Buhari, Obasanjo, Tinubu harp on importance of history

President Muhammadu Buhari has charged Nigerians to value Nigerian history, adding that the critical place of the country in Africa was such that Nigeria cannot fail.

Speaking in Abuja yesterday at the public presentation of “The Nigerian Century,” a compendium of Nigeria’s centenary history edited by foremost journalist, Dare Babarinsa, the president, who was represented by Deputy National Chairman of All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr. Segun Oni, said the challenges confronting the nation were no reason for the country not to attain the enviable height expected of her as a leader of Africa.

Chairman on the occasion and former president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo also urged Nigerians to have a sense of history. He said failure to do so will make planning and implementation of policies and programmes impossible.

Represented by former minister of Health, Prince Julius Adelusi, Obasanjo implored the people not to give up on Nigeria, the present difficulties notwithstanding.

“Don’t give up hope on Nigeria…We should renew our efforts to love Nigeria, to heal Nigeria and to fix Nigeria. It can be done,” he said. He described the book as a major gift to the younger generation.

Book presenter and former governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu condemned the teaching of histories of foreign countries in Nigeria by schools owned by foreigners, like the British, Turkish and American schools while Nigerian schools fail to teach Nigerian history.

“Why, then, should we have Nigerian schools in Nigeria that will not teach our own history? How can our children be Nigerians if they don’t know their history?” Tinubu asked rhetorically.

Tinubu, who was represented by the member representing Ikorodu Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, Babajimi Benson said it was a wake-up call for governments, both states and federal, to return history into the school curriculum.

Earlier, Babarinsa, in his welcome remarks, said the aim of the book was to fill the knowledge gap in the nation’s education, especially for youths in secondary schools and tertiary institutions.