CFM Programmes

"MEMORIALS"

In line with the mission of the Centre to document and preserve the collective history and memories of Ndigbo, for posterity, the Centre also holds memorial events of important historical dates, like the famous Aba Women Riot of 1929, The Massacre of Coal Miners at Iva Valley in Enugu in 1949, the pogroms and the Nigerian-Biafra War of 1966-1970 and so on.

The Centre holds an event annually every May 30th, on Biafra Remembrance Day, to commemorate the Nigeria-Biafra War which started on May 30, 1967. The event usually involves panel sessions with Biafra veterans and relief workers, tributes, and poetry performances to the fallen heroes/victims of the Biafra War and an opportunity to reflect and learn from the events of the past.

CFM also marks the Aba Women’s War of 1929 and Iva Valley Coal Mine Massacre, in which over 30 coal miners were brutally massacred by the British colonialists and more than 50 others injured, for daring to stand against exploitation, racially discriminatory practices in their workplace and to demand better wages. This comes up on November 18 every year. It features panel sessions with retired coal miners, drama, poetry and spoken word performances, and a wreath-laying ceremony at the coal-miners monument in Enugu.

CFM considers these memorials necessary because they form important parts of the Igbo history, especially as some of them fueled the nationalists’ agitation for Nigeria’s independence.