Abstract—This paper examines the role of history in the
search for unity in Nigeria. It notes that since the amalgamation
of the Northern and Southern Protectorates of Nigeria in 1914,
the polity has been battling forces of disunity including
leadership bankruptcy, ethno-religious crises and the minority
question. In order to address the challenge of disunity,
successive governments of the country have put in place
pro-unity measures such as national policy on education that
would engender unity, National Youth Service Corps scheme,
physical infrastructure, mass mobilization and ethnic balancing
in the country’s public service. The paper observes that the near
exclusion of History from the primary and secondary school
systems curricula is a minus for the national policy on education.
Finally, the paper concludes that History holds the key to
understanding the numerous challenges facing the country and
recourse to the discipline would in no small way foster unity in
the country.
Index Terms—History, leadership, quest, unity.
Ojong Echum Tangban is with the Nigerian Defence Academy, kaduna,
Nigeria (e-mail: ojongechumtangban@yahoo.com).
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Cite: Ojong Echum Tangban, " History and the Quest for Unity in Nigeria," International Journal of Social Science and Humanity vol. 4, no. 5, pp. 378-381, 2014.