Nigerian Quotes
I don't know whether I am [a world historical figure] or not. But certainly, I do know that I am probably the most Nigerian of Nigerians alive today. I also know that the failure of Nigeria has created a reflex and that reflex can be called Biafra. I know that in the context of Biafra that existed, I am very important. Having said that, I feel that I have a responsibility to always point out the deficiencies of Nigeria and to keep alive the alternative. That's why I say that there will always be, if not the Biafra of territory, Biafra of the heart.
Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu
The Federation of Nigeria is today as corrupt, as unprogressive and as oppressive and irreformable as the Ottoman Empire was in Eastern Europe over a century ago. And in contrast, the Nigerian Federation in the form it was constituted by the British cannot by any stretch of imagination be considered an African necessity. Yet we are being forced to sacrifice our very existence as a people to the integrity of that ramshackle creation that has no justification either in history or in the freely expressed wishes of the people.
Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu
The worst thing about Nigeria is that here is a nation that has so much potential but the only problem is that everybody seems unprepared to face the problems or the realities of the Nigerian situation. There is absolutely no way you can look at the Nigerian federation, the way it was conceived, and say it is a good federation. One of the federating units is bigger than the other units. The other thing is that everything that has worked in Nigeria, or appears to have worked, seems very much to have been an imposition. The idea that sovereignty belongs to the Nigerian people is all fiction as far as Nigeria is concerned.
Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu
On this score, I will briefly address the re-entry of Biafra as a talking drum in our recent polity. A minister of state (Mrs. Dupe Adelaja) had the recklessness to say that Biafran soldiers cannot enjoy retirement benefits, not minding, for instance, the reality that some of them were Nigerian soldiers before the emergence of Biafra and that pardon has been granted to all ex-Biafran soldiers.
Chuba Okadigbo
We have a wide divide between classes and we have a wide divide between cultures because we're from different tribes, we have different religions. You don't have to walk very far to see someone who has a really different life from you...I wouldn't want to write a novel and people feel that I'm speaking to a Nigerian experience – I'm speaking to my experience, to the things I'm interested in, and that's all I can do.
Oyinkan Braithwaite