Nigerians have been urged to begin making conscious efforts at referencing and learning from history in order to overcome its current social cohesion challenges.
The Director of Ibom Heritage, Mr Ottoabasi Abasiekong said this on Saturday at a media briefing on the launch of a book “Ibibio Nation-History and Culture” at E-library, Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, explaining that forgetting history is a recipe to repeating it.
‘Today marks the beginning of a journey back in time as we hope to use the book, Ibibio Nation: History and Culture to deeply enshrine a sense of identity and nationhood in the minds of every Ibibio son and daughter and to enlighten Nigerians that propagating a prosperous future is rooted in the culture of self-knowledge and preservation’ he stated.
According to him, the book billed for official public presentation on March 25, at Ibom Icon Hotel Uyo, will enshrine a sense of identity and nationhood in the minds of Ibibio sons and daughters, as wee as become a repository of knowledge of the subject matter- Ibibio history and culture.
He explained that the book is divided into two sections with ten chapters adding that it is written in a language that attempts to satisfy the “yearnings of many proper Ibibio men and women and every Ibom son and daughter to have the diacritics of proper Ibibio words to aid the correct reading and understanding of the language.”
The director said that chapter one of the book attempts to expand the relationship of the Ibibio with her neighbours, the Aro and also the historical connection between the Ibibio and the Efik.
‘The contemporary topics of the last one hundred years of Ibibio history that are relevant to today such as Resource Control, Women’s War of 1929, Civil War etc. are dealt with in detail as it relates to the involvement of key Ibibio men and women,’ Abasiekong said.
He explained further that the identity of the Ibibio man and woman in forms of name identity, ancestral worship, invasion of Christianity, taboos and totems etc. are also detailed. (Sun)
