By Japhet Alakam
LAGOS – The Federal Government has been urged to absorb Biafran scientists who produced the technological and scientific innovations that sustained their efforts during the thirty months civil war, despite the adverse conditions which they operated.

The submission was made by Admiral Ndubuisi Kanu, former military governor of old Imo and Lagos States and member of the Supreme Military Council, during the presentation of a new book, Scientific and Technological Innovations in Biafra, The Ogbunigwe Fame 1967-1970, written by one of the brains behind the feat, Dr. Felix Oragwu, in Lagos.

According to retired Navy officer, the loss of Biafra robbed Africa of what would have been a world power technologically, economically and politically.

He said: “It is most unfortunate that Nigeria could not imbibe and absorb any lesson from the scientific and technological innovations in Biafra.

“That is why 50 years after, along with the underpinning problems of faulty foundational structure, the country can hardly generate electricity or refine crude oil.”

Speaking on the state of the nation, Kanu, who chaired the August occasion, bemoaned Nigeria’s leaders for failure to learn from the lessons of the war.

He said: “ It is also unfortunate that Nigeria in real terms, did not learn anything from the war itself.”

Pointing out that virtually all the societal problems that led to the war are still present and have not been addressed.

The launch of the book which gives inside details with quotes and landmark achievement of the Biafran scientists during the civil war was graced by notable dignitaries especially some of the surviving Biafran engineers and scientists that contributed to the production of the dreaded weapon called Ogbunigwe, Ohanaeze chieftains, Ndi Igbo Lagos and others.