The
Nigerian Civil War, also known as the
Biafran War, 6 July 1967 – 15 January 1970, was a war fought to counter the
secession of
Biafra from
Nigeria. Biafra represented nationalist aspirations of the
Igbo people, whose leadership felt they could no longer coexist with the Northern-dominated federal government. The conflict resulted from political, economic, ethnic, cultural and religious tensions which preceded Britain's formal decolonization of Nigeria from 1960 to 1963. Immediate causes of the war in 1966 included
a military coup,
a counter-coup, and
persecution of Igbo living in Northern Nigeria. Control over
oil production in the
Niger Delta played a vital strategic role.