Prof Olukoya Ogen Stresses Importance History To Nation’s Development

Prof Olukoya Ogen, the director of research at the Osun State University at his Inaugural Lecture has recommended history as a step for developing nation.

Speaking at Inaugural lecture attended by well meaning Nigerians and globally at the lecture with the theme:Reconstructing a Silenced Past: Echoes of Revisionism and Counter Hegemonic History, First, Nigerian historians need to be conscious of the fact that a deepening of historical knowledge will naturally ensue from the application of newly available methods, new sources or evidence and shifts in perspectives.

The advancement of the discipline is largely predicated on the adoption of theories for historical analysis, privileging multidisciplinary and collaborative research, prioritizing digital history,

and the use of innovative and modern analytical techniques.

Second, given the present moral decadence and depravity among our

youths, l make an advocacy for the reinvention of Yoruba cultural moral

tales and its legendary omoluwabi ethos (character education), into our

teaching curriculum. This new subject is to be taught in Yoruba language

and made compulsory from the primary school to the university level. Our

ministries of education and cultures in the southwest are enjoined to kick

start this initiative without further delay.

Third, historical research remains a major pillar for cultural sustainability and societal development. Thus, this lecture hereby charges Afenifere to set the machinery in motion for the floating of a Yoruba Historical Research Foundation that will generally fund Yoruba history fellowships, research grants and prizes in our universities.

Kudos to Afenifere for prioritising the socio-economic and political development of Yorubaland. However, the time is ripe for the broadening of its mandates to

incorporate the promotion of historical research and cultural

rejuvenation. l am happy to note that the highly revered leadership of

Afenifere is ably represented here this afternoon by its National

Organising Secretary, Abagun Kole Omololu.

Fourth, historical consciousness is pivotal to institutional and national development. More often than not we continue to grope in the dark because of our neglect of history and the refusal to learn from the lessons of history. Government corporations, public institutions, banks, local

governments, etc must have an office for a professional historian wh
owill be saddled with the documentation and archiving of the historical

trajectory of each respective institution. This office will provide a valid

framework and perspective to policy makers while taking important

decisions.

A pilot study in this regard is the decision taken by Department of History

and lnternational Studies at UNlOSUN to attach at least one final year

student to all the colleges, faculties, departments, units and centres in

UNlOSUN for their internship training. During the period of internship,

they are to collect relevant primary data from their respective duty post. The 

Department intends to use some of these source materials for writingthe

History of UNlOSUN from 2007 to date.

Fifth, a discipline that cannot readily find a market for its products needs

to critically review its overall philosophy and possibly fine-tune or

overhaul its methodology. Given the public’s appetite for understanding

past events, historians should start utilizing their historical insight to

advise and make projections as well as proffer solutions to current

societal challenges.

Sixth, while the enduring perception that history must have a global

perspective cannot be over-emphasized, this must be done without

prejudice to forms of coexistence that emphasize diversity and peculiarity

rather than the homogeneity inherent in the notion of globality. There is the 

burning need to defend freedom of thought and expression in the field of 

historical research and oppose the misuse of history for whatever purpose.

Seventh, history is not owned by states or rulers, and we need to

condemn the use of history to foster enemy images and distorted

myths. Freedom of thought and/ or expression requires dialogue.

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