The Special Guest of Honour and Vice Chairman Senate Committee on Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND), Senator Sandy Ojang Onor has said that History is key for growth and development of any country.
He said this recently during the presentation of the Book titled “Nigerian History; From the Earliest Times to Twenty First Century” writen by Prof. CBN Ogbogbo and Prof. Okpeh O. Okpeh at the Nigerian Army Resource Centre (NARC), Abuja.
In his opening remark, he emphasized that when you understand the history of a country you will understand the vision and ideals of its forbearers. “You have to understand where you are coming from for you to understand where you are going”, he said.
He further, congratulated the authors for their in-depth knowledge of the Nigerian history which led them to put this beautiful piece together for the citizens to understand the history of Nigeria and the Nigerian Army Resource Centre for playing host to the Book Launch. He however, hoped that through efforts like this Nigeria will be a better place.
Earlier in his address, the Director General NARC Major General Ayodeji Garba Wahab thanked each and everyone for who graced the occasion. He also showered encomium on the authors Professor CBN Ogbogbo and Professor Okpeh Okpeh for their overall efforts towards the success of the book and for bringing history back to the mainstream of the Nigerian education.
In the same vein, Prof CBN Ogbogbo while taking a critical look at what inspired the book “Nigerian History From The Earliest Times To Twenty First Centry” , he said that basically, “we discovered that there is a lack of a sense of history among the Nigerian citizens.
He stressed that since the grand work of the Nigerian History published in 1980, we have not had a comprehensive text or what my colleagues call meta-narrative on the entire country”.
He further underscored that two things were set to be achieved with the book; to put together materials that will have to deal with various teams and periods in the Nigerian history. Secondly, to create a book that is strictly not for the professional historians and to ginger a sense of history in all our decisions.
In his review, Air Commodore Sani Abduallahi Zakari highlighted that, although Nigeria is richly endowed with both human and natural resources, the country’s success has been constrained over the decades by ethno-religious conflicts, political instability, corruption and misgovernance by its elites and almost dysfunctional economy and as a result of which its vast portion of its populace lives in abject poverty. It is imperative to note that the book is a detailed meta-narrative for anyone who genuinely desires to understand the history of Nigeria, the origins of its many nationalities and their economic activities and characters of the social political institutions amongst other events of historical importance.
Prof. Okpeh Okpeh in his vote of thanks expressed his profound appreciation to the Special Guest of Honour, the DG NARC and other Guests for honouring the invitation.
The climax of the event was the unveiling of the book by the Special Guest of Honour, Senator Sandy Onor assisted by the Director General NARC and other dignitaries that graced the occasion.
By LCpl Augustine Nwoba
