Forgetting the past: The mysterious case of Nigeria.
“Everyday we forget a bit of our past and the future looks bleaker.”
Painting of artwork on display at the National Gallery of Art, Enugu.
📷 Stella Inabo
In the first year of senior secondary school, in the brown pages of a textbook on Nigerian Government, I discovered that many years ago the Nigeria Civil War occurred. Before that precise moment, I had never known such an event had taken place.
I was in my teenage years, I had lived in Nigerian all my life and yet I had never known that two sides of the country had fought a bitter war. I knew about the animosity about the Northern and Eastern parts of the country and the riots in the North that claimed the lives of people but somehow my entire childhood had glossed over the fact that a war had been fought.
The section on the Nigerian Civil war was just a few paragraphs. An important event wrapped up and finished as though it was a one day riot, not a war that raged for nearly 3 years (July 1967-January 1970).
Machinery built during the Nigerian Civil War by Biafrans on display at the Centre for Memories, Enugu.
I am 21 now and I am still learning about Nigeria. A visit to Centre for Memories in Enugu led to the discovery of weapons and machinery developed by Biafrans. It leads to questions about why indigenous technology (albeit from a former enemy in war) has not been adopted by the military. Is it the leash of Neo-Colonialism or the fact that we just refuse to accept the existence of these events and things so as not to truly analyze our behaviors, actions, and direction as a country. But I digress.
Where did our history go?
In 2007, Nigerian schools received the directive to stop teaching History to students. The subject was watered down to a measly meal served with other subjects. As part of Social Studies, a few mentions of the past were allowed. History as a course became an elective in secondary schools, with only a few opting for it (I studied government, I was absolutely terrified of forgetting dates). In universities, it survived as a department of its own in some places and in others, courses of study emerged with names like Strategic Studies and History, International Studies and History or Diplomatic Studies and History.
On March 28, 2018, the then minister for Education called for the reintroduction of History into schools’ curriculum. Yet, in June 2019, the Vice president gave another directive that schools should begin to teach History again. This means that the reintroduction of the subject into schools had not yet occurred. It is expected that it would take time for this to occur because a new curriculum would have to be adopted and teachers would have to be hired. But maybe it is taking time to be put into effect because it is caught in the jumbled bureaucracy that guides our educational system
But the fact remains that history was expunged in 2007 and for 11 years, the study of past events which is essential to understanding the present and avoiding mistakes in the future has been absent.
Lessons from the past
Young Nigerians at the Iva Valley Monument, Enugu.
Monday, 19th November marked 70 years since a group of miners protested for better wages and working conditions at the Iva Valley mine in Enugu state. They were gunned down by the employers. A memorial was organized by the Centre for Memories, Enugu Literary Society, iserve2050 and Enugu Sports Club called “Échefulà”, which means “never forget”. I attended the event and listened to a panelist say that the people who live in the surrounding areas to Iva Valley had no idea that this event occurred. The community is also lacking basic amenities. The cries of men fighting for justice and the blood spilled in the struggle for a better life lay forgotten under years of ignorance. The past repeats itself. It is a song from a broken record.
As bleak as this may be, there are people who know, who remember who choose to never forget. These people gather at a monument to these miners for a wreath-laying ceremony. It is Monday morning, the beginning of the week but they take out time to pay their respects. Wearing black shirts that bear two dates, 1949 (year of the miners' massacre) and 1929 (year of the Aba Women’s Riot), they lay flowers on the sculpture of the striking miners.
The ceremony starts late, unattended by government officials. Not much attention is paid to such things, important things like remembering the past in our country.
We choose to forget
Why then do we place so little value on the knowledge of the past?
In “History Ends in Nigeria”, the editorial berates the government for scrapping History as a subject pointing out the danger and sheer idiocy of such an action. The author makes a very valid point on our attitude towards events of the past.
“Nigeria’s abhorrence of history is not new. There is no official account of the Civil War. When we obliterate history, we should also destroy our artifacts, burn our museums and monuments, heritage sites and archaeological activities. A generation of Nigerians without knowledge of history would not appreciate these treasures. How does a country proceed without a knowledge of its heroes and heroines? History is not just a study of events and dates, it provides analytical insights into social formations, anthropological developments, inventions and innovations that shape humanity.”
People empowered by the knowledge of the past ask questions. Questions that a government that is focusing a lot of energy in the wrong direction would not be able to answer. The people who live in Iva valley now would demand better living conditions, their actions fueled by the bravery of men in the past.
Questions are not entertained. Hence, they are nipped in the bud. Knowledge is hidden and hoarded, abhorred or ignored.
In a discussion with a friend of mine, I said that Nigerians bear the harsh realities of their country but forgetting. Our days are filled with many injustices but they are all poured into a pit of forgetfulness. This action is borne out of many reasons, one of which is lethargy. We are in a state where we have accepted where we are. We have called it home and do everything to protect our shelter. However, this is a sandcastle that will be destroyed in a storm. It is unsustainable.
We owe the responsibility of addressing our problems now. We owe it to our children and their children. We owe it to the heroes that once stood to defend the basic dignities that humans should have. We must accept our burdens and carry them.
In light of these realities, the burden of discovering the past, understanding the present and planning for the future might lie with the individual. We cannot sit and wait for our stories to be told to us. We have to unearth them and share them.
By making a conscious effort and taking steps in this direction, we might be able to clog the leaks in the enterprise that is Nigeria.
