THE NATION THURSDAY, AUGUST 21, 2014
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CAMPUS LIFE
After Ade Ajayi, will Pushing Out history end? (II)
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HE publication of “Trade and Politics in the Niger Delta, 1830-1885” by the late Professor Kenneth Onwuka Dike, the first indigenous Vice Chancellor of University of Ibadan marked a watershed in Nigerian history. The book, which is fallout of the late professor’s doctoral thesis of the same title, cleared the path for Ade Ajayi and the other historians of the same disposition to follow the lead. But suffice it to say that in terms of what is described as African history for Africans and from the perspective of the African, few will question that the late Prof. Ade Ajayi has a greater part of that glory. Dike - who was the first African to achieve the completion of Western historical scholarship - brought his misgiving about the training he received to a positive use with the setting up of the University of Ibadan History department, the Historical Society of Nigeria and the Nigerian National Archives all of which served the evolution of the Ibadan School of History and the project of national transformation. Keith A. P. Sandiford, in his book “A Black Studies Primer: Heroes and Heroines of the African Diaspora,” wrote that Dike, as the head of the organizing committee of the First International Congress of Africanists in Ghana in 1963, sought for a strengthened meticulous non-colonial focused African research, and to introduce native speakers to history and for people to view African history through a common eye. In his essay “Kenneth Onwuka Dike, ‘Trade And Politics,’ and the Restoration of the African in History,” Ebere Nwaubani argued that Dike was the first modern scholarly proponent of Africanist history. His publications were a watershed in African historiography. “He studied Western history within an intellectual framework that was seriously racial, imperialistic and triumphal. Within the context of such scholarship, it requires nothing less than a radical turn of mind for him to reject Western history and its methodology for a regional one in the service of Nigerian identity.” For the benefit of those who might not know, Historiography - simply put - is the scholar’s device for interrogating issues. It refers to a scholarly attempt to recapture or reinvent history as a discipline. In this regard, what is at stake is the necessity of
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recapturing the history of Nigeria decimated by the colonial ideology and strategy of 08116759750 Eurocentricism. (SMS only) What is also needed then was the urgency of recalibrating the meth•aagboa@gmail.com odology for writing that history that would sufficiently serve the purpose of progressive completion of the process of political freedom and in- ers gave Nigerian and African history meandependence in order to make the living to- ing. The significance of the Ibadan School gether of different nationalities to have true of History to the reclamation of a usable meaning. past towards charting a smooth path for NiTo this end, the challenge of rewriting his- gerian postcolonial development cannot be tory becomes a critical one since the past of overemphasized. any nation or culture serves as the spectacle The school echoed a nationalistic historifor reappraising the possibilities of the fu- cal programme around which history can ture. This is why I quite agree with the words be reinvented for the sake of Nigeria. In of German politician, Karl-Heinz Hansen: this sense, history would not just be an at“A people not prepared to face its own his- tempt at an objective agglomeration of facts. tory cannot manage to face its own future.” It is precisely this tenacity that recommends As each generation must necessarily write the Ibadan School of History as a commendits own history, Dike set the foundation for able forerunner of the national project in Ade Ajayi and other prominent historians Nigeria. of that era to build upon. It is thus in this With over 60 publications, Ade Ajayi’s context that one can appreciate the profun- scholarly output is formidable by any standity that informed the inauguration of the dard in a country where a scholar has to Ibadan School of History. This school of his- contend with bureaucratic/political distractory was born out of necessity, not only for tions and material deprivations which has the reconstruction of a past that lay in ruin grown in the last couple of years. This great under dubious colonial strategy, but also scholar’s point of departure always is that more important because of the exigencies history is not just a narrow specialisation of a postcolonial/post independent present or prism to be studied and written for its already compromised in all ramifications. own glory and sake. The Ibadan School evolved essentially as He believed strongly that the discipline a historiographical challenge to the man- should not even be seen from the prism of ner in which Nigerian history had been merely a search for truth, but that the truths written by the colonialists. In this sense, we history reveals must be spoken to power, can say that historiography itself com- not in the spirit of confrontation, or to make mences from the desire to reinterpret the the writer popular for a moment, but to make past. According to the American historian society better. This was why he approached Edward W. Bennett; “History, too, has its former President Olusegun Obasanjo on the uses, such as the provision of a ‘usable’ past.” need for the reintroduction of history to priThe Ibadan School was therefore motivated mary and secondary schools. Unfortunately by the urgent need to wrest the interpreta- that has not been done to date. tion of the Nigerian historical past from the It is in this spirit that he turned his prodiintellectual clutch of the premeditated Brit- gious scholarship on the processes and probish colonialists. lems of national integration, education, As one of Dike’s foot-soldiers that de- public policy and administration, analysing, ployed intellectual resources, J. F. Ade-Ajayi clarifying and illuminating issues and pointalongside historians like, Saburi Biobaku, ing the way forward for Nigeria. Adiele Afigbo, Emmanuel A. Ayandele, Perhaps the best tribute to pay him is to Tekena Tamuno, Obaro Ikime and foreign assert that he de-colonised the African narhistorians like Michael Crowder, J. B. rative by his writings. His area of research Webster, Robert (Abdullahi) Smith and oth- focused on Yorubaland, where his intellec-
Agbo Agbo
tual interrogation, curiosity and discoveries were more pronounced. As a historian, he adopted a dialectic approach by not looking at events in isolation, but as parts of bigger historical forces. His dialectical approach equally x-rays societies in broader and deeper perspectives, including the dynamics of cultures, religion, work activities and other ways of life. Anyone who goes through his works will find these embedded in such works as “Yoruba Warfare in the Nineteenth Century” and “Christian Missions in Nigeria, 1841-1891.” He was also a collaborationist and an editor. He co-edited “A thousand Years of West African History,” as well as “History of West Africa” with Michael Crowther. The true goals of history are understanding and interpreting the past. Historians have made repeated calls for a new history or a close study of the recent past of the Nigerian history; a past which will be made more germane to the problems and issues confronting us today. For example, one of the problems facing our rulers today is that of ethnic and religious tension all of which resulted from the fact that colonial rule brought people together in new ways and for new purposes as the colonial rulers sought to forge new administrative structures. Our nation is among that part of the world now generally referred to as emerging economies or societies in transition. Without a clear sense of identity based on sound historical education, we are in danger of merely drifting along with others. Although we are in the age of globalization; but we must not fail to appreciate that international community is an aggregate of nations, each with its own distinctive character. We failed here because we did not start with a national character; we developed one under stress of circumstances, but with good leadership we can arrive at a common ground. In closing out, it will appropriate to reemphasise that we need a clear national ideology that will define a common future for the citizens. A clear example is from Italian history. Their leader provided a clear focus for their effort at unification by interpreting the history of their society and prospecting from it the ideology of Risorpemento (resurgence), the political and social movement that agglomerated different states of the Italian peninsula into the single state of the Kingdom of Italy in the 19th century. The British also have their ideology of unity in diversity which we seem to have copied without actually believing in it.
Students’ mission to kick out Ebola •Continued from page 29 (NSBS), held a rally to sensitise the university community on the deadly virus. They moved round the campus with cardboards conveying different messages. The inscriptions on some of the placards were: “Please stay alive; prevent Ebola”, “Ebola, na only you waka come? There is God oo”, “Kick Ebola out of Nigeria, kick Ebola out of Africa”, among others. NSBS also held an awareness symposium, featuring lectures on how Ebola can be prevented from spreading. Collins Anene, NSBS president, said: “The virus can kill millions of people in a short period and it is good we know what to do, how to do it and where to start from,” he said. But for his death, Sawyer would have been in Calabar for an Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) conference. Unsurprisingly, the UNICAL community is in fear. At its Goldie Market, table salt was a fast-selling commodity when rumour of the therapy broke. At the UNICAL Teaching Hospital (UCTH), the prices of hand gloves, masks, bitter kola and disinfectant rose as people scrambled for the items. A piece of bitter kola, which hitherto sold for N10, went for N50. The Commissioner for Health, Prof Angela Oyo-Ita, in a statement, said the government had placed the public on alert to
prevent the outbreak of the disease in the state. To complement the government’s effort, the Department of Philosophy, last Wednesday, organised what it called “Emergency awareness” on Ebola virus. The Head of Department, Prof Dorothy Olu-Jacob, said there was need to educate people on the dangers of allowing the disease to spread. The campaigners took off from the campus and moved round Calabar to educate people on the streets and in markets. The students employed jokes and drama to demonstrate how the disease can be prevented. The rally ended with a candlelight procession for the victims. At the University of Ilorin (UNILORIN), the Vice-Chancellor, Prof Abdulganiyu Ambali, described the virus as “extremely deadly and terrifying” when the Comptroller of Nigeria Immigration Service, Kwara State Command, Mr Peter Aburime, visited him last Monday. He said measures must be adopted to prevent the spread of the virus. Solomon Dooga, a 500-Level Medicine and Surgery student at BSU, lamented the misinformation about the disease, which he said, could abort efforts to contain the virus. “It is bad that people are spreading rumours about the cure for Ebola. There are many people suffering from hypertension and asking them to take salt solution and bath with it can lead to their death. This is
•Another group of UNN students during the campaign
unscientific and only shows the level of ignorance in the land. The rumour could make some people ignore medical instructions and help in spreading the virus in the process,” he said. Francis Egwuatu, 500-Level student of the Federal University of Technology, Owerri (FUTO), said the level of awareness should be raised on campuses given the situation in hostels, where several students live in a room. Philip Okorodudu, who just graduated from the Delta State University, said: “I have started avoiding handshakes with people already. I now pretend as if I don’t see anyone extending his hand to shake me. We are in a serious situation and all hands must be on deck to prevent the spread of the virus.”
Geraldine Nwokeocha, a Mass Communication student of Landmark University in Omu Aran, Kwara State, urged the government to step up efforts to contain the virus. “We have to strengthen efforts to eradicate the virus, while we are preventing it. The world would be in a dire situation if the virus is not eradicated.” Felix Sanni, a student of the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) in Zaria, Kaduna State, urged the government to use cost-effective and result-oriented means to battle the virus. Damilola Ibitoye, a student of the Federal Polytechnic, Offa (OFFA POLY), said students must complement the government’s efforts to contain the virus by adhering to the guidelines issued by medical personnel.