Date: 2017-05-25

Fourty years are no mean feat in the sojourn of a man, ditto institutions and establishments. In tandem with this, the History and International Studies Department of the University of Ilorin last week celebrated its 40th Anniversary. AHMED 'LATEEF was there and filed this report.

All roads led to the permanent site of the University of Ilorin last Wednesday with creme de la creme of the society trooping in torrents to celebrate the past four decades that the Department of History and International Studies was established as a segment of academic confluence of the institution.

As eminent Nigerians streamed in, there was a spectacle to behold. Some metres away from the main Auditorium of the University, venue of the event, royal horse riders had assembled in anticipation of the Emir of Ilorin and chairman, Kwara State Council of Chiefs, Alhaji Ibrahim Zulu-Gambari, who arrived in his usual royal paraphernalia.

The performance of the ensemble that formed the entourage of the paramount ruler of Ilorin Emirate to the event re-enacted the history about the royal splendour of the city, considering its cosmopolitan nature.

The Emir's entry into the Auditorium was a triumphant like as there was a stand still for some period of time. The intermittent sound from local drums with accompanying trumpet held people spellbound.

However, in spite of the frenzy that characterized the arrival of the monarch, what could not be forgotten and which almost drew audience to tears, was mentioning of some award recipients at the ceremony, one of which was Dr Sa'ad Yusuf Omo'ya of blessed memory, honoured posthumously.

If thunderous applause was suffice to raise the dead from the grave, Saadu Yusuf Omo'ya, late former Head of Department of History and International Studies, would have risen and tell those who care to look in his direction he is still alive.

The mere mention of his name moved students and others who were there to tears. In fact, some were seen consoling each other because that event re-echoed the contribution of the late scholar to knowledge.

That was another scenario that characterized the historical event in the Department of History and International Studies.

Those honoured at the ceremony were the National Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi; founder of Al-Hikmah University, Ilorin, Alhaji Abdur-raheem Oladimeji; an Ilorin-based Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Mallam Adebayo Adelodun; Managing Editor, Northern Operation of The Nation, Mr Yusuf Alli; Permanent Secretary, General Services, Governor's Office, Alhaji Rafiu Ayinla and Regional Director, North & F.C.T. and Head, Public Sector, FCMB, Alh. Lukman Olayiwola Mustapha as recipients of award among others.

The department of history and international studies had said that the department clocked 40 years in 2016 with array of achievements in the area of production of skilled manpower for national development.

It said the products of the department are in various fields of endeavour be it in public service or private businesses and are doing well, adding that the department was brainstorming on repositioning the discipline and the department ahead of the 21st Century challenges.

The department added that the department selected award recipients on account of their individual contributions to societal development.

However, the ceremony was an opportunity to examine the place of history to human race, which apparently losing its steam. No thanks to the debate in some quarters on the essence of history as a subject to be taught in basic and post-basic schools in that order.

Several speakers stressed importance of history to man's history, the failure of which he would have nothing to fall back on when the need arises.

The likes of Alhaji L.A.K. Jimoh, who chaired the occasion even went further while talking about the transcendality of history.

According to him, the study of history is divine, adding that beside its divinity, we need history to know who we are, what is what and why what is what it is.

He said through history, some tribes were able to trace their ancestral origin, which could not have been possible if it was not historically documented.

L.A.K. Jimoh, a renowned Ilorin historian, noted that history needed to be studied to gain inspiration and give inspiration to the youth.

He said, "First, why does the Iba of Kishi (in the Oyo Yoruba heartland) regularly attend Gani Festival, the premier cultural festival of all people of Baruba descent, held annually in Nikki (in Benin Republic), the ancestral capital of all Baruba people? It is simply because the people of Kishi and their traditional ruler, the Iba (Iba is an abbreviation of Ibariba) are ancestrally Baruba.

"Secondly, why do both Port Harcourt and Lagos bear foreign names? Port Harcourt was so named because the land on which it is built was originally a swamp. It was sand filled and reclaimed in 1914 upon approval given by Sir Harcourt, (the then British Secretary of State for the Colonies) that a well laid out model port-city, with parks and gardens, be built on the site.

"The new port-city on completion, was, therefore, named Port Harcourt to honour him and immortalize his name. The parks and gardens on each of the parallel roads in the city earned it the reputation of being referred to as the "Garden City" of Nigeria until recently when it lost that reputation owing to arbitrary expansion and unplanned urbanization.

"As for Lagos, the native name of the town is Eko. The name Lagos was given to it by the first European (Portuguese) sailor, who reached the place early in the 15th century. The sailor found a striking resemblance between the Eko lagoon and the lagoon of a small port town in Portugal, which was called Lagos. So, in his map of the area, he named the lagoon "Lagos lagoon". All subsequent European explorers copied the name Lagos, which was later adopted by the colonialists.

"At the local level, here in Kwara State, we have Omu-Aran, the headquarters of Irepodun Local Government Area. The town is an amalgamation of two originally distinct and separate communities of Omu and Aran, which merged together and adopted the compound name: Omu-Aran.

"In Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, there is a locality called: Ita Kudimo, meaning a death arena. Ita Kudimo was the place where the Ilorin cavalry caught up with and massacred the retreating combined Yoruba and Baruba army, which invaded Ilorin through Pakata on an Eid-el-Fitri day in 1830. That locality where the massacre took place was henceforth referred to as "Ita ti iku di won mo" meaning "the arena where death caught up with them.

"Those who were massacred included Woru-Kura, the head-king, and other Baruba kings as well as Alafin Oluewu and subordinate Yoruba Obas, who participated in that abortive invasion. The invasion is popularly called the Woru-Kura war", L.A.K. Jimoh, who also copiously quoted some verses of glorious Quran, biblical verses and Odu Ifa from Yoruba traditional religion to buttress his standpoint on the essence of history, reiterated that history as a course or subject in schools cannot be tossed away on account of modernity.

Also speaking, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ilorin, Professor AbdulGaniyu Ambali, described history as very essential in the life of man and called for continuation of the course at all levels of education.

Represented by Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Management Services), Professor Adedayo Yusuf Abdulkareem, Ambali commended the Department of History and International Studies for its giant strides in the last 40 years, pointing out that it has continued to blaze the trail.

The Vice-Chancellor assured that the management of the institution would not renege in its support for the department owing to the importance attached to history in human race.

In the same vein, the Dean of Arts of the institution, Professor Ahmad Abdussalam, urged the Federal Government to take bold decision to appreciate history the more.

He pointed that the full accreditation received by all courses offered in the department of history attests to the fact that the programme is working well.

Abdussalam called for concerted efforts to develop history in the society in order to document and preserve our life.

In his welcome address, the Head of Department of History and International Studies, Dr Ibrahim Jawondo, said the event was organized to appreciate the Almighty God for the achievements recorded by the department in the last four decades.

Jawondo, who also dwelled on the achievements of the department in the last 40 years of its creation, however appealed to alumni of the department to support some of the projects proposed to undertake for the common good of the department.

The scholar noted that the department had made its mark and promised that the success recorded through the dint of hard work of founding fathers would be consolidated upon.