Challenge of Relevance in the Era of Globalization

Résumé

History has virtually become a minority subject in Nigerian universities.
Worse still, it is held with so much contempt in the employment market.
At the intermediate school level, it is a third alternative to government,
or geography. My daughter only recently confessed to me that of the 834
students who sat for the West African Schools Certificate Examinations in
her school (Queen’s College, Yaba) this year, only six registered for history.
Hardly does any student chose history as a desired course of study in the
university matriculation examinations. Those who are studying it are
suffering from a crisis of confidence in a discipline on the precipice. As a
result, many departments of history are not able to fill the available spaces.
A few years ago when educational administrators threatened to rationalize
some courses, history was among those earmarked.
Nor has the professional practice of history fared any better. The
challenge has been that of relevance to finding solutions to national
problems of political stability and economic underdevelopment as well
as providing paid and self-employment to graduates. Unlike the so-called
professional and economic sciences, history is viewed as professionally
irrelevant and at best a leisurely enterprise.