Yakubu Gowon Defends Post‑Civil War £20 Payout, Says Igbo Depositors Repaid with Interest

Former Nigerian Head of State General Yakubu Gowon clarified in his memoir that the post‑civil‑war policy of paying each Biafran adult about £20 was a collective decision of the Federal Executive Council, not a personal directive by the late Finance Commissioner Obafemi Awolowo. He added that Igbo individuals who could prove pre‑war deposits in Nigerian banks received the full value of those funds together with accrued interest after the 1970 war. Gowon explained that the Biafran pound was not legal tender and could not be exchanged at par, prompting the Central Bank to set up a panel that recommended limiting payouts to avoid destabilising the economy. The policy formed part of the broader “no victor, no vanquished” reconciliation programme following the 1967‑1970 Nigerian Civil War.