THE RETURN OF HISTORY SUBJECT

The news of the federal government reintroducing history as a stand-alone subject in the basic education curriculum in Nigeria 13 years after its abolition is a good development.

Adamu Adamu, minister of education, announced this in Abuja at the reintroduction ceremony/training of history teachers at the basic education level. The minister who was represented by the state minister of education, Goodluck Opiah expressed worry about the threat posed to national cohesion owing largely to lack of knowledge of Nigeria’s evolution following the removal of history from the basic education curriculum. The minister said a total of 3,700 history teachers have been shortlisted on pro-rata basis for WKH ÀUVW URXQG RI WUDLQLQJ WR HQKDQFH WHDFKLQJ RI WKH subject.

History was removed from the Nigerian school curriculum in 2009 – supposedly because students avoided the subject, graduates did not have job prospects and teachers were scarce. But Nigerians were not happy with the decision. The 13 years without the subject being taught have created big vacuum. 6WXGHQWV ZKR ÀQLVKHG WKHLU VHFRQGDU\ VFKRROV KDYH missed a golden opportunity to know more about their country. Interestingly, government has now UHYHUVHG WKH GHFLVLRQ +LVWRU\ FDQ EH GHÀQHG DV WKH subject of a balanced interpretation and reconstruction of the past, based on evidence with focus on causation, context and course of events. Ignorance of history creates a vacuum that misinformation or outright falsehood can exploit.

A sound knowledge of the past is the basis for nationalism or patriotism, the driving force in modern nation-building. History creates or reinforces naWLRQDO LGHQWLW\ DQG VHOI GHÀQLWLRQ 7KH 8QLWHG 6WDWHV 8QLWHG .LQJGRP DQG -DSDQ DUH VWULNLQJ H[DPSOHV RI the teaching of history as a central plank of the curULFXOXP .QRZOHGJH RI KLVWRU\ KDV GULYHQ WKH SDWULRtism exhibited by citizens of those countries.