Africa’s history should push us to create a better future for our children

Knowledge of African history should propel leaders and citizens to have a sense of dissatisfaction for the status quo in order to create a new history that the children will be proud of, Tony Elumelu, chairman of UBA, says.

The UBA chairman said this during the celebration of Africa Day 2019 at the bank’s headquarters in Lagos. Themed ‘Africa’s History Redefined: Our past, a path to the future,’ the celebration brought together notable names in Africa and Nigerian history – Wole Soyinka, Nigeria’s Nobel Laureate, Samil Nkhrumah, politician and daughter of the late Kwame Nkrumah, Djibril Tamsir Niane, historian and playwright, Femi Kuti, afro musician and son of the late Fela Anikulapo Kuti, and Ayo Obe, lawyer and partner at Ogunsola Shonibare.

The speakers decried the state of history in the continent. Many countries in Africa have removed the teaching of history from their national curriculum. Nigeria in 2015 was among the countries to expunge history. However, under the President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration, the subject was returned.

Soyinka recalled his response when he heard news of the removal.

“I was shocked when I returned to Nigeria many years ago and heard that History has been taken off our national curriculum. I asked Governor Fashola then he said, a federal minister thought out children did not need to learn the subject because there were not enough teachers,” Soyinka said.

He described history as more than an academic exercise but as a development. Femi Kuti on his part pointed out that the idea of depriving women based on their sex, for instance, was not native to African culture, saying there was a need to relearn and imbibe a new culture based on the lessons of African history.

“Feminism wasn’t an African thing. It was religion and colonialism that taught us to discriminate against our women. The religious books are full of “He, he, he…” there is no “she” in there. Our ancestors valued women and didn’t discriminate against them,” Kuti said.

Nkrumah noted that the total liberation of the continent from colonialism and neo colonialism only lies in total liberation, which comes with unification. To achieve that Africans has to actively re-orientate themselves of their origin.

“We need to be empowered with the understanding of African history. We need an African-centred education. We need the courage to make those changes,” she said.

Soyinka noted that while unity of Africa was imperative there has to be dialogue between the leaders and the led on the form it should take.

“After 500 years of suffering, we can’t still be complaining in 2019,” said Elumelu. “I want to see startups from different industries conquering the world.”