BIAFRA... WHAT A NAME

                                            BIAFRA ... WHAT A NAME

Biafra is all over the place. There is hardly any discussion in the southeast geo-zone or among the Igbo people regarding politics that Biafra is not mentioned. Even in the social circles, Biafra is often mentioned or talked about.

What is in a name, Igbo people attach importance to names. They are quick to tell you the meaning of a name once you show interest. Some traditional Igbo names are going out of circulation and so are names after deities. Today apart from names being meaningful, they are also fanciful.  

Biafra agitation started fifty years ago. Before the civil war, the name was foreign to most Igbo people. The only place that bore that name was the Bight of Biafra, renamed Bight of Bonny after the civil war. Not many people knew that before the war there was a place like that. 

Igbo people seeking for a sovereign state out of Nigeria toady claim the name more than any ethnic group in Nigeria. A name which the Ijaw people claims ownership, it was said that it was an Ijaw man that suggested the name of the about to secede Eastern Region. And to lend credence to that Isaac Adaka Boro Autobiography chapter six, page 57, mentioned the name Biafra. Some people points to the name origin to have emanated from the Portuguese who named the bight after Mafra a city and a municipality in the district of Lisbon, which was later, corrupted to Biafra.

Therefore, if Biafra is Ijaw, what is the meaning? Supposing it is Portuguese, what does it stand for. If it is Igbo, what is the meaning behind the name they are agitating for? I believe if you are fighting for a cause you must know what are fighting for, the meaning behind the name you are for, is important. Please can someone help with the meaning of the name Biafra.