{"id":16709,"date":"2026-06-20T12:52:36","date_gmt":"2026-06-20T12:52:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev.iita.org\/news-item\/iita50-lookingback-biafran-war-almost-impeded-iita-establishment-history\/"},"modified":"2026-06-29T18:56:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-29T18:56:11","slug":"iita50-lookingback-biafran-war-almost-impeded-iita-establishment-history","status":"publish","type":"news-item","link":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/news-item\/iita50-lookingback-biafran-war-almost-impeded-iita-establishment-history\/","title":{"rendered":"IITA50-LookingBack: Biafran War almost impeded IITA establishment! [History]"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div id=\"attachment_2485\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\">\n\n<a href=\"https:\/\/iita.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/ff16_06.jpg\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2485\" src=\"https:\/\/iita.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/ff16_06.jpg\" alt=\"Picture of Dr F.F. Hill, Senior Consultant, Ford Foundation\" width=\"233\" height=\"215\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2485\" \/><\/a>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-2485\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Dr F.F. Hill, Senior Consultant, Ford Foundation<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nThe official legislation that would eventually construct IITA was just being reviewed by representatives of the Ford and Rockefeller Foundations when Nigeria\u2019s first military coup took place on 15 January 1966. The civil war that this coup led to had people questioning the decision to establish the institution in the country.\n\nForrest (Frosty) Hill, vice president of the Ford Foundation at the time, reinforced the decision to establish the institution in Nigeria in a taped interview. He noted that at the time the decision was made, nobody had anticipated the outbreak of a civil war. He also reiterated the various reasons as to why they decided to establish the institution in Nigeria, such as \u201c<em>Nigeria\u2019s resource endowments, encouraging economic growth, possession of the two best universities in sub-Saharan Africa, and a simple lack of better alternatives.<\/em>\u201d Therefore, planning of IITA\u2019s facilities continued without serious interruption, albeit a little slow.\n<div><a href=\"https:\/\/iita.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/50_160617.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2486 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/iita.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/50_160617.jpg\" alt=\"Picture of a group meeting\" width=\"484\" height=\"238\" \/><\/a><\/div>\nMyers\u2019 \u201cmandate\u201d\n<div id=\"attachment_2487\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\">\n\n<a href=\"https:\/\/iita.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/ff16_06_2.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2487\" src=\"https:\/\/iita.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/ff16_06_2.jpg\" alt=\"Picture of Will Martins Myers\" width=\"238\" height=\"208\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2487\" \/><\/a>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-2487\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Will Martins Myers<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\nWill Martin Myers, a representative of the Rockefeller Foundation, wrote a 38-page document entitled\u00a0<em>\u2013<\/em>\u00a0in 1964. In his paper, he emphasized that he was not \u201cnecessarily implying a departmental structure of administrative organization.\u201d Myers proposed research in areas that include plant sciences, agronomy and soil science, plant protection, biochemistry plant protection, biochemistry, animal sciences, agricultural engineering, and economics and other social sciences.\n\nThis large agenda may seem unrealistic today, but nearly 10 years after Myers\u2019 paper was written, the institution was already working on legumes, and root and tuber crops.\n\nThe institution was also already working on a project to introduce, select, and breed various crops with a view to integrating these into farming systems. Inevitably, Myers\u2019 suggestion was eventually considered by management as the institution\u2019s mandate, making it an integral document for understanding IITA\u2019s history.\n<div id=\"attachment_2488\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\">\n\n<a href=\"https:\/\/iita.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/ff16_06_3.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2488\" src=\"https:\/\/iita.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/ff16_06_3.jpg\" alt=\"Picture of a tractor in a farm\" width=\"742\" height=\"238\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2488\" \/><\/a>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-2488\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Despite the civil war, the construction of IITA began in 1967.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The official legislation that would eventually construct IITA was just being reviewed by representatives of the Ford and Rockefeller Foundations when Nigeria\u2019s first military coup took place on 15 January 1966.<\/p>","protected":false},"featured_media":16710,"template":"","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}}},"tags":[1911],"science-area":[],"program":[],"location":[32],"news-type":[],"hub":[61],"crop":[],"impact-areas":[],"item-year":[195],"class_list":["post-16709","news-item","type-news-item","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-iita-at-50iita-news-no-2385iita50-lookingback","location-nigeria","hub-western-africa","item-year-195"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>IITA50-LookingBack: Biafran War almost impeded IITA establishment! 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