NIGERIA (Hansard, 19 January 1970)

§ The Prime Minister (Mr. Harold Mr. Harold Wilson)
With permission, Mr. Speaker, I should like to make a statement on the situation in Nigeria as it has developed over the past 10 days. I apologise for its length, but it covers a great deal of important ground.
I am sure that all hon. Members, whatever view they have taken about the rights and wrongs of the Nigerian war, will join in heartfelt relief that the fighting and bloodshed has now ended. [HON. MEMBERS: "Hear, Hear."]
Secondly, I feel there will be widespread relief that the end, when it came, was the result of a decision to end further resistance and that the issue did not have to be fought out to the last remaining acre of the area which, up to last Saturday week, was controlled by Colonel Ojukwu.
And, thirdly, I believe that most hon. Members will share the general recognition that the end of the fighting has been marked on both sides in Nigeria by a strong desire not only that the issues which have so sharply divided Nigeria should be regarded as a thing of the past, but that all concerned should turn their backs on the past in a new era of reconciliation and reuniting of old comrades one with another.
In this connection, I know that very many, if not all, hon. Members will join with me in paying tribute to the magnanimity in victory of General Gowon, including what we have seen on our own television screens—the warm acceptance back into the fold of many of those who have played a leading part in the fighting on the other side; and in feeling that these public demonstrations are not an empty gesture, but represent a sincere desire for unity.
If this is no surprise to me it is because I was convinced on my visit to Nigeria last year of the complete sincerity of General Gowon in what he said to me about what his attitude would be once the fighting had stopped.
It is in this context that the House can form a judgment on the anxieties and fears expressed a week ago—and I know how sincere these anxieties were—that the end of the fighting would be marked 35 by reprisals and victimisation, involving the deaths of many innocent people.
It was the existence of these fears, and not belief that they were justified, that led Her Majesty's Government, together with others, to join in the establishment of some independent means of verification of what actually happened when areas previously controlled by Colonel Ojukwu came under the control of the Federal forces. Since the late summer of 1968, for 17 months, a team of impartial international observers, set up by the Federal Government themselves, each of them carrying the fullest confidence in his own country, have had every facility for seeing Federal troops in contact with Ibo personnel, Ibo refugees and Ibo civilian population in areas they have occupied. Their reports, which are in the Library of the House, speak for themselves.
I think that the House will be ready to accept further that such evidence as has already reached us over the past week has shown that the clear orders of General Gowon have been carried out in the period since the fighting stopped. Lord Hunt was reported last night as having said, and has confirmed to me after his visit this weekend to the forward areas, that he has seen and heard of nothing which would justify the fears to which I have referred.
From the moment the fighting ended it was clear that the emphasis must be on the provision of food and medical supplies. We immediately offered the Nigerian Government any help within our power; the President of the United States and I conferred on this matter over the telephone; and I asked my hon. Friend the Joint Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, who was in West Africa, to go to Lagos, where he was at once received by General Gowon and discussed how we could best help. He had already seen U Thant in Yaounde.
Although the facts on the ground were very far from clear, and did not, in fact, begin to clarify until a day or two later, it seemed clear that the relief problem was not so much that of supplies within easy reach of the affected areas, but of transport for getting it through. It began to emerge that the worst hit areas were around Gwerri, Orlu and Uli.
36 It was known that 13,000 tons of relief supplies were available within Nigeria and a further amount up to 10,000 tons in neighbouring countries. It was also known that a substantial part of the food supplies in Nigeria had already been moved up into the forward areas by the Nigerian Red Cross in the wake of the advancing troops.
It became clear, therefore, that the immediate problem would seem to be that of road transport, and as soon as this became possible, river and coastal transport within Nigeria. It was no longer mainly a question of getting supplies into the enclave by air, since once we could be sure that the fighting had stopped, and that the roads were clear, we could rely on the fact that by far the most effective means of moving the food and other essentials into the area would be by road, and, as I have said, later, by water transport.
We had, of course, at that stage, no evidence about the conditions of the roads and bridges. But lest there should be a problem here we offered, within hours of Saturday night's news, the services of units of the Royal Engineers should these be required, to repair roads and bridges, and, should this be necessary, airfields. In the event, this offer was not taken up. By Tuesday we had been informed that the main road from Port Harcourt to Umuhia was clear for 24 hour traffic, and that although a vital bridge had been destroyed on the road from Aba to Owerri units of the Nigerian Army had already repaired it.
While I believe that the roads and rivers present the best and quickest means of getting supplies in quickly, there may be some instances where air transport will be needed and this is also something which the Nigerian Government is looking at. I hope to hear further from Lord Hunt on this matter.
While there was inevitably a considerable amount of confusion both about the real needs of the area, and the best means of dealing with these needs, there was no assurance that the fighting would stop after the events of Saturday night. I thought it right to have ready a Hercules of R.A.F. Air Support Command loaded with 10 tons of standard medical equipment. We had already asked the Federal authorities for their 37 precise requirements in terms of medical supplies.
The fact that the aircraft did not take off when we were ready to send it has been the subject of some comment. All I would say is that I would rather have had it ready in case it was needed than get an urgent request and be forced to spend valuable hours on getting the supplies ready for despatch.
Nigerian requirements were discussed with the Nigerian authorities in Lagos and our High Commissioner was furnished with a confirmed list of urgent requirements for medical supplies, transport equipment, doctors and nurses and we were further requested that these should be sent by civil aircraft.
Lord Hunt, whom I asked to go to Nigeria at the earliest possible moment to help in assessing what further assistance was needed, was having a further meeting this morning with the Nigerian authorities to receive a further statement of requirements, and these will be met, as were the requisitions we received last week.
On the question of relief supplies and administration, I understand the anxiety of many hon. Members and many others in this country, as well as other Governments and relief agencies all over the world, and their urgent desire to go and provide the help that is needed. But the House will know that the Federal Government made a clear decision that all aid should be furnished through the Nigerian authorities and the Nigerian Red Cross, and this was supported by the International Committee of the Red Cross. This is, I think, the answer to the many agencies and individuals who, impatiently and understandably, wanted to get through on their own by flights across Nigerian territory into Uli.
It has been the purpose of Her Majesty's Government as far as relief supplies are concerned to ensure three things, and this process began nine days ago. First, to work with and through the Nigerian authorities, with the help of the relief agencies, to ensure the movement of supplies in an ordered but urgent way. Secondly, to use our influence through our discussions with Governments in all parts of the world to ensure that whatever was needed was available; and, thirdly, to ensure that British organi- 38 sations best able to help were kept in close touch with Her Majesty's Government and the precepts upon them centralised through our own contacts with the Federal Government.
We were also determined to see that whatsoever might already be on the ground in Nigeria the relief operation should not be held back for one moment through fears either about supplies or money. This was one of the issues I discussed with President Nixon during my telephone conversation with him last Sunday night and subsequently.
The House will have noted the announcement of Her Majesty's Government last Tuesday that we had decided to make available over and above our normal aid to Nigeria up to £5 million in cash or in kind to meet urgent needs for relief and rehabilitation, and I made it clear to the British relief agencies last Tuesday that any of them having a call for help should not feel themselves precluded by lack of resources from responding, but should feel able to call on the Government for help. Supplementary Estimates will be presented to the House as soon as possible and in the meantime advances will be sought from the Civil Contingencies Fund if necessary.
There have been many estimates of the numbers of people in the enclave, including refugees who have fled from the enclave, in urgent need of medical assistance or of food. Some estimates have been greatly exaggerated and have gone far beyond the total number of human beings in the area; though as I said last Monday night on British television, while that might be so, Her Majesty's Government were not disposed to underrate the gravity of the situation and the numbers who were, nevertheless, in real need.
Some of these were already being cared for by the Nigerian Red Cross, and by Federal troops, as a result of the occupation by the Federal troops of a substantial area in the South East of the enclave earlier this month. Others have been receiving assistance throughout last week. The present position is that 13 tons of British medical supplies specifically requested by the Nigerian authorities have already been flown from this country and we await Lord Hunt's recommendations about what further drugs or equipment are needed. All available civil 39 charter capacity has been engaged in a continuing operation to air-lift 50 Land-rovers and 62 trucks to Nigeria. Over 30 vehicles have already gone.
The quota of 15 doctors and 20 nurses the British Government have so far been asked to supply is being quickly filled, thanks to the magnificent help the Government have had from the relief agencies. Twenty have already left for Nigeria or will be leaving later today, and the remainder should be there in the next few days. All these will be completely financed by the British Government.
Lord Hunt, whom I asked to go to Nigeria last week, together with the Director General of the British Save the Children Fund and the Deputy Director General of the British Red Cross, has already informed me of the results of his discussions with the Federal authorities, and his two-day visit to the forward areas. One serious problem is the situation in some of the hospitals and particularly the care of war wounded and children. This has arisen partly because of the flight of some medical staff. The number affected is not large as a proportion of the whole population. None the less, the human suffering is very serious. I am glad to say that, wherever cases have been identified, the Nigerian Red Cross is reported to have acted with energy to bring immediate help. Sir Colin Thornley and Mr. Hodgson, who have gone on separate missions to these areas, have not yet returned to Lagos.
I realise that nothing that has been done, either by the Nigerian authorities, including their relief agencies, or by Her Majesty's Government, will fully allay the anxieties of hon. Members about the condition of many of our fellow Commonwealth citizens who are still on the margin, and, tragically, many of them within the margin, of starvation. For that reason, I propose to ensure that as further information becomes available the House will be told.
But at least I hope that the response of General Gowon and his colleagues, and, in particular, his public reconciliation with Colonel Effiong and Sir Louis Mbanefo, and the lead given by them, will encourage the House, indeed the world, about the desire of all concerned to work together to save human life, and, in a 40 wider sense, to approach the problems of Nigeria, and not least its Ibo population, in a spirit of reconciliation. Should further reassurance be needed I would find it in the reports of reconciliation within Army units of former comrades who, for two and a half years, have been engaged in bitter conflict. I would find it, too, in the reports of Federal doctors and nurses and Ibo doctors and nurses, of social workers, and troops, working together in hospitals and townships as though they had never been in conflict.
But there is still a long way to go. The full extent of the problem cannot be known until those who have fled into the bush have returned. I want the House to know that whatever the extent of the problem, Her Majesty's Government will continue to play their full part in meeting with humanity the needs of people who, for reasons outside our control, have already suffered far too long.

§ Mr. Heath
The House is grateful to the Prime Minister for making a detailed statement about the action which the Government have taken. We on this side—and, I think, the whole House—welcome the action. We share the view that it was absolutely right to go through the Federal Government in Lagos rather than try to force the issue outside it, as some have suggested and some have tried, and also to work very closely with the voluntary bodies in this country.
May I ask the Prime Minister whether any requests have been made from Lagos which the Government have not yet been able to meet? Secondly, in connection with the stocks of food and supplies which are in the hands of organisations for which the Federal Government are not prepared to approve entry into Nigeria, is it possible for these stocks to be taken over by any other voluntary organisation, such as the British organisation, of which Lagos would approve, and then brought speedily into Nigeria?

§ The Prime Minister
I thank the right hon. Gentleman for what he has said.
In reply to his first question, whether there have been any requests from Nigeria that the Government have not been able to meet, the answer is "No, Sir". As I have said, Lord Hunt was meeting the Nigerian authorities this morning and was, I think, due to receive a further list of requirements. We shall examine them 41 urgently and see that, one way or another, they are met, although I am not at this moment in a position to say what will be in that list because we have not received it.
On the right hon. Gentleman's second question, it is certainly, I think, the desire of all the relief agencies, and, I am sure, of the Federal Government, that not one life should be risked by the denial of supplies. The question of a certain degree of ingenuity in moving supplies around from one relief agency to another would certainly be high on the agenda if this became necessary.

§ Mr. E. L. Mallalieu
Is my right hon. Friend aware that after nearly a week of intensive search, ending yesterday, in Nigeria, I failed to find any evidence of a desire of people, in high places or low, to have revenge against the former rebels? Is he further aware that already the Federal Government of Nigeria has offered to reinstate the former civil servants of the Eastern Region who may have been in rebellion during the last few years?

§ The Prime Minister
I am grateful to my hon. and learned Friend for confirming from his own observations—and perhaps he is the only hon. Member of the House in a position to do that at this moment—what has been reported to us and what has been reported, also, by a number of non-British representatives. I think, for example, of representatives of the Red Cross. I am sure that what my hon. and learned Friend says is the case.
With regard to the higher civil servants, other officials and military personnel in that area, one of the encouraging things is the extent to which they are working, either in the area affected or in Lagos, in close harmony with their former Federal colleagues.

§ Mr. Thorpe
Is the Prime Minister aware that we share his relief that this ghastly war has at last ended so suddenly and, I freely admit, to some of us, so unexpectedly quickly? Is he further aware that we welcome any efforts of Her Majesty's Government to preserve human life in Nigeria?
If it is not yet possible to assess the number of refugees in need of aid, can the Prime Minister say what is the extent of the geographical area where Federal 42 troops and, therefore, relief agencies, have not yet been able to make contact?

§ The Prime Minister
As I have said, there was some difficulty in the first day or two because of the sheer black-out of information and it was not until the fighting stopped—that meant the statement by Colonel Effiong, in the first place, and then the order by the Federal commanders that the advance should cease and the police take over—that we began to get any real picture of the situation on the ground. To the extent that the military are able to withdraw and the police take over, this will speed the sources of information to the Federal authorities and, therefore, to ourselves.
With regard to the areas which are believed to be most affected—I think they were the three I have mentioned, Uli, Orlu and Owerri—already a great deal is going on over a great part of that area, but we are still worried about one or two sectors within that area. It is impossible yet to quantify the figures, but the right hon. Gentleman will have seen estimates of the numbers who might be affected.
It is, I think, fair to say that of the number who might be affected—we can only guess what happens until people come back out of the bush when their confidence returns—something like one-fifth of those are probably in urgent need of supplies, the rest being in need of supplementary relief.

§ Mr. Barnes
Can my right hon. Friend say how many tons of food have gone into the area from Uli and Orlu, where so many people congregated since the Joint Church Aid airlift stopped just over a week ago? Has Britain made any offer of civilian planes to the Nigerian Government to fly food over the same period into Uli airstrip, which, it appears, can be made operational very quickly?

§ The Prime Minister
I could not at this stage answer this question. When I have further information from Lord Hunt which helps to clarify the situation, I will be ready to make it available to the House as quickly as I can.
We have made it plain to the Nigerian Government that we shall be ready to supply aircraft or anything else at the earliest possible moment. With regard to the question of the possible use of Uli airstrip, I refer my hon. Friend to what I said in my original statement.

§ Mr. Hugh Fraser
Could the right hon. Gentleman give us an estimate of the numbers involved? Would he refer to the statement which has been made by the Rev. Mr. Somerville, of the Church of Scotland, who left Uli last Saturday, who produced figures to show that on the Protestant side nearly 3 million people were in urgent need of relief and that on the Catholic side of Joint Church Aid there was a similar figure? This is the problem which worries the House of Commons—that there are something like 4 million people in urgent need of relief.

§ The Prime Minister
I think that it is quite impossible to form an authoritative estimate even nine days after the reverend gentleman in question had left the area concerned. Certainly, all the information available to me, to the Nigerian authorities, to the Red Cross, to the international agencies, to Lord Hunt, suggested that the figure is very much smaller than that. As I said, some of these estimates, including those of the right hon. Gentleman, look as though they transcend the total number of human beings in the area.
But that is no reason for complacency, as I said a week ago. The fact that some estimates have been exaggerated, no doubt from the best of motives, is no reason for complacency about the much smaller number who are still at risk and whose suffering is very great. We are waiting to get more information, but I would feel that the figures are very much smaller.
I would be guided by the information which Lord Hunt was able to assemble with others in the area this weekend. While the numbers are smaller, one of the big problems is that of the hospitals and of the children and of the care of war wounded. The other problem not yet measurable is what we shall find when some of those who have taken to the jungle areas return, as I hope they will, to the more populated areas.

§ Mr. Alexander W. Lyon
Would my right hon. Friend not agree that it was a very wise precaution of the Nigerian Federal authorities to keep overall control of the relief situation, since the cause of this war was the genuine if unjustified fear of the Ibo for their lives and security if they were under Nigerian control, and that, therefore, the best way of dispelling that fear was by the 44 Nigerians themselves to see that relief reached the Ibo?

§ The Prime Minister
It was in accordance with what General Gowon has said on a number of public occasions, and what he said to me when I was there last March, in the very clearest terms, as I reported to the House, and it is clear that those assurances are being fulfilled. It was not, however, only a question of the view of the Nigerian authorities in this matter. This was, before the fighting ended, I think I am right in saying this, endorsed by the I.C.R.C. and then by the League of the Red Cross Societies as being the best way of dealing with this problem. At the same time I am certain that the Nigerian Government and the Nigerian relief authorities know that if any aspect of the task, whether of supplies or any other, gets beyond their capacity locally, they have only to ask us and other friends and those requirements will be met.

§ Mr. Fisher
Now that the bipartisan policy of the Government and of the Opposition Front Bench has been so clearly vindicated will the right hon. Gentleman unite the whole House, as, in a sense, he has already done, including the right hon. Gentleman the Member for Devon, North (Mr. Thorpe) and my right hon. Friend the Member for Stafford and Stone (Mr. Hugh Fraser), I am quite sure, in using our influence in Lagos to ensure that British and international relief on a large scale is quickly made available in an acceptable form to the Nigerian Government?

§ The Prime Minister
I agree with the opening words of the hon. Gentleman. I think that the best comment on that thought was made by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs in a broadcast programme less than 24 hours after the events of the week last Saturday, when he said—he was asked this very question—that while he felt that the policy had been vindicated it was time now to turn back from the past and to look to the future and the problem of relief; and I hope that this will be the attitude of the whole House.
With regard to the second part of the hon. Gentleman's question, he will be aware from my original statement that I am aware of the point he has put.

§ Mr. John Mendelson
While there will be widespread support for the attitude adopted by the Government since the end of the fighting, including the way in which the Joint Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs handled the matter when he was in Lagos, will my right hon. Friend also accept that there are, as he has said, very genuine anxieties felt by a large number of people in this country that the attempt centrally to get relief to some of the areas where the conflict continued near to the end is not satisfactory?
When the Prime Minister says that he has informed the Government at Lagos that if they wish we would supply civilian planes for relief quickly, from the close association of the Government with the Government of Nigeria, throughout the last few years of the conflict, we have the perfect right to say more than that and to press the Nigerian Federal Government to allow us to fly food into those areas so that there should be no hold-up on the roads.

§ The Prime Minister
I think that my hon. Friend has shown by his reference to my own statement and the answer I have already given that I am fully aware of these anxieties. That is the reason I spoke in the terms in which I did. It is, of course, as I say, a fact that the preparation for this very sudden collapse of the fighting was preparation in advance to move food up into those areas. I think that the Nigerian Government are well aware that if they need aircraft from us or others those will be supplied without difficulty.

Earl of Dalkeith
Would the Prime Minister give an assurance that he will take positive steps to try to prevent a tragedy such as there has been in Nigeria from ever happening again in the Commonwealth by taking the initiative with his fellow Commonwealth Prime Ministers to create a combined peace-keeping force of a fire brigade nature which can go into action in a situation of this kind, as could have happened two years ago, and so saved 2 million lives?

§ The Prime Minister
The noble Lord is entitled to his views on this, but there will be time for the House and all hon. Members to draw their own conclusions about the history of the last two and 46 a half years when more information becomes available, as assuredly it will.
While we were prepared, and, indeed, took the initiative two years ago, when I spoke to the Prime Minister of Canada, to get a peace-keeping force or an observer force, if required, it could not have stopped the war from breaking out. It could only have been the means of helping both sides if both sides accepted a cease-fire and a cessation of arms shipments and the rest.
The noble Lord will be sufficiently aware of the nature of the Commonwealth countries to know that they are independent, and that the Commonwealth has no power, whether in a Prime Ministers' meeting or by any other means, to force troops into any Commonwealth country by invasion, any more than we would be likely to do in Australia, or New Zealand, or Canada, or, indeed, if it were proposed—though hon. Members in one part of this House might welcome it—in the case of Northern Ireland.

§ Mr. William Hamilton
Could my right hon. Friend say what is the purpose of U Thant's projected visit to Nigeria and whether the Government are intending to co-operate in that effort? Can he further say what part the Government are to play in the solution of the massive problems of reconstruction in Nigeria which are bound to occur during the next few years?

§ The Prime Minister
Yes. I am grateful to my hon. Friend. We were in close touch with the United Nations and with U Thant from the Saturday night, and that was one of the things I discussed with President Nixon within an hour or two of the news becoming known. My hon. Friend the Under-Secretary of State discussed it with U Thant at Yaounde. Since he was in West Africa it was natural that he would want to discuss the whole situation, which is of world concern, with the Nigerian authorities. Throughout the past two and a half years he has taken the view, as I have reported to the House many times, that it was not a matter for United Nations intervention, but that this was an internal matter. That is not in question.
On the question of aid, there have been discussions already between Her Majesty's Government and the Nigerian 47 Government, ahead of all this happening, in relation to the long-term aid for reconstruction and rehabilitation, quite apart from the urgent relief aid. Even before the end of the fighting we had agreed with them on some further expenditure on aid from our normal aid programme.
The £5 million is quite separate from the £7½ million which I have said we expect to spend on normal development and rehabilitation aid to Nigeria next year. We have already agreed on a substantial aid programme in relation to transport and other equipment needed for rehabilitation. We made an offer of £1.1 million for this in the autumn of 1968, and orders have been placed on this and are now being delivered.
Another offer of up to £1 million for this purpose has been made, and discussions on this are currently taking place in London with Nigerian officials. A further loan of up to £1.7 million for reconstruction is also being discussed. I want to make it quite clear that the £5 million has nothing to do with the £7½million per annum on the aid programme basis.

§ Mr. Cordle
On contingency planning, is the Prime Minister aware of the importance of a new broadcasting network for Nigeria? The present system is outmoded and is unable to meet modern requirements.
Further to his wholly justified tribute to General Gowon this afternoon, I am sure he will agree that it would give immense pleasure to many people in this country and to Nigerians throughout the world if, at the appropriate moment, General Gowon were invited officially to visit this country.

§ The Prime Minister
In reply to the first part of the question, the £1.1 million reconstruction aid to which I referred, which was offered in the autumn of 1968, included, in addition to railway spares and materials, telecommunications equipment. It must be for the Nigerian authorities to decide where their priorities lie within an aid programme of this kind.
In reply to the second part of the question, General Gowon has known for a long time that he would be welcome in this country. We were hoping to 48 welcome him a year ago for the Prime Minister's meeting, but, for reasons which we all understand, he had to cancel the visit at the last moment. I imagine that he will be busy for a considerable time ahead, but, as soon as he feels able to come, I am sure that he will be welcomed in this country. Meanwhile, he will be very welcome on our television screens.

§ Mr. Dalyell
Has any request been received on the related problem of resettling the tens of thousands of troops in the Federal Army? In particular, perhaps we could offer technical training through our own forces on a kind of Op Mace operation?

§ The Prime Minister
My hon. Friend will know that Lord Hunt is well aware of what can be done in the matter of technical training. Already offers have been made in relation to the technical training of Nigerian troops, or of many of the troops who may be demobilised. It is for the Nigerians to say what they require in this as in other matters.

§ Mr. Tilney
Will the Prime Minister state that, despite our liberal record in granting political asylum, such, if requested, would not be granted to Colonel Ojukwu?

§ The Prime Minister
That is an extremely hypothetical question.

§ Mr. Dickens
Is the Prime Minister aware that, whatever differences one may have had with the Government over the morality of supplying British arms to Nigeria, in view of the impressive account which he has given to the House this afternoon of the Government's endeavours to supply relief, there can be no doubt that he and the Cabinet have been proved substantially right in their estimate of this matter and their critics wildly wrong?

§ The Prime Minister
I thank my hon. Friend for the extremely generous statement which he has made, and I will match it by saying that I have never been in any doubt, as I said in the debate in December, about the sincerity of hon. Members in any part of the House who took a different view from ours. What has been done has been justified. I felt, if my hon. Friend will permit me to say this, moderately reassured by a statement that came from what was described in The Times last week as "a high Biafran 49 source" that confirmed what I hoped was true and have had evidence about, that the deaths—what the writer of the article calls and I do not call massacres—ended after my discussion last year with General Gowon.
This seems to have been confirmed now from authoritative sources. That means that General Gowon's undertakings in this matter, information on which I gave to the House last year, once again have been fully carried out.

§ Mr. Crouch
A few weeks ago before the war ended the question was raised of helicopters being used to help Biafra. The Government, in considering this matter, gave the impression that the proposal was turned down on the ground of cost. Will the Prime Minister assure the House that he has no such limitation in his mind regarding aid and food at this stage?

§ The Prime Minister
I would not accept the strictures of the hon. Gentleman on the results of our study. I had called for a report on this some time before the last debate, when the proposal was put forward with great authority by the right hon. Member for Kinross and West Perthshire (Sir Alec Douglas-Home). We had also had the results of the feasibility study done by the United States following a proposal by a group headed by the former Vice-President Humphrey.
While cost was, of course, featured in the report, the reason this was not pursued was the sheer feasibility of the problem, not the cost. At that time the big argument was about daylight flights. We have always said that the best way is road, river and coastal shipment and, secondly, daylight flights. But, of course, daylight flights, still less helicopters, no longer became the issue once it was not necessary to lift food over a battle line, which was why the night flights were being pressed.
In reply to the last part of the question, by the ready response we have made to every request, still more by our own initiative in offering the £5 million in addition to the £7½ million which we were expecting to give, it will be seen that considerations of cost are not entering into our response to the problem in Nigeria.

§ Mr. Snow
In the aftermath of the war, when the Government have taken all the necessary steps which they propose, will the Prime Minister consider holding a searching inquiry into the rôle—some would say the sinister rôle—of public relations organisations?

§ The Prime Minister
That is a question which may occur to many hon. Gentlemen. I found, for example, this week that the head of the public relations organisation in Geneva said that information had been given to him that 176 troops out of 600 British troops had been killed. The whole House will know that not one British soldier took part in the fighting. To be fair, he himself did not issue that statement, because, he said, it was untrue. This is a matter which is not of the highest priority at the moment, when we are all concerned with relief.
The House will be aware, following the report of the Select Committee on Members' Interests (Declaration), that I said, when establishing that Committee, that the House might wish to turn to the question of the brain washing, not only of Members of Parliament, who can, I suppose, look after themselves, but also of the communications industries, and so on, by some organisations who may have the right to do what they do but should declare that they are doing it.

§ Mr. Hugh Fraser
On a point of order—

§ Mr. Speaker
Order. We have had an important discussion but I must protect the business of the day.

§ Mr. Hugh Fraser
In spite of what the Prime Minister has said, I beg to ask leave to move the Adjournment of the House, under Standing Order No. 9, for the purpose of discussing a specific and important matter that should have urgent consideration, namely, that the Government's Nigerian relief contingency plans referred to by the Foreign Secretary in a broadcast on Sunday, 11th January, and expanded by the Prime Minister today, do not meet the requirements of the distressed areas. This is a matter of grave and immediate importance, but also one of public importance in that there is widespread concern in this country that Britain's part in aiding the Nigerian war effort places on us a unique responsibility 51 which, despite the words which the Prime Minister has spoken and the good intentions which he expressed, is not being fulfilled.

§ Mr. Speaker
The right hon. Member for Stafford and Stone (Mr. Hugh Fraser) was courteous enough to inform me that he would seek to make an application under Standing Order No. 9 this afternoon.
The right hon. Gentleman asks leave to move the Adjournment of the House for the purpose of discussing a specific and important matter that he thinks should have urgent consideration, namely, that the Government's Nigerian relief contingency plans referred to by the Foreign Secretary in a broadcast on Sunday. 11th January, and expanded by the Prime Minister today, are inadequate, have failed to encourage the use of immediately available international relief supplies and cannot meet the immediate needs of the most affected areas adjacent to Uli airfield, which is open but unused and from which, according to Joint Church Aid, over 4 million persons were receiving, and have since 9th January ceased to receive, a minimum of sustenance. As the House knows, under the revised Standing Order No. 9 I am directed to take account of the several factors set out in the Order, but to give no reason for my decision.
I have listened carefully to the representations made by the right hon. Gentleman and to everything that has taken place during the last important 45 minutes, but I have to rule that the right hon. Gentleman's submission does not fall within the provisions of the revised Standing Order, and, therefore, I cannot submit his application to the House.