The Historiography of the Nigerian Civil War: Evolving Narratives and Contested Memory, 1970 to 2023

This study critically analyses the evolving historiography of the Nigerian Civil War of 1967 to 1970, examining how scholarly, governmental, and popular narratives of the war have been constructed, contested, and transformed over the five decades since the conflict's end. The Nigerian Civil War remains the most consequential event in post-independence Nigerian history, yet the production of its historical record has been deeply shaped by political sensitivities, ethnic perspectives, and the absence of a truth and reconciliation process that would allow contested memories to be openly interrogated. A systematic historiographical review design is employed, analysing 120 scholarly works, 30 memoir and personal testimony texts, and 20 government policy documents concerning the war, published between 1970 and 2023, using content and discourse analysis. The Memory Studies Framework and the Historiography Theory by Iggers provide the analytical lenses. Findings reveal four distinct historiographical phases: the victor-nationalist phase (1970s), the revisionist humanist phase (1980s to 1990s), the international humanitarian law phase (2000s), and the social media memory contestation phase (2010s to present). The Biafran memory revival associated with IPOB's activities since 2012 has dramatically altered the social memory landscape, generating new historical production and popular counter-narratives that challenge the official federal account of the war. Keywords: Nigerian Civil War, historiography, Biafra, contested memory, memory studies.