Nigerian History Research Articles

The Declining Profile of Physical Education Programme in Educational Institutions in Nigeria

Since the early days of Nigerian history, Physical Education has always been considered as an integral part of educational system as obtained in several nations of the world. The awareness of the values of physical activities and sports, gave a boost to the prominence given to the practical and pedagogical aspects of physical education in all segments of educational system in Nigeria, between 1950s and 1980s. Physical Education was a compulsory subject in the curriculum of primary and teacher education, while the National Policy on Education of 1970s and 1980s accommodated the programme for secondary education. However, it is rather disturbing to note that there has been a systematic decline in the fortune of physical education in Nigerian schools since 1990 to date. This paper therefore, examines the acceptability and recognition of physical education programmes in Nigerian schools, and the inherent factors responsible for the steady decline of its profile over the years.

The Biafran War According to Hollywood: Militainment and Historical Distortion in Antoine Fuqua’s Tears of the Sun (2003)

Negative imaging of Africa through the “Dark Continent” trope continues unabated in western written and visual representation, but while colonial historiography has been successfully challenged by various professional historians in the continent like Ade Ajayi, Ali Mazrui, Adu Boahen, Bethwell Allan Ogot and J. Ki-Zerbo among others, and most contemporary historical literature no longer entertain such biases, the same cannot be said of cultural productions on Africa emanating from the West. The negative representation of Africa has persisted in Western literature and more especially in western film through to the post-colonial era via instruments of Euro-American cultural imperialism like Hollywood, and the Western media at large. This paper focuses on the filmic reconstruction of the Biafran War in Tears of the Sun (2003) by director Antoine Fuqua, and shows how the film distorts Nigerian history while adhering to the militainment genre to glorify the United States military at the expense of Nigeria’s image.Key words: Hollywood, Biafra, Colonialism, Representation, Historiography,Distortion

The Ideological Evolution of Boko Haram in Nigeria

Ideological factors help to define the evolution of terrorist organisations, influenced by the domestic and global political context. Jacob Zenn, Atta Barkindo and Nicholas A Heras examine the ideological motivations that influenced the transformation of Boko Haram from local salafism to international jihadism. They seek to analyse the extent to which, in addition to local grievances and its own internal politics, the ideology of other transnational extremist organisations and Nigerian history and politics have influenced the ideological development of Boko Haram.

Christianity in Nigeria before Pentecostalism

Many previous works on Christianity in Nigeria had mostly emphasized the successful parts of the mission efforts rather than the whole gamut of attempts, successes, failures and African innovativeness that largely characterized the mission stories. This paper however historically examined in synopsis the mission activities of the missionary groups that made entry into Nigeria and how the religion was eventually slated for indigenization by the Nigerian Christians to aptly express their worldview and perception. Some relevant literatures were used to gather historical facts about the topic. Logical reasoning and historical method were used in treating findings and in reconciling the information and evidence in the literature. The paper surveyed the following: European entry into Africa, Christian entry into Nigeria, (western and southern Nigeria), the missions established and how these missions were breeding diverse African nationalists and charismatic personnel who suggested that Christianity should be expressed in the African way. Christianity in Nigeria had gone through a lot of stages and the roles of these stages are very fundamental in the telling of Christian history in Nigeria. Mission Christianity though brought Christianity to Nigeria could not present a befitting Christianity that match the worldview of the people. Western missionary personnel enjoyed a great deal of hospitality when they came in the 19th Century. Nevertheless, Indigenous Christian practices garnished in Pentecostal expressiveness and liturgies appeared to be the distinguishing traits and hopes of Nigerian Christianity in the long run. DOI: 10.5901/ajis.2013.v2n2p121

The Influence of Corruption on Women Trafficking in Nigeria

Human Trafficking is a global and endemic problem which statistics has revealed that Nigeria happens to be one of the countries that accounts for high rate of women trafficking this paper will examine newspapers reports, academic writings and interview feedbacks to answer why Nigeria.The influence of corruption is rarely considered as a factor when dealing with this problem, this research have decided to focus on this area, how the culture of not asking question about the sources of wealth and how the leadership attitude have influenced the organised crime of women trafficking.Why Nigeria? Many Scientific research and Theories have attempted to answer this question severally but no cogent solution has emerged so far to this question. The common reason usually adduced in most research conclusions all points to reasons of poverty, greed, forced prostitution, ignorance, illiteracy, desperation to relocate abroad for better life often turning into false hope and so on and so forth.The alarming rate of women victims in human trafficking from Nigeria can only be understood if we have an understanding of the history and set up of the country itself. Nigeria is so unique that it has defiled so many academic and scientific theories as if they are not applicable to the situation. The factors which influences the Nigerians thinking towards materialistic and get rich syndrome at all cost are so subtle, numerous and often not so obvious that researchers miss it.This work will focus on the factors deeply rooted in the Nigerian history, politics, culture and traditions, trade opportunities, leadership model, culture of material wealth emulation and where no one ask questions about how people make their money nor face any investigation. We shall also attempt to put forward some arguments and incorporate some relevant theories as far as applicable as we discuss further.The submission of this paper is that corruption and attitudes of leadership at the highest echelon of the Nigerian society does bear a direct influence and encourages women trafficking as a subset of the organised crime of human trafficking.

Parochial Political Culture: The Bane of Nigeria Development

This paper examined the effect of parochial political culture on national development in Nigeria. It is imperative at this time more than any other in the history of Nigeria, a country at crossroad to vigorously address the challenges posed by the parochial political culture , without which political stability, political innovation, national development among others would be a mirage. For many decades Nigeria has been on a steady decline in regards to all indicators of national development. On this premise the paper intends to investigate how Nigeriaâ????s political culture impedes her national development. Based on the assertions above, some objectives were formulated to guide the study. Theories of two republics and Prebendalism formed the basis of the study. Some findings were made and recommendations provided on the way forward.

Creating the Past, and Still Counting the Losses: Evaluating Narrative of the Nigerian Civil War in Buchi Emecheta’s DESTINATION BIAFRA

Buchi Emecheta's Destination Biafra chronicles happenings of the Nigerian civil war. The criticism in the novel is directed at the greed, corruption and sadism of many of the protagonists on all sides which suitably demonstrates the illogicality of seeking to explain the war. This paper articulates how Emecheta's Destination Biafra brings new perspectives to bear upon a significant aspect of Nigerian history that has been dominated by one segment of society. In this particular case, interpretations of the Nigerian civil war, hitherto controlled by men, are moderated by an essentially female account. The paper historicizes the trauma and scars borne by women and children during the war, focusing mainly on how the war is stripped of the glamour which masculinist accounts often endow it with, and how this is seen in all its senselessness and brutality. Just as the belligerents fight over resources and territory, so are accounts of what took place during the conflict being fought over between those who prosecuted it and those who were its victims.

New Historicist Dimensions in Helon Habila’s Measuring Time

This paper seeks to explore the New Historicist dimensions in the Nigerian novel with a focus on Helon Habila’s Measuring Time. The Nigerian history as seen by Habila has not validated many assumptions and needs to be revised .This revision of history by Habila puts the Nigerian history in proper perspective. The new historicist dimensions in this novel include: history, culture politics and the military. It is the position of this paper that the Nigerian writer should begin to write about Nigeria’s most recent history. It is the exploration of this most recent history in Habila’s Measuring Time that this paper sets out to examine using the tenets of new historicism. This theory examines primarily the historical as well as cultural aspects of the text. It also sees the text as an associate unit of other texts and it is in the network of these texts that meaning is realized. This most recent history as seen in this novel includes religious crises, corruption, the military usurpation of political power and electoral fraud. The paper reveals that if Nigeria would get her elections right and put right leaders in place, there would be a multiplier effect on other sectors of the polity and the wellbeing of the citizenry would be improved. The paper opines that the failure of Nigerian leaders to manage their affairs should not be blamed only on colonialism. Both the leadership and followership have a duty not to fail.

Publishing Wole Soyinka: Oxford University Press and the creation of “Africa’s own William Shakespeare”

This article considers the impact of Wole Soyinka’s adoption of Oxford University Press (OUP) as his first international publisher. Formerly one of the main producers of school books for “native education” in Africa, OUP in the immediate post-independence period continued to operate under colonial modes of publishing. This study considers how OUP dealt with the political critique of Soyinka’s early plays, several of which were regarded in performance as radical and subversive in their critical engagement with Nigerian politics and history. Using previously unexamined archival sources, it concentrates on the negotiations surrounding each stage of the publishing process. It assesses how Soyinka’s texts were filtered through OUP’s publishing apparatus and how the paratextual elements created by the publisher – within the book and beyond – influenced the reception of his works. The article concludes that the publisher’s interventions had a profound impact on the construction of the literary identity of Soyinka, and on the creation of his persona as “Africa’s own William Shakespeare”.

A Comparative Analysis of the Image Status of Nigerian Teachers: 1960-1985 and 1986-2010

The paper examines the activities of teachers in two different historical epochs of Nigerian history. Relevant literatures were reviewed which borders on the commitment and official roles of teachers from the time of missionary sole control of education to post-independent era. Comparative analysis of the two epochs were examined in terms of teachers commitment, degree of motivation and training, tendency to engage in other paid work outside teaching and the degree of communal involvement. The study adopted a survey design. One hundred and fifty teachers from Ayedaade Local Government Area of Osun State were used as the study sample. Questionnaire was designed, validated and administered. Data collected were analyzed using simple percentage. The teachers in the first epoch, 1960 – 1985, were rated higher based on their positive impacts on teaching-learning than the second epoch group, 1986 - 2010.

Building “Sound” Industrial Relations in Nigeria: The British and Organised Labour, 1940s to 1960

This paper examines measures taken by the British colonial administrationin Nigeria during the early years of the Cold War. I posit that anti-leftistmeasures against labour organisations were central to the success of thecolonial state’s policy of “sound” industrial relations in the workplace(private and public). Using primary documents from the British NationalArchives, the Annual Reports of the Department (later Ministry) of Labour,materials from the Modern Record and Labour Archives, and the NigerianNational Archives, the paper contextualizes British policy of anti-leftistpolicy towards labour unionists termed “sound industrial” relations. Itanalyses the creation and activities of the Department (later Ministry) ofLabour, and the overall implications of government measures on leftistintelligentsia in labour unions between 1945 and 1960. This is a historicalnarrative of the aspect of Nigerian labour union history hitherto understudied because of the closure of official records until recently. Keywords: “Sound” Industrial Relations, Labour Union, Education, Antileftistpolicy, Decolonization, Nigeria

Gender, Justice, and the Environment: Connecting the Dots

In this paper I attempt to connect several dots, specifically my research on African women's activism, environmental justice, and climate change. The book on which I am currently working is tentatively entided “‘The Great Upheaval’: Women, Taxes and Nationalist Politics in Abeokuta (Nigeria), 1945–1951.” The study examines the struggles of Nigerian women to shape the nationalist agenda and their setbacks as the country moved decisively toward independence. At its core lies an analysis of a tax revolt launched by women in Abeokuta in 1947. The Abeokuta Women's Union (AWU), under the leadership of Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti (the mother of the late musician Fela Kuti), began a protracted protest against a tax increase. This revolt is well known in Nigerian popular history, and many people outside of Nigeria were introduced to it in Wole Soyinka's memoir,Ake: The Years of Childhood(1981:164–218).

Nigeria Votes: More Openness, More Conflict

Nigeria’s recent electoral season marked an important departure from the familiar trajectory of politics in that country. Departing from Nigeria’s history of flawed elections and oligarchic control, this most recent balloting offered a broadly credible and competitive exercise across most of the country. Yet the outcome of the presidential contest, though seemingly decisive in numerical terms, has also sharpened sectional tensions that could upset Nigeria’s fragile political equilibrium. Political initiative, economic strategy, and the changing nature of social movements will determine whether or not Nigerians can successfully navigate the risk of sectional conflict.

Gender Budgeting in the Education Sector: Implications for the Girl Child Education in Nigeria

More than any other time in the Nigerian history, women education is now considered a priority because it has become a major factor in the development equation, and in particular, a key to gender equity, justice and poverty reduction; improved skills and technological knowledge acquisition; improved nutrition; reproductive health; and general socio-economic development of a nation. Yet, the challenges of gender issues in education still remain mostly unabated. The cultural barriers which the girl child faces concerning her roles at home and in the society still inhibit her ability to go to school. Gender stereotypes still exist in learning materials and too often, teachers’ different expectations of boys and girls result in negative biases against girls’ education. Despite government policy interventions and programs, empirical evidences continue show gender disparity in enrolment, attrition, and retention at all levels – primary, secondary, and tertiary. Although the current National Gender Policy addresses gender imbalance in the education sector, the extent to which the country is able to achieve gender parity in the sector depends on how skillful are policy makers in the use gender mainstreaming (GM) tools and strategies, one of such is being able to adopt ‘a gender budgeting’ framework in the sector. This paper addresses the technical knowledge in gender mainstreaming and gender budgeting in the education sector, and the extent to which budgets in the sector now address identified gender gaps in the sector. This paper argues that beyond government rhetoric in policy documents, evidence of political will and government commitment to the girl child education are dependent on the extent to which the sector has become sensitive to gender issues, including adoption of a gender sensitive budgeting framework. Using ‘organizational capacity assessment tool (OCAT), the paper assesses the current technical capacity in gender mainstreaming and gender budgeting in the sector, while also using budgeting figures to establish the extent to which the sector allocates money to gender issues in the sector. Empirical findings show that the skills and capacities for gender mainstreaming and gender budgeting in the public sector (especially the education sector) are still very low, while government spending in the education sector is still skewed in favor of men. One clear way of supporting the ‘girl child’ education is to make the education sector responsive to ‘gender budgeting’ in line with democratic ethos.

Road Transportation, Agriculture and Trade in Western Nigeria after World War II

This paper examines the role and impact of road transportation on the economy of southwestern Nigeria after World War II. The focus is on how road transportation promoted agriculture and trade. The study of the post World War II period is important because it enables us to examine two crucial elements in the economic history of Nigeria. On the one hand is the pursuit of British colonial economic interests and on the other is the nationalist agenda in the era of transition to self rule. The post World War II period is divided into two phases: the first, from 1945 to 1952, covers the period of British administration of the Western region of Nigeria. During this period, the colonial government used road transportation as a means of pursuing her economic interests in Nigeria. This, of course, had been the pattern of colonial rule since its inauguration in Nigeria at the beginning of the century. The second phase runs from 1952 to independence in 1960. This was the era of the first indigenous government in the Western region. From that date, the history of road transportation in Nigeria took a new turn. Indeed, compared to the pre 1952 era when road transportation was used to further colonial interests, the indigenous government began to take concrete steps to transform the economy of the region and uplift the living conditions of the people. In the pursuit of this, government used road transportation as an instrument to bring about the desired social and economic transformation.

Book: Academics, Epidemics, Politics by Idris Mohammed

Book: <i>Academics, Epidemics, Politics</i> by Idris Mohammed

Strategies in Improving the Policy and Access To Technology Education In Secondary Schools In Nigeria

Education in the colonial period of Nigerian history was too theoretical and literal in nature. The policy of education at that time did not see the needs of the country’s technological emancipation. Due to yearnings of Nigerians about the insensitivity of the educational system to societal needs, a national conference was held in 1969 to reform the educational system. The outcome of this meeting gave rise to the new National Policy on Education which came on board in 1977 (revised in 1981, 1998 and 2004). This gave rise to the 6-3-3-4 system of education emphasizing the importance of technology education. A lot of faults were detected which opened an avenue for the 9-3-4 system of education. It is found that this most recent system was bedeviled with a lot of challenges. This paper makes a case for how these hydra-headed problems could be abrogated and suggested strategies on how the current system of education could be moved forward abinesio, the UBE programme in Nigeria.

Colonialism and violence in Nigeria

Preface Acknowledgments Major Events in Nigerian History Covered in This Book 1. Violence and Colonial Conquest 2. Resistance by Violence 3. Violence and Colonial Consolidation 4. Taxation and Conflicts 5. Gendered Violence 6. Verbal Violence and Radical Nationalism 7. Labor, Wages, and Riots Conclusion: Violence and Political Culture Notes Bibliography Index

A history of Nigeria

A history of Nigeria

A History of Nigeria. Toyin Falola and Matthew M. Heaton

<i>A History of Nigeria</i>. Toyin Falola and Matthew M. Heaton