EMEKA OKOYE. NEOREALISM AND THE NIGERIAN CIVIL WAR. The Nigerian civil war, popularly known all over the world as the "Biafra War" was fought from 2 July 1967 to 15 January 1970. The war was the culmination of an uneasy peace and stability that had plagued the Nation from independence in 1960. This situation had its genesis in the geography, history, culture and demography of Nigeria. The war was between the then Eastern Region of Nigeria and the rest of the country. The Eastern Region declared itself an independent state which was regarded as an act of secession by the Federal Military Government of Nigeria. The events leading up to the Nigerian Civil War and the causes are explained by Neorealism through balance of power politics. However Neorealism does not explain the actual purpose and objectives of the war. Evidences backing this are stated below:
1. The political crisis which linked the war could be explained since it was all about a power drive though restoring unity and peace was one of the aims of the war.
2. The secession triggered by the discovery of oil by the easterners and their fear of losing power over it to the northerners(security dilemma) yet another objective of the war was to fight causing limited destruction and little harm so that the economy would not be in a total destruction.
3. Tribal and Regional Tension between the three main tribes in Nigeria as a result of fear of one tribe dominating another and Britain’s wanting to maintain control over their interest in Nigeria also lead to the war while the war was still aimed at abolishing slavery(freeing the nation).
(M.Abubakar, “The Nigerian Civil War,” Nigerian History, vol. 5. No .8., 1980. Neorealism or structural realism does not take into consideration the aspect of human nature but rather defines anarchy meaning no central authority as the ordering principle and also by the distribution of capabilities measured by the number of great powers in the international system. In Neorealism the international structure acts as a constraint on state behavior so only states whose outcome fall within an expected range survive. Hence the system is seen as similar to a microeconomic model in which firms have to maintain their prices within a certain range in order to stay in the market. The quest for survival causes states to develop both offensive and defensive capabilities which are a sign of uncertainty amongst states. This lack of trust is called security dilemma. In general, states see each other as in a race for similar needs but not in capabilities for achieving them. This uneven distribution is what actually limits cooperation amongst states because of fear of relative gains as a result of the possibility of one state becoming dependent on another. The relative abilities of each state to maximize power and desire for power are the root of international relations. Elaborating on the first point, the political crisis which was the immediate cause of the civil war itself may be identified as the coup and the counter coup of 1966 which altered the political equation and destroyed the fragile trust existing among the major ethnic groups. As a means of holding the country together in the last result, the country was divided into twelve states from the original four regions in May 1967. The former Eastern Region under Lt. Col. Ojukwu saw the act of the creation of states by decree "without consultation" as the last straw, and declared the Region an independent state of "Biafra". The Federal Government in Lagos saw this as an act of secession and illegal. In addition the electoral fraud which included rigging and irregularities in the election were alleged to be more brazen and more shameful. Law and order broke down completely leading to an almost complete state of anarchy. Arson and indiscriminate killings were committed by a private army of thugs of political parties. Law abiding citizens lived in constant fear of their lives and properties. Several meetings were held to resolve the issue peacefully without success. Neorealism explains all that has been said above because it is obvious that all that is happening from the text is as a result of lack of central authority and fear of one state being dominated by another. However Neorealism does not explain the fact that to avoid disintegration and promote reunification of the country which was their actual goal so the central government was left with only one choice of bringing back the Region to the main fold by force .
(Wale Soyinka, “The Nigerian Civil War,” Nigerian History, vol. 1. No.1. , 1990 Secondly, Secession simply put is an act of withdrawing from a membership in a group. In addition, Secession occurs when persons in a country or state declare their independence from the ruling government. When a dissatisfied group secedes, it creates its own form of government in place of the former ruling government. Secessions are serious maneuvers that lead to or arise from, military conflict. The eastern region of Nigeria which possessed a vast majority of the oil in the nation feared that since the northerners were the ones in power in the country would strip them of their oil reserves or use the oil revenues to benefit only the north and West. Prior to the discovery of oil in the Niger-Delta region, most of the revenue in the country was from agriculture in the south and mineral resources from the north not until oil was discovered that the northerners sought interests in the eastern region, so this worsened the fears of the easterners. For this reason, the easterners decided to secede in order to prevent all this from happening. Neorealism explains this concept because this fear can be termed security dilemma which is the fear that states have because no state will want to subdue to another. However Neorealism does not explain the complication and contradiction of the war i.e. how and why the government of Nigeria wanted the war to just be a simple case of correction not fatal destruction.
Ken Okolo, “Nigerian Civil War,” This Day”, 2000. Thirdly, the division of Nigerian into different tribes had an effect during the period of the civil war since it is a very normal happening for tribes to go at war with each other. Tribalism simply put is the possession of a strong cultural or ethnic identity that separates oneself as a member of one group from the members of another. Tribalism was one of the causes of the civil war because different states sought the same needs but their capabilities for which they could get such needs which are one of the principles of Neorealism differ. Furthermore tribalism set states in a constant awareness of each other since all states are in a race for survival and no state wants to be dependent on another. This was one of the motives for the civil war and is explained by the principle of Neorealism since states are seeking survival and the fear of being exploited drives the security dilemma. In addition Britain sought interest again in Nigeria because of the minerals that were present in the nation. This induced the fear that was present in the Nigerian Economy so as a result of the easterners persisted they secede in order to guard their resources-oil. It is rather obvious that Neorealism explains all that has been mentioned above. However Neorealism does not explain the reason why the reason why the war was also aimed at abolishing slave trade. In other words, it does not explain why freeing the nation was one of the goals of the war.
Ben Okri, “The Nigerian Civil War,” The Vanguard, 1993. In conclusion, Neorealism explains the Nigerian Civil War in the sense that states sought survival and events that occurred prior to the war such as the political and electoral fraud, and also secession by the easterners due to fear of being dominated by the Northerners. However, Neorealism cannot testify to the purpose of the Nigerian civil war. The Nigerian civil war, unlike other wars across international boundaries of was a war of unification, a war of reintegration. It was therefore a much more difficult war for the Federal field commanders to prosecute with the objectives of unification in mind than wars fought against aggressors on foreign land. The human aspect was paramount. It was a contradiction and complication not easy to resolve - how to fight causing only limited destruction, how to inflict wounds and heal at the same time, how to subdue without fatal and permanent injuries, how to feed and house civilian population without exposing our troops to danger and risk of saboteurs and infiltrators, how to achieve surrender without inflicting permanent or long lasting psychological humiliation. From the evidences stated above, it is hence verified that Neorealism explains the events and causes leading to the war but the main aim/objective cannot be explained by Neorealism.