Lessons from Biafra: The Structuration of Socially Relevant Science in the Research and Production Directorate

Abstract

Africa's dismal economic performance is directly attributable to its weakness in the production and use of modern technology. Even Nigeria, a country with immense human and material resources, coupled with significant scientific infrastructure, has not yet been able to manage the all-important technological leap forward. The situation was different in Biafra , when indigenous scientists and engineers performed socially relevant science without the preconditions conventionally perceived as necessary for technological development. Anchored in structuration theory, this article explores the sociology of scientific and technological practice in Biafra, outlines the achievements of Biafran scientists and engineers, and offers explanationsof why the Biafran technological success has not been replicable in post-civil war Nigeria. Discussion concludes with a suggestion for developmentdriven geopolitical restructuring.The literature on development, especially from the 1960s through the 1980s, has emphasized several perceived obstacles to technological development in [4][5][6] 2003 . This article reflects on my experience as a young accounts clerk in the Biafran office of Research and Production (RAP),where I observed firsthand the magic of will and the power of social capital to evoke the best of human potentialities. I thank Simon Ottenberg, whose pioneering work on Igbo institutions and culture providedme with the rightforum and motivationfinally to write this presentwork, which had lingered in my mind since the end of the Nigerian-Biafran war in 1970. Thanksalso to Christian Iroegbu, Emmanuel Enekwechi, Emmanuel Nnadozie, Ebere Onwudiwe, Chudi Uwazuruike, and Ifeanyi Uzoka for the series of informal discussions and conversations that directly and indirectly helped to crystallize my idea, and to Gale Bandsma and Elaine Force for their secretarial help. I thank the anonymous reviewers of Social Forces for their help in sharpening my thoughts. Direct correspondence to Chikwendu Christian Ukaegbu,

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