Biafran Research and Production
Biafran Research and Production or Research and Production (RAP) was a scientific and engineering research institution of the Republic of Biafra that researched and manufactured military technology for the Biafran Armed Forces during the Nigerian Civil War.[1]
RAP was founded in April 1967 by Biafran scientists at the University of Biafra (now University of Nigeria) to independently manufacture weapons and technology that were difficult for the Biafran military to acquire from abroad due to the Nigerian blockade of Biafra.[2] Technologies produced by chemists included incendiaries, smoke signals, detonators, napalm, primers, rocket fuels, cocktails, and bombs.[2] Engineering groups produced grenade and rocket casings, mortar shells, bullets, and armored vehicles.[2] One of the best known weapons was Ogbunigwe, a family of highly effective explosive devices that killed thousands of Nigerian soldiers in a single blast. Scientists at RAP additionally experimented with the development of chemical and biological weapons.[3]
RAP allowed Biafra to unexpectedly fight an extended war against the Soviet and British-backed Nigerian military, while Biafra received comparatively little international military aid.[4]
The weapons and vehicles produced by RAP are on display at the National War Museum, Umuahia.[5]
References[edit]
- ^ Jowett, Philip S.; Ruggeri, Raffaele (2016). Modern African wars. 5: The Nigerian-Biafran war 1967-70. Oxford: Osprey Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4728-1609-2.
- ^ a b c Ukaegbu, Chikwendu Christian (2005). "Lessons from Biafra: The Structuration of Socially Relevant Science in the Research and Production Directorate". Social Forces. 83 (4): 1395–1423. doi:10.1353/sof.2005.0085. ISSN 0037-7732. JSTOR 3598398. S2CID 155015139.
- ^ Daly, Samuel Fury Childs (September 2018). ""Hell was let loose on the country": The Social History of Military Technology in the Republic of Biafra". African Studies Review. 61 (3): 99–118. doi:10.1017/asr.2018.41. ISSN 0002-0206. S2CID 150335685.
- ^ Azuonye, Chukwuma (1 January 2011). "'Up These Hills to the Mountain Top': Memories of 'The Golden Sun' in Michael Echeruo's War Poems (Distanced)". Paper Presented at the 9th Annual Conference of the Igbo Studies Association on the Theme, "Nkeiruka: Shaping the Future of the Igbo Nation," at Howard University, Washington, DC, April 8–9, 2011.
- ^ Ikokwu, Ogbonnaya (7 February 2020). "National War Museum re-echoes Biafra struggle 50 years after". Punch Newspapers.