On Solutions to Nigeria’s Problem
By Momoh Ayuba Danjumah
Every day, I give thanks and appreciation to my creator for enabling me to study my passion course at the university level: History. Much more appealing is the course’s dual orientation, which combines studies of diplomacy, international relations, and strategic studies. But from my in-depth interviews and talks with a number of students, who often voice their intense frustration, I have discovered that many students at higher education institutions do not properly comprehend the value of studying history.
During my senior years of high school, in Lagos State’s wonderful Ajegunle area, my love for history began. This enthusiasm began to blossom even though I didn’t have a history instructor at the time, because of my curiosity about the lives of many historical heroes. I became quite interested in the subject since my father answered a lot of the questions I didn’t know the answers to. I began to push myself more, asking a lot of incredible people I knew who had far better educations and experiences than me, in order to quench my interest for historical events that extended well beyond the last fifty years.
Around that time in High school, I started receiving a lot of criticism from my peers at that time, a lot of people think, “Why am I bothering myself with knowledge that is so distant from the present?” I’d say, “The significance of history is the reason that every car has a side mirror—it reflects the rear so that the driver can feel confident in having a clear view of his front.”
Historical scholarship opened doors and opened my eyes, starting with my challenging days in the red soil of Anyigba, at Kogi State University, where many of the professors in the history department are housed in the faculty of Arts and Humanities and are remarkable, smart, and well-equipped lecturers of history. They inspired me greatly with their commitment, fervor, and laser-like intensity. The individuals I knew in the Anyigba corridors were not much more different from my present Post-Graduate studies at the University of Lagos’ Department of History and Strategic Studies, where I met a varied set of students with seriousness and dedication, anytime I study history; I usually find satisfaction in staying focused.
Since my upbringing and exposure to historical studies, I’ve learned to respect the events of today since they might become the events of the past. Unsurprisingly, our politicians and leaders never stop promising that tomorrow would be better—but they don’t realize that the future they live in today was yesterday’s tomorrow.
Many complain about the process of developing a nation, the leadership, and the narrow-mindedness of those in charge that cause suffering and discontent among the people, whom they could mostly assist in a normal and prudent manner. But they’ve forgotten all the pledges they made on election eve because they want a lucrative job.
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Nigerian Problems have historical roots. I must say that it is truly unfortunate since a lot of Nigeria’s problems could have been solved if our leaders, people, and governmental institutions had tapped into and learned from them. Examining the scenario over a 24-year period reveals that Nigerians are still facing the same problems they have been since 2000.
The phrase “Journalism is a history written in a hurry” was once said to be very accurate. In recent times, I have spent three full days, from morning to evening, at the Mahatma Gandhi Library (Underground) at the University of Lagos. This has allowed me to critically examine and delve deeply into historical events that have been brought to life in newspaper articles from 1990 to the present. Kudos to the University of Lagos Library staff for their astute preservation of the past.
Through the printed words on the pages of Thisday, Vanguard, Guardian, and Tribune newspapers, I was able to journey back thirty years inside the library. The policies and descriptions of decisions and directives made by the late Sanni Abacha, General Abdul-Salam Abubakar, and General Ibrahim Babangida, the military dictators of Nigeria, brought out the warlords in them, and Nigerians grew weary and emotional over the military style of government, demanding a democratic system.
Moving forward to 1999, when the fourth republic was ushered in, former President Olusegun Obasanjo became the Messiah that Nigerians had been waiting for. He did his best to restore Nigeria’s position as the continent’s largest nation, but the third term agenda actually robbed him off many of his options. Many people were left wondering, though, if General (rtd) Olusegun Obasanjo was the one who actually started the third term agenda. What may have happened to Nigeria and Nigerians if he had been successful in implementing the Agenda for a third term?
As I eagerly turned through the pages of the newspapers continuously with passion, I saw numerous complex topics pertaining to leadership, discord, consensus, cohesion, hatred, treachery, friendship, camaraderie, and adversaries, from former President Musa Yar’adua to Goodluck Jonathan to Muhammad Buhari and subsequently President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
One thing is certain: the current objective of learning from history is a result of the numerous errors and policies signed and carried out by previous governments that were yet perpetuated by succeeding ones.
In light of this, many of the recurrent policies that failed to result in meaningful change could have been saved if there had been an office named the Office of a Chief Historian. Congratulations to the Historical Society of Nigeria for their persistent efforts in pursuing that particular struggle. Only Bayesla State, led by Professor Temegha Stephen Olali, has the Office of a Historian in Nigeria; as a result, the state is doing incredibly well in terms of decision-making, administration, policies, and nation-building that resonates with past fortunes.
In fact, a march for the establishment of an Office of a Historian for All States in Nigeria will resolve so many state-wide difficulties and offer many remedies that the office of the historian will be able to examine current concerns through the historical perspective.
