By Helen Ochie
Prominent Nigerians, including former President General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, John Nnia Nwodo and renowned business mongul, Arthur Eze are bied to grace the launching of the trail blazing book,’A Tale of Ikenga’ today in Abuja
Speaking at a press conference to herald the book launch on Tuesday I Abuja, the author, Professor Emeka Aniagolu described as insensitive the scrapping of history subjects in schools by the Federal Government.
Aniagolu argued that such initiative would deny the younger generation the privilege to know their history and avoid certain issues that went wrong.
The Professor in the Black World Studies of Ohio Wesleyan University, Delaware, Ohio, remarked that the removal of history studies would lead to selective amnesia.
He said: “The scrapping of history is a foolish policy on the part of the Nigerian government and whoever was behind it. There is no society anywhere in the world that has done away with its history because bad things happened in the past.
“You teach history because you want to remember what went wrong and so that you do not repeat the mistake. You do not consciously decide to induce a form of amnesia in the society which creates the context of possibility of repeating itself to remember what happened.
“Everybody must be taught the history of this country and history should and must be rehabilitated into the educational system. Or we will have people suffering from amnesia.”
According to him, the Tale of Ikenga traces the historiography of the Igbo people and correct some misconceptions, adding that it would serve as a memory jogger to the older folks.
The 9th President-General Ohanaeze Ndigbo, John Nwodo; a businessman and philanthropist, Arthur Eze, among others are billed to grace the occasion.