Removing History from Nigeria’s educational curriculum huge disaster – Obasanjo

• Obasanjo opined that some persons feel there are some aspects of Nigeria’s past that should not be revisited, heard or talked about.

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has expressed his revulsion at the expungement of History from the Nigeria’s educational curriculum, calling it a huge disaster.

Obasanjo said the removal of history from Nigeria’s educational system is akin to memory loss, noting that such a situation is calamitous.

He made his position known on the matter while fielding questions in Lagos at the Africa Methodist Council Heads of Conference Summit and Women’s Movement Leadership Summit, on Sunday.

Obasanjo opined that some persons feel there are some aspects of Nigeria’s past that should not be revisited, heard or talked about.

He, however, said teaching of history still takes place at his own school

He said, “I don’t know where we got the idea that we shouldn’t teach history in our school. It is a stupid idea.

“It is like losing one’s memory. It will be a disaster. I don’t know where we got it from. Some people feel there is an aspect of the history we don’t want to hear.

“There are always the bad and the good even in your own life. As you may know, I am a proprietor of a school, and in my school, we must teach History, and it must be taught the right way. You can then decide to take whatever you want to take out of it.”

Obasanjo, who asserted that there’s no race that has suffered injustice like the black race, expressed concern over move by some persons to airbrush history and alter the course of events regarding slave trade.

“There is no race in the world that has suffered like the black race, through slavery, slave trade and colonialism.

“In America, some people are now teaching that the slave trade was not a true story – that the white and the black went to the Caribbean in search of greener pastures.

“We were shipped there as slaves. If we allow that to go, we will be enslaved again, and we must not allow that to go.

“I have given myself the task of working with some people to keep the slave trade alive in our history. We must not allow anyone to say the slave trade is not a true story and we must keep it on the front burner”