Calls for restoration of history, civics to syllabus
Omololu Ogunmade in Abuja
The Senate yesterday rejected a motion seeking to make Pan-Africanism a subject in Nigeria’s secondary school and instead, resolved that History and Civic should be re-introduced into secondary school curriculum.
The motion, moved by Senator Shehu Sani (Kaduna Central), had harped on the need to inspire Nigerian children with the knowledge of Africanism, which he described as the dream of African founding fathers about Africa’s unity.
According to Sani, including Pan-Africanism in Nigeria’s secondary school curriculum has become vital as he recalled that Nigeria as the giant of Africa, helped many other African countries to achieve independence.
Therefore, he said it was important for Nigeria to inculcate the spirit of pan-Africanism in its children with a view to nurturing them and consequently promoting the dream of the founding fathers.
Sani had recalled how in 1958, former Ghanaian President, Kwame Nkrumah, called a meeting of the leaders of African countries which had obtained independence including Sudan, Egypt, Tunisia, Ethiopia, Liberia and Morocco, to support the agitation for the independence of other African countries.
He said the meeting resulted in the independence of 31 other African countries in 1963 and thus culminated in the formation of Organisation of African Unity (OAU).
He therefore said teaching Pan-Africanism in secondary schools would keep both the memory of pan-Africanists and Pan-Africanism alive in the minds of Nigerian children.
But the motion was rejected as senators contended that instead of introducing Pan-Africanism in the secondary school, the Senate should advocate the restoration of History and Civic into Nigerian school curriculum.
The Senate also rejected a prayer urging the federal government to erect a mausoleum in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in honour and memory of Pan-Africanists and all who were involved in the struggle for African unity and liberation.
Also yesterday, the Senate advised the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) to develop a strategy to ensure efficiency in the conduct of Unified Tertiary and Matriculation Examination (UTME).
The resolution followed a motion by Senator Umaru Kurfi (Katsina Central), calling for scrapping of post-UTME.
But his prayer that the Senate should direct the National Universities Commission (NUC) to scrap post-UTME was thrown out because it was stale as the Senate said post-UTME had already been stopped.
In his contribution, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe (Abia South), said the prayer to direct NUC to scrap post-UTME was misplaced because “the role of NUC is clear, it has nothing to do with admission, “ adding: “there is no post-JAMB anymore.”
