people who were not involved in military activities farmed anywhere they wanted. Even school football fields were converted into farms. So, we were, at least, able to produce something, though the problem Biafra had was that as the war situation got worse in some areas, the people from there moved to other areas. Of course, there was hunger. We cannot run away from that.
What was your relationship with the Biafra Head of State, Emeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu?
There was nothing much. He just handed over the bank to me and asked me to take care of it, so that he would not have to worry himself about what was happening in that field.
Even when I asked him to appoint some other members of the board to help me run the place, he said he had not complained about my running it alone; that I should go ahead; that he didn’t have any more people to give me; that everybody else was busy. He had complete confidence in me and allowed me to run the bank as I would because he felt I was doing the right thing. Only on a few occasions would he send for me, if he needed some information; otherwise, he left me to run the bank without any interference.
How many people were on the board of the Central Bank of Biafra?
There were only two of us. Even then, the other person was on the warfront. So, I was a one-man board, in fact.
Who was the other person?
The late (William) Uzoaga who was a professor of Business Administration, University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN). He was in the Military Intelligence; so, I never saw him.