Relevance Of History In Nation-Building (2)

This is the concluding part of this article first published on 3/2/14

It is instructive to point out
that history from the onset has been used as the main mirror in which the society sees itself for reappraisal, re-examination and revalidation.
History makes room for identity, settles conflicts, offers citizenship education, helps in the intellectual development of the citizens/leaders, provides hindsight for policy makers, gives one a sense of international value, provision of information and research as well as provide the very tap root that prevents our culture from being blown away by the wind of technology sweeping across the globe.
N-Ue (2011) in his monumental work entitled the “Utility” of Historical Scholarship discloses that history is necessary in a town before an avoidable mistake occurs. He stresses that the people of Niger scornfully look at an individual who displayed gross sense of ignorance of their much cherished local or community history. Such people are dubbed Nee Saanee, meaning a stranger. A cliché in Sogho (Ogoni) oral tradition says nee saanee na sua bana mani, this means “it is only a stranger in the community who does not know its loo.” This is similar to the Ijo tradition which states that ama nimighabo/dudu ogono, which literally means “A stranger in town walks over hallowed graves”.
Alagoa (2006:37), the doyen of Niger Delta history, sharply observes that it is only a stranger that could be assumed to be ignorant. The consequence of such ignorance is the desecration of taboos, such as walking over graves, which the Ijo described as Nondo (i.e. non-human) nondo is a severe case of loss of humanity.
From the above, it is historically plausible to deduce that a stranger showed this sense of negligence of the ethos, custom and tradition of the land due to lack of historical knowledge. Thus, the study and teaching of Nigerian history is crucial especially in this era of globalisation when our culture is seriously threatened.
To this, Elaigwu (2001) has beautifully established that “given the new technological and communication revolution, there is a great explosion of identities, at precisely the time we are trying to partialise sub-national identities to build a new political community called a nation.
Similarly, those leaders who worry about the territorial identity of nation-states, watch helplessly as the boundaries of the nation-states are violated blatantly everyday by information technology and satellites”.
He further lamented the adulteration of cultural values into Nigeria. For example, aspects of ghetto culture in the Bronx, New York, USA, and so on find their ways into the life systems of youngsters who have never traveled beyond the town of their birth. So also, do the cultures of violence in the USA or South Africa get transmitted to many unemployed youths who now embark on dare-devil robberies in the daylight.
Without doubts, history is very much required in this computer age or era of globalization to safeguard our rich cultural heritage before our streets will be filled with naked people parading themselves in the name of borrowed culture. History is capable of preventing our culture from being blown away by every new tide (Negative \western cultures) occasioned by the advent of science and technology.
Interestingly, a nation-state that is not wiped away by new tide will live to contribute to her development. If we allowed the citizens of the state to desecrate the ethos, custom and tradition of the land that held the people together due to lack of historical knowledge, how then can we make meaning or enjoy the much vaunted science and technology? We must note that China learnt history, and between the early 1960s and late 1970 it was able to censor the infiltration of Western values on its culture. It goes without saying that without historical consciousness, all the hullabaloo about science and technology in Nigeria will be a ruse and a misplaced priority. In fact, just as the adage goes, life without the arts is moribund (vita sine artis est mors).
For these reasons and many others, the history curriculum of secondary schools in Nigeria has been re-designed, abridged and repackaged by the Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC) to satisfy our present day needs. This is equally true of the history curriculum in our ivory towers that have been re-structured and repositioned to meet the challenges of the contemporary global world and better contribute to Nigeria’s 21st century as we crave for technological and industrial development, economic self-reliance and so on.
To this end, I call on the relevant authorities, worthy promoters of civilization for the black man, outstanding and inspiring contributors to education to mention but a few, to engage the services of qualified professional history teachers to fill the vacuum existing in our school systems. A recent study by me revealed astonishingly that most of our school have no history teacher.
Also, our leaders, government officials,  policy makers and executors should be a breast with our  history so as to avoid avoidable mistakes that had caused the nation a huge fortune over the years. Finally, history should be made compulsoryin our basic and senior secondary schools so as to instil discipline, the right attitude, national consciousness, etc in our youths. If we catch them young, the youths will help significantly to sanitise the morally decadent society through their sincere, combative and decisive efforts.
N-Ue is of the Ignatius Ajuru University of Education, Port Harcourt.

Samuel N-Ue