TEACHING HISTORY AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT IN THE THIRD WORLD: THE NIGERIAN EXPERIENCE By Olusoji Samuel Oyeranmi University of Ibadan, Nigeria
"History leads the wise man and drags the fool"
INTRODUCTION
History has been recognized all over the world as a source of
enlightenment and development. As a collective memory of the past of a nation,
history attempts to bring to the fore the salient and significant part of
events that occurred in the past, which could be utilized in building a
prosperous national future. This is why every human society, no matter the level
of advancement, has placed optimum priority to the bequeathing of a
"useable past" from generation to generation. For instance, in
ancient cultures every kingdom had its own history laureate whose task it was
to remember the past. "3 Modernity has also been influenced greatly by the
enhanced production of history. This is assisting nations (who have placed the
needed emphasis on historical studies) in their tasks of nation building,
promoting national consciousness, the flowering of moral leadership and ensuring
overall national development. "4
From the above brief allusion, one can submit
that history is an essential instrument for any nation that is desirous of
breakthroughs in all human endeavors. Consequently, it has become a serious
academic discipline, which attracts the most talented in most developed
countries. "5 This is why it is most pathetic that the study of history
has been relegated to the background in various schools in Nigeria. This
explains why the country remains a crawling giant. More than ever before,
ethnic chauvinism has become the major driving force of Nigeria's national
polity. Nigerians many times (albeit, with good reasons) have not only queried
the basis for nationhood, but also doubted her permanent survival. Indeed,
after more than forty-five years of so-called independence, the Nigerian Union,
according to Professor Adebayo Adedeji, remains largely "a co-habitation
without marriage. "6
I would argue that a major reason why so much
violence (physical and psychological), aggression, hatred, poverty, et cetera,
dominate the day to day existence of the people in Nigeria is that,
collectively, they lack historical consciousness. They tend, indeed, to act or
react based on the present situation and care little about the past. It is therefore
not surprising that few care about the kind of future to be built for both the
people and the nation. Due to the fact that Nigerian statesmen lack a proper
sense of history, the politics of the belly and that of the moment dominate the
polity. Merit is consequently slaughtered on the slab of power profiteering.
With all these vices, development at all levels in Nigeria remains a wild goose
chase.
To escape from this seemingly inescapable
quagmire, there is an urgent need to imbue Nigerians with an enduring sense of
history. As Professor J. F. A. Ajayi once submitted:
The nation suffers which has no sense of history.
Its values remain superficial and ephemeral unless imbued with a deep sense of
continuity and perception of success and achievement that transcends
acquisition of temporary power or transient wealth. Such a nation cannot
achieve a sense of purpose or direction or stability and without them the
future is bleak "7
It is in the light of this that a study of this
nature becomes absolutely imperative as part of the ongoing efforts towards the
historical awakening of Nigerians. This essay will, inter-alia, focus on the
unbreakable nexus between history and national development; bring out the
relevance of this link especially at this era of globalization; analyze what a
country like Nigeria in search of her soul and awesome technological
breakthrough could gain from such an "unattractive" and
non-materialistic" discipline such as history; and lastly, will suggest
how Nigerians could be imbued with an enduring and proper sense of history for
national development.
HISTORY AND
NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Arguably, Development at all levels (personal or
national) in human society is a multi-faceted process. At the level of the
individual, it implies multiplied skill and capacity, greater freedom,
creativity, self-discipline, responsibility and material well-being. It must
however be noted that the achievement of any aspect of personal development is
strong tied to the state of the society as a whole. "8At the national
level, development will naturally mean the pulling together of the above-stated
personal virtues for the benefit and well-being of people within such a nation.
More often than not, as Walter Rodney once contended, development is used in an
exclusive economic sense the justification being that the type of economy is
itself an index of other social features. A society develops economically as
its members increase jointly their capacity for dealing with the environment,
which of course depends on the extent to which they understand laws of nature
(science), on the extent to which they put that understanding into practice by
devising tools (technology), and on the manner in which work is organized.
"9
I therefore contend that for any nation to develop,
the collective spirit of the people must be well nurtured and propagated. Here
lies the significance of history. History, in the words Prof. Babatunde Fafunwa
is:
To a people what memory is to the individual. A
people with no knowledge of their past would suffer from collective amnesia,
groping blindly into the future without the guide post of precedence to shape
their course "10
Also writing on the intimating interaction
between Nation and History, J. F. Ade Ajayi stressed that:
History interacts with the nation. For the nation
is a product of history in the sense of historical circumstances and events;
and therefore the nation cannot escape from its past. At the same time, the
nation is shaped by the effort of historians, among others, who try to
establish the history of the nation, influence its group memory and seek to
define its nationality-that is, the essence of what binds its people together,
what constitutes their identity, what makes them a people distinct from other
peoples. "11
Indeed, what historical understanding does
essentially for any nation is to place its developmental predicament within
rational time perspectives of human evolution. This is the utility value of
history. History also helps people not to undervalue what they are and
overvalue what they are not. It in turn provides confidence building strategy
to any prostrate nation that is striving to grapple with present problems.
"12
Development should and must not only be conceived
materially. This is because humans are not solely materialistic in nature; they
are equally spiritual, artistic and creative beings. Development ipso facto is
to my mind twofold. Firstly, it entails concerted efforts at satisfying
basic/crucial human needs such as food, shelter and general wellbeing through
productivity. Secondly it equips citizens with enduring moral values such as,
hard work, honesty, integrity, transparency, justice, and discipline. Indeed,
the two are inseparable as a nation full of impoverished people cannot improve
its material base and neither can a morally decadent society dream of dazzling
development at any level.
A number of erudite scholars have written on the
universal/ developmental nature of history, so I will not bore you with
repetition of their views. "13 But for the purposes of this essay I will
allude to two arguments. First is Socrates' judgment on Pericles- the Famous
Athenian statesman. He stated:
The brilliant statesman had enriched and
embellished the city, had created protective walls around it, had built ports
and dock yards, had launched navies, had eternalized the glory of the city by
temples of undying grandeur and beauty, had multiplied in Attica the feasts of
arts and reason, but did not occupy himself with the problem of how to make
Athenians better men and women. As a result, his work has remained incomplete
and his creation caduceus "14
Writing in the same manner, B. O. Oloruntimehin
aguishly contended that:
To advocate that studies in the sciences and technology should be pursued to
the relative neglect [humiliation] of the humanities and social sciences is to
express appetite for the materialism which technology creates rapidly, but
without required for the organic growth and stability. Every one of us
including the scientist and technologist has to be a citizen. Without the
socializing influence of training in the humanities (especially history), the
aggregation that we represent as citizens cannot be properly called a nation. A
nation that lacks clear self-identity and which is structurally incoherent
cannot be strong whatever its wealth and the amount of gadgetry at its
disposal. "15
The developmental nature of the historical
discipline is further emphasized by the fact that every discipline has its root
in history. This makes it virtually impossible for any discipline not to pay
attention to its history. Thus, we have the history of science, of medicine, of
banking, of engineering, of knowledge, of development, and even the history of
history. For example, no rational medical doctor will attend to his or her
patient without perusing his or her medical history. For it is within that
context that the doctor will appreciate better the patient's ailment and what
medication to prescribe.
History, therefore, is a key factor in all
disciplines and in the training of minds. Similarly, it is a duty for any
nation that is desirous of development in all its ramifications to always delve
into its past achievements as well as those of other lands. With this the
nation will be able to learn from the past errors, to draw inspiration from
worthy past efforts, and to strategize for the future development.
All I have said is not to deny the importance of the
acquisition of scientific skills and knowledge. The point of emphasis here is
that those skills should be accompanied by appropriate moral values without
which the society will return to the Hobbessian state of nature of battle of
all against all. History tends to produce thinking men and women who are imbued
with curiosity, who will not accept any view hook, line and sinker, who through
questioning and reasoning will be able to come to their own conclusion, who
have become full of knowledge, and who by that means would be able to
contribute to the development of their society. This is the outstanding link between
history and national development. But in tangible terms what could any nation
in serious search for physical and psychological development (Nigeria for
instance) gain from this powerful link? This shall be the next focus of this
historical discourse.
WHAT COULD
NIGERIA GAIN FROM HISTORY
History teaches us that the most fundamental
obstacle to national development in Africa is the apparent absence of national
integration. And the erosion of NATIONAL CONSCIOUSNESS occasions this. As I
have lamented elsewhere, "it is quite disturbing to note that in Africa
today, there is no country that is not prone to chaos and anarchy due to so
many existing fissiparous tendencies."16 And Nigeria is no exception. With
this, politics has permanently become public pains for private gains in
Nigeria, as in most parts of Africa. The very few elite constantly exploit the
seeming eternal divisions among Nigerians which cut across religion, tribe, sex
and politics in their struggle for personal /egoistic socio-economic and political
advantages.
In Nigeria as in other Third World Countries, national
consciousness, instead of being the all-embracing crystallization of the
innermost hopes of the whole people, instead of being the immediate and most
obvious result of the mobilization of the people, has only become an empty
shell, and frequently 'the nation' is passed over for race and tribe.
"17With all these calamitous cracks in the Nigerian edifice, which of
course came into being through the concerted and calculated efforts of the
British imperialists and was kept alive by the failure of the national
leadership to uproot colonial legacies and initiate enduring developmental
strategies, the present retrogressive national effort towards national
development becomes discernible. According to Frantz Fanon:
This traditional weakness, which is almost
congenital to the national consciousness of under-developed countries, is not
solely the result of the mutilation of the colonized people by the colonial
regime. It is also the result of the intellectual laziness of the national
middle class, of its spiritual penury… "18
With the above, national development also
requires the transformation of people's minds, lives, and environment in such a
way that will increase national consciousness. In the case of Nigeria, national
development includes things as:
Increasing the degree of national consciousness of Nigerians, increasing the
degree of acceptance by Nigerians of the central government as the symbol of
national unity, increasing the degree of tolerance of one another by Nigerians,
increasing the quantity and quality of things that make for good life in the
socio-economic sectors. "19
Unfortunately, most of these virtues are either
non-existent or their existence is fraught with fraud. Consequently, the
influence of ethnic consciousness is still profound on Nigerian politics. Many
sincere advocates are still clamoring for a genuine national conference or,
better still, a conference for all Nigerian nationalities where people would
jaw-jaw on the modalities for national cohesion the surest initiation towards
NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. This no doubt has necessitated a new appraisal of the
Nigerian nation.
As it stands today, the Nigerian nation is not yet born. And to my mind it is
roundly deceptive to claim (as we do today) to be nationalistic where a nation
does not exist. A number of studies on whether Nigeria is a nation or not has
been written. "20 But I contend that the historical reality is that the
so-called Nigerian nationhood was founded on absolute fraud. Even some of the
British colonialists could not hold back the truth about the defects of the
Lugardian amalgamation of 1914 that formally inaugurated a nation that was
bound to fail. For example, Nicholson, a former colonial Administrator in
Nigeria once declared that the most significant thing about the amalgamation
was that it never took place. Thus, until Richards's constitution in 1947 (33
years after Amalgamation), the Northern and Southern representatives were not
brought together in one legislative chamber. Therefore, the people in the two
protectorates remained strangers to one another though co-habiting the same
country!
Most importantly, the reality today is that ethnic
nationalism often intrudes rudely into 21st century Nigerian politics. This is
why, like most new nations, the most challenging issue facing Nigeria today is
the establishment of institutional arrangements that can effectively deal with
ethnic diversity and allow population groups to co-exist peacefully and productively.
With the incessant chaos, disharmony and disunity, the aspiration of the people
to evolve into viable nation will remain an effort in futility. The Nigerian
situation is almost hopeless, as a recently released United States intelligence
report "21 (though bluntly attacked) suggested. The situation is however
still amenable if both the leadership and the people can return to the basics,
delve deeply into the Nigerian past, draw necessary lessons and take
appropriate popular actions.
Every generation must, out of relative obscurity,
discover its mission and fulfill or betray it. And the surest way to fulfill
Nigeria's developmental mission is for new leadership to break new ground. The
foremost action will ultimately mean to extirpate the imperial legacies of
political servitude and economic dependency on the mother country (Britain) and
other western nations. History has shown that those African leaders (referred
to by Fanon as the national bourgeoisie or national middle class) who took over
power from the former colonial regimes did not replace those colonial legacies
but rather built solidly on them.
They conveniently (due largely to their
intellectual and spiritual penury) stepped into the shoes of the former
European settlers as doctors, barristers, traders, commercial travelers,
general agents, and transport agents. They further insisted that all the big
foreign companies should pass through their hands. Hence, "the national
middle class discovers its historic missions: that of intermediary. "22
Linking this past inglorious act of the African
national leadership to the present predicament Fanon stated further:
Seen through its (national middle class) its
mission has nothing to do with transforming the nation. It remains the
transmitting line between the nation and the mother camouflaged, which today
puts on the masque of Neo colonialism. "23
Before a country can evolve into a nation,
defined by Prof. Wole Soyinka as "a unit of humanity with common
ideology," it must be ready to shed its entire colonial burden and
supplant all its super structures such as law, economy, social structures, and
politics with well self-developed structures. It must also develop the brains
of its inhabitants by imbuing in them necessary skills and an enduring sense of
history, which will establish long-lasting national consciousness. As I have
alluded earlier: the living expression of the nation is the moving
consciousness of the whole people; it is the coherent, enlightened action of
men and women. "24The collective building up of destiny is the assumption
of responsibility on the historical scale. Otherwise there is anarchy,
repression, and the recrudescence of ethnic nationalism.
The historic place of people as a unit cannot be
over-emphasized in the evolution and development of any nation. Recognizing
this fact Fanon submits:
The greatest task before us is to understand at
each moment what is happening in our country. We ought not to cultivate the
exceptional or seek for a hero, who is another form of leader. We ought to
uplift the people; we must develop their brains; fill them with ideas; change
them into human being."25
All these can be realized by giving the people a
dose of political education. Indeed, this is a compulsory pre-condition for the
evolution of a viable nation. To educate people politically means opening their
minds, awakening them, and allowing the rebirth of their intelligence. It’s
also entails trying relentlessly and passionately to teach the masses that
everything depends on them; that if we stagnate it is their responsibility, and
that if we develop it is due to them too. In summary, to educate the masses
politically is to make the totality of the nation a reality to each citizen. It
is to make the history of the nation part of the personal experience of each of
its citizens."26
History abounds with nations that evolved and developed as
the full expression of their citizens. And the commonest denominator of these
nations is the exploitation and utilization of their cultural history. As a
result of this unity of purpose, the nation’s then evolve as human communities
which, when the chips are down, collectively command the loyalty of the people
over the claims of lesser communities within it. As it has been established
earlier, all nations are products of their past and there is no way they can
move forward without taking into consideration their history and their peculiar
circumstances. This is the debt all nations that seek peace, stability, and
development owe to the past."27 This is because history provides the
foundation on which the development of each nation is built. This explains why
most developed countries in the world ensure that the discipline of history
does not suffer decline and continues to retain its pride of place in their
universities. More importantly, history has always been used to provide
political education for leadership elites in such societies. Each nation then
develops its own historiography, which is essentially nationalistic."28
This is true of British historiography as well as
American historiography, Chinese historiography, French historiography, Russian
historiography, Japanese historiography, and German historiography. American
historiography, for instance, lauds the virtues of American institutions in
impregnating Americans with the notion that to be an American is the greatest
blessing God can confer on a human being."29 This aspect of history can be
carried to an extreme, such as was done by Benito Mussolini and Adolph Hitler
before and during WWII and George Walker Bush in the demolition of Iraq. The
abuse of history is always a possibility especially during bitter contests
among nations. It must however be mentioned that leaders not only exploit
national feeling during crises but also during peace, especially in their
collective efforts towards national development. What is clear in all this is
that history is deliberately utilized for nation building. This, I strongly
believe, is the major difference between the advanced nations and those that
are still in their embryonic stage such as Nigeria."30
IMBUING THE
PEOPLE OF NIGERIA WITH AN ENDURING SENSE OF HISTORY
The past of the people of Nigeria, like most of
their African kith and kin, has placed an almost inescapable burden on them.
This ugly past is characterized with successive evils four hundred years of
slavery and slave trade; several centuries of imperialism / colonialism; and
continuing neo-colonialism. And according to EH Carr, "the past which a
historian studies is not a dead past, but a past which in a sense is still
living in the present."31 This naturally translates to the fact that for
the people to solve the present multifaceted developmental problems bedeviling
the country, the past must always be involved. This is essential because
"… if men of the future are ever to break the chains of the present, they
will have to understand the forces that forged them."32 To achieve this,
the people must be well endowed with historical knowledge which is based on
recollection, retrieval, and the reconstruction of their past. This is rooted
in the fact that time past is part of time present and time present is part of
time future. In other words, human society is one long continuum and to
appreciate the present, one must know what happened in the past.33
It must be mentioned at this juncture that at the formative
stages of modern African countries (Nigeria inclusive), history was an
important factor in efforts towards national development. Indeed, some western
commentators described the Ibadan school of History as a nationalist reaction
to people like Trevor Roper and others who said Africa had no history. In
acknowledgement of this outstanding nationalistic role, Prof. Niyi Osundare
recently opined that:
The Ibadan School of History re-invented African
history and African Historiography and shamed the racist notion that humanity's
oldest continent was a place without a past. University of Ibadan became the
Mecca for scholars of African History all over the world."34
This great school, together with very negligible
percentage of Western Africanists who were more objective, began through a
series of studies and writings to establish African History as a worthy part of
universal scholasticism. Their writings equally provided early nationalists
with not only a psychological power boost but also gave them much-needed
inspiration in their struggle for political independence. Regrettably, the
party did not last for long. As the Irish poet once lamented, things have
changed, and changed utterly. "35Since independence, the Ibadan school of
History, just like its parent the University of Ibadan, has remained shadow of
its old self. As a result, the school lost the opportunity of continuing to
inspire the task of nation building of Nigeria.
The problems of African historiography, Nigerian
history, and particularly "the Ibadan school of history" have been
subjected to in-depth intellectual scrutiny for a long time. So, rather than
discussing these problems again, I will attempt to bring out new insights
towards making history more relevant in Nigeria and to suggest ways to imbue
her inhabitants with sense of national consciousness.
Recommendations
and Suggestions
While lamenting the languishing level of the
University of Ibadan, Professor Niyi Osundare submitted:
Today, our university and the evil system that
has brought it to its knees need nothing but the sharp edge of excoriative
word; nothing but the truth whose sharpness heals like the surgical knife
"36.
Nothing short of this could rescue the visibly
enfeebled discipline of history in Nigeria from imminent extinction and equally
catapult history back in to national consciousness for overall development. To
my mind, there are two angles to this issue, namely the Historians and
Government's angles. "37
In terms of the Historians, it is necessary for
history to return to its pride of place as prime motivator of national
consciousness and as the bedrock of all humanities in Nigeria, and to do that
Nigerian historians must braze up and chart a new course for the once ennobled discipline.
One of the best ways to achieve is to stop talking and writing about the
discipline of history as if it is a human being. This personification should
give way to the returning of Nigerian people to their rightful place as the
makers of their own history. "38This is embedded in the fact that it is
humans who makes history and not vice versa, as Karl Marx once argued:
History does nothing, it does not possess immense
riches, it does not fight battles. It is real living men who do all this, who
possess things and fight battles. It is not "history" which uses men
as means of achieving as if it were an individual person its own ends."39
As a corollary to reviving the historical
discipline from its present doldrums, there must be a historical reawakening
which would be championed by Nigerian historians. This must start from the
minds and mouths of the Nigerian historians through constant self-criticism,
for "if we could first know where we are and whither we are tending we
could better judge what to do, and how to do it. "40
For instance, a critical evaluation of the
history of the "Ibadan school of history" (where it all started)
which is currently enmeshed in decay reveals that the school was in the past
the pride of the Nation. Ever since, the seeds of discord that are currently
dividing Nigerian historians have been sown. Ever since, the atrocious
tradition of using history as means of achieving personal ends and later
dumping it has firmly taken root.
Ever since, the idea of diverting books, funds,
scholarship / fellowship opportunities (especially international ones) meant
for the development of the department, has been on course. Ever since, the
system of exploitation of the junior colleagues, students (especially
post-graduate) by senior colleagues who are too busy and too big to carry out
research or to teach but have the time to pursue private contracts,
international fellowships, and political appointments has been operational.
Ever since, the anti-intellectual idea of either
fencing out the best brains or frustrating the ones within the system to the
point of paralysis has been within the tradition. This clearly explains the
current catastrophic dwarfism in historical scholarship in Nigeria.
The problem is not that the school has problems:
the real problem is that many people in the school are not aware of those
problems and the few who are are seeking sanctuary in hazy sloganeering.
"41For this ugly trend to change, if the future will be great once again
for both Nigerian history and historians, they must all stand up for the truth
and break the yoke of tradition. One of the best ways to avoid this complicity
is to stop being panegyricians or propagandists or mere chroniclers. Historians
need to bring out the real lessons of history to Nigerians. The basic
historical fact about Nigeria (no matter the distortions and exaltations) is
that the country is not yet a nation even after fortyfive years of the much
touted political or flag lowering independence.
Consequently, the first and the most important
work for Nigerians is to collaborate assiduously with other concerned groups on
how to ensure the evolution of the Nigerian nation state where people will live
first as Nigerians before remembering their ethnic affiliations. "42To
achieve this two things become absolutely imperative ideological and cultural
revolutions, as Prof. E, A. Ayandele once admonished:
Fellow craftsmen of historical scholarship, it is
our duty to convince the governments of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to take
two steps as a matter of utmost urgency. Firstly, they should be told that a
Nigerian nation not built on upon the cultural heritage and spiritual values of
the peoples of Nigeria is necessarily a RICKETY EDIFICE; that a
"development" that is primarily technological and economic, with the
concomitant unregulated pulverizing Westernism; inexorably inflicts cultural
hemorrhage upon the nation and constitutes a terrible homicide; that such a
nation is spiritually void, possessing no soul of its own… "43
This assertion, made twenty-six years ago, is
more real today than when it was rendered. Governments must be told to revise
and reverse their concept of development to a more fundamentally human-centered
concept. To achieve this end, a new invigorated humanistic study of how a real
Nigerian nation could evolve must be initiated and the present endangered
historical studies must be the arrowhead. With this a movement towards the
re-invention and rewriting of Nigerian history will be initiated in order to
build a sense of belonging in the people.
The government's side of the sad story is quite
understandable. As it has been established earlier in this essay, the so-called
early Nigerian nationalists (as in most Third World countries) actually acted
like the scions of colonial agents heirs apparent to the throne vacated by
the erstwhile colonialists. Indeed, they fought tooth and nail for the colonial
leftovers; with this, all the legacies of the colonial rule were not only left
untouched but were built upon by these short-sighted leaders. One such legacy
is the deliberate distortion and devaluation of Nigerian history both as an
academic discipline and as a tool for national development. As a result
"The apotheosis of independence is transformed into the curse of
independence. "44Thus, the colonial power—through its immense resources
and the continuous installation of their stooges as leaders—condemns the
evolving Nigerian state to permanent regression and the development of
underdevelopment.
Nigerian unity thus descended rapidly to what
Fanon called a vague formula, "45 and yet the people were passionately
attached to it especially during their struggle for political independence. No
sooner than this vague freedom was attained, this unity crumbled into regionalism
inside the hollow shell of nationality itself. Ever since, the national
leadership has remained unpardonably egoistic and outrageously irresponsive to
the plight of average citizens. With the neglect of history, the leadership
simply proved to be incapable of forging national unity or building up a truly
viable Nigerian nation within stable and productive parameters. The National
Front, which forced colonialism to withdraw, cracked up and wasted the victory
it had gained. This aggressive anxiety among the early nationalist to occupy
the posts left vacant by the departure of the foreigners have left scars of
violence on both religious and tribal lines, and further explains why violence
still constantly features in the people's day to day existence. "46
If Nigerian leaders in the past were guilty of
tinkering with history to such an extent that transformation of the nation
became impossible, the present crop of leaders are guilty of utilizing facts of
history not only to distort Nigerian history but also to keep the country
permanently a creeping giant.
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, one must avoid the tactical error of
concluding that the inability of people to draw serious lessons from history is
peculiar to Nigeria. In the words of Georg Hegel: What experience and
history teach is this, that nations and governments have never learned anything
from history or acted upon any lessons they might have drawn from it. "47
Though many may disagree with this Hegelian
philosophy of life, few will disagree with the historical fact that people do
seem to have severe difficulty learning anything form history. As regards
Nigeria, which is the focus of this essay, my last words will be in form of
admonition to Nigerian historians: they must break away from their current
inhibiting factors and work in alliance with other sincere scholars with
similar ideas and intentions to dismantle the present leadership of the country
and chart a new course for the emergence of new leadership. This task is not
going to be easy but is definitely not impossible. Failure to do so will
continue to tame not only the historical discipline but also national
development.
Biographical Note: Olusoji Oyernanmi is a
doctoral candidate in History at the University of Ibadan in Ibadan, Nigeria. He
is also an associate lecture in History at Ibadan University and at Olabisi
Onabanjo University in Ago Iwoye. He teaches and researches in the fields of
African historiography, developmental history, diplomatic history, and urban,
environmental, and economic history.
Endotes
1 See G.W.F. Hegel, Lectures on the Philosophy of World
History, translated by H. B. Nisbet with an introduction by Duncan Forbes.
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1975).
2 Carl Sandburg, Abraham Lincoln; The Prairie Years
and The War Years. (New York, Dell Publishing Co.Incorporation, 1939), 13.
3 In every literate society, from the earliest
times till now, there are professional historians whose responsibility is to
remember and keep records of the most important happenings of the past. This is
also the same in preliterate societies: for example we have the
"griots" of Western Sudan; "Kwadwom" Singers of Asante; the
"Arokin" of Oyo and many other specially trained traditional
historians. But the difference lies in the fact that while the former relied on
written evidence the latter, due to the absence of writing, depended solely on
oral evidences.
4 See "The Place of History in National
Development" a lecture delivered by Prof. Jide Osuntokun at a conference
of History Teachers Association of Nigerian Colleges of Education at Oyo state
College of Education, Oyo on Monday, 10/3/2002, p. 2.
5. See the contribution of Prof. Adebayo Adedeji,
"The Nigerian Nation State. Cohabitation without Marriage?" in
Olufemi Eperokun (eds), Nigeria's Bumpy Ride into 21st Century. (Ibadan, The
House of Lords Nigeria, 1999), 148.
6. J. F. A. Ajayi, History and The Nation and
Other Addresses. (Ibadan, Spectrum Books Ltd.), 41.
7. For Full Details on Discourse on Development
and Underdevelopment in Africa see Walter Rodney, How Europe underdeveloped
Africa (London: Bogle L Ouverture Publishers, 1986), 9 39.
8. For instance, see E. H. Carr, What is History?
(Hardmonsworths, Middlesex, Penguin Books 1961); Lord Acton, "Inaugural
Lecture on the study of History" delivered at Cambridge, June 1985; Fritz
Stern (ed): The Varieties of history: from Voltaire to The Present. (London,
Macmillan and Co Ltd. 1970); Arthur Marwick (ed), The Nature of History.
(London, Macmillan, 1976); B. Olatunji Oloruntimehin, History and Society,
University of Ife inaugural lecture series, 1976; Bassey W. Andah "In
Search of Traditional African History," keynote address at the 28th Annual
Congress of the Historical Society of Nigeria at Ilorin, 2nd March 1983.
9. Quoted from "The Debt we owe the
past" a lecture delivered by Prof. G. O. Olusanya at the 1st Eminent
lecture series organized by the students' Historical society of Nigeria,
University of Ibadan on 28th October 1998, pp. 2 -3.
10. For details on the authenticity or otherwise
of the "Nigerian Nation" See Michael Crowder, The Story of Nigeria
(London: Faber and Faber, 1972); B. J. Dudley, Politics and Crisis in Nigeria.
(Ibadan: Ibadan University Press, 1973); H. C. Bretton, Power and stability in
Nigeria: The Politics of decolonization. (New York: Nok Publishers, 1962); J.
F. A. Ajayi, Milestones in Nigerian History. (Ibadan: Longman, 1980); Obaro
Ikime, In Search of Nigerians changing patterns of inter-group relations in an
evolving nation-state. (Nsukka: Impact Publishers, 1985); Ojukwu Emeka, Because
I am involved, Ibadan. (Spectrum Books, 1989): Oshun Olawale, Clapping with one
hand: June 12 and the crisis of a State- nation. (London: Jose Publishers, 1999)
11. Dare Babarinsa, House of War: the story of
Awo's followers and The Collapse of the Second Republic. (Ibadan and Lagos:
Spectrum Books and Tell Communications, Ltd., 2003),12; The Historia: A Journal
of the Student's Historical Society of Ibadan, University of Ibadan Chapter,
1999, 4; and John M. Mabaku et al, Ethnicity and Governance in The Third World.
(London: Ashgate Publishing, 2001) 2.
12. This intelligence report was widely reported
by both foreign and local media in Nigeria but the current writer obtained his
fact from the United States embassy in Nigeria official website:
http://abuja.usembassy.gov on June 22, 2006.
