War is war.

"No sentimentality comrades, war is war"! -Snowball in Animal Farm.

Wars are wars. There can't be civil or uncivil war. The categorization of wars as means of conflict resolution fundamentally negates the intents and causes of war. In simpler form, wars fought in both civilised and uncivilized climes, (as long as they are within same people and in same geographical location)are termed civil wars! Interesting.

What is not interesting however, is the aftermath of any war. I guess that is why the government is being asked to pay 50 billion naira to compensate war victims and a further 38 billion naira to state authorities to help rebuild damaged property by the Economic Community of West African States Court of Justice. Relax, we do not have the money and even if we did, there are no statistics to aid payment.

The three-year conflict was fought between the Nigerian government and the southeast- Biafra, and if by now, you still don't know the reason for the war, you are in good company, because I don't either. This is not meant to slight lives that were lost or laid down for the war, but just to underscore the importance of dialogue in conflict management. Scars of war do not heal easily no matter the amount of money spent on it, neither does the ghost of war gets exorcised at the mention of Halloween. Wars are better when unfought; especially the mindless one we had in 1967.

Before am hastened to be reminded about the pros of war like liberation of the oppressed(as expressed in American civil war), the ingenuity of managing the economy as well as the evolved technological initiative of the seccenionist during this period, the fact remains that all these are developments that could have been better managed under peaceful conditions.

Again,If you still do not know the story of the slave trade, it is either you are younger than this piece or slept through history class. Whichever way, you still will not be entitled to a recap- war memories are traumatizing. Anyway in 1860,The Civil War, also known as “The War Between the States,” was fought between the United States of America and the Confederate States of America, a collection of eleven southern states that left the Union in 1860 and 1861 and formed their own country in order to protect the institution of slavery. Of course, without rolling my eyeballs, the slaves in question were blacks!

In order not to lose the war after the battle was won, American Congress embarked on a reconstruction which lasted from 1866 to 1877, aimed at reorganizing the Southern states after the Civil War, providing the means for readmitting them into the Union, and defining the means by which whites and blacks could live together in a nonslave society. That is reconciliation and reconstruction. Not compensation.

Rather than embarked on deliberate and conceited effort in readmiting our brothers and their grievances back into the fold after the civil war, the federal government chose the path of winners take all. Since then, the South East have been licking their wound in the hope that further alienation- that is mainly self inflicted will not reopen their wound. The toothless court located in Abuja can bang it's gavel for all we care, it will never drown the drums of war resonating again in the not too distant future, This time,from all aggrieved tribes.

Monetary compensation is good, don't get me wrong,as long as it's equitable distribution will not brew another potential war. However, anything short of true reconciliation and reconstruction of the Nigeria entity will simply not suffice. I hope you have read this piece bearing in mind that we are entitled to our opinions, but not our own facts.