Why FG reintroduced history to school curriculum —Osinbajo

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo said Monday the future of Nigeria depended on full and accurate knowledge of the nation’s history.

Osinbajo, according to a statement issued by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Laolu Akande, stated this at the inauguration of the Nigeria History Fund by the James Adekunle Ojelabi Foundation.

The fund was put together to support history students in Nigeria with a scholarship scheme.

Osinbajo said the reintroduction of history into the curriculum of primary and secondary schools across the country was not just borne out of the need to restore the subject in schools but in recognition of its contribution to the socio-political, economic, and cultural development of Nigeria.

He said: “When the Federal Government decided to reintroduce history into the curriculum across primary and secondary schools last year, it was a decision borne out of the recognition that first our children must know where they are coming from and have an understanding of the life that preceded them.

READ ALSO: Buhari revokes Obasanjo’s policy, returns history to schools’ curriculum

“History is far too essential for us to de-prioritise. It encourages us as individuals to not restrict ourselves to thinking in the short-term but to remember that we too are living histories.

“We cannot sure-footedly chart a course forward without understanding where we are coming from. Vision is important but so too is memory. Nation-building requires us to develop both faculties of imagination and remembrance. Indeed, this stewardship of national memory is a cardinal civic obligation.

“The future of a Nigeria that works for all of us, regardless of religion or ethnicity, depends on full and accurate knowledge of our histories.”

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