Federal government agrees to pay victims of Biafran war N66bn in out-of-court settlement

NIGERIA'S federal government has agreed to pay a total of N88bn ($242.3m) to Ndigbo as compensation for the losses they suffered during the civil war which led to the loss of about 2m lives.

In what is now seen as closure to the lengthy chapter, the federal government has opted for an out of court settlement and agreed to release the money to compensate the victims of the Biafran war. Furthermore, the government has agreed to complete the demining and destruction of abandoned explosives within the southeast, south-south and north central geo-political zones of the country.

Earlier this month, the government agreed to pay the pensions of all Biafran retired policemen and taking this a step further, it opted to make further payments to war victims and end an ongoing case at the Ecowas Court in Abuja. Under the terms of the agreement, the government would pay N50bn compensation to those described as true victims of the civil war and a further sum of N38bn will be paid to contractors to clear the explosives.

According to the agreement, all the parties to the suit acknowledge that 685 persons were selected and classified as survivors while 493 of them were confirmed as victims of either landmines or other dangerous military ordnance including locally fabricated weapons, hence entitled to compensation including their families and communities. Both parties also acknowledged that a total of over 17, 000 bombs have been recovered and destroyed so far.