Expert Urges Universities to Mandate Nigeria History Across Departments

By Barakat Lawal, Vanessa Foubri, Adebisi Bolanwa, Emmanuel Oladipo, Glory Obasi

Lara Rabiu, Founder/CEO of The Afara Initiative has urged Nigeria institutions to implement the tutoring of Nigeria history in their curriculum across departments.

She advocated for this during the Kapuscinski lectures at the Julius Berger Hall, University of Lagos (UNILAG) on the 19th June, 2025. The program “Kapuscinski”, offers an unprecedented opportunity for students from the European Union member state and beyond to learn and discuss about development issues such as climate change, human right, aid effectiveness, Europe-Africa relation, sustainable development, amongst others.

The event, organized by the International Affairs Students’ Association (IASA) which is domiciled in the Department of Political Science, UNILAG, is aimed at providing a platform for students interested in international relations and diplomacy to engage with critical issues, foster intellectual discourse and practical experience among students from various faculties, including Social Sciences, Arts and Law.

Speaking on the theme of the lecture, ‘Youth Engagement in Africa Economic Development: Harnessing the Potential of the Generation’, the guest speaker, Lara Rabiu emphasized that the cause of minimal involvement in economic development is as a result of limited knowledge of Nigeria history by Nigeria youth compared to an average person in America.

“The reason why an average young person in America is so involved and charged is that everyone of them understands the history of America. They are patriotic and proud because they understand how they got to where they are.

“One of our mission is for the Nigeria curriculum to be developed, distributed and engaged with no matter what you are studying in university. The reason why universities were created is to solve some of our biggest problem”, Rabiu said.

She also noted the need to make sure young university people are globally competitive and future-faced. She emphasized that the knowledge of history will change our focus, as it is impossible to change what we do not understand because we have the population demographic to make that happen.

Rabiu further expressed that if we continue on this path, we will be growing at a rate of 3% but we need about 3 to 4 times more than that to see drastic change. She analyzed that there are 17 million unemployed youth, to change that, there is need to create 50 million jobs for the next 5 to 6 years.

In an interview with UNILAG Sun, she provided the solution to this issue, stating that to experience a prosperous Nigeria, there is need to envision it and that is why history is important. She also stated that government need to implement it into the educational system to forge knowledge.

Reflecting on the theme, the European Union (EU) Ambassador to Nigeria, Gautier Mignot pointed out that “youth is an asset not identity and young people cannot be only objects to projects but they must also be subjects and actors, driving only not their own future but also our effort to support them.”