A Voice For The Restitution Of Civic Education In Nigeria

Recently Is’haq Modibbo Kawu wrote a moving commentary titled “A voice for the restitution of History” published by SaharaReporters (June 30, 2011) in which he passionately called for reintroduction of history lessons in all strata on Nigerian educational system. I am adding a parallel voice for the restitution of civic education – for the same unfortunate reasons.

Like Kawu, I am calling for old ways of teaching decency in our society. Nigerians are in dire need of rescue. Violence, bigotry and intolerance have taken over our national life. Those on the extreme fringes of society are having a field day. Extremists and militants are dictating how we should operate as a nation. It is high time we face our monsters, and restore our national values and dignity. Otherwise, we risk joining the league of failed states. We need to return both to classrooms and “village squares” – a signature feature of African democracy – with a view recovering our endangered hopes and values.

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Kawu made reference to deep rooted prejudices and suspicion that pervade both northerners and southerners these days. He laments the deficit of history in our collective consciousness, in particular, how we easily ignore our common history and deny why we are where we are in Nigeria. Instead, we are obsessed with our differences. We need to understand, not loathe, our differences. Better still, we need to acknowledge and nurture our common human ancestry and destiny – afterall, we are all sons and daughters of eve, and we worship the same God, however we choose to cast him.

Kawu raised two disturbing issues. First, he argues, Nigerians hoard a disconcerting dose of bigotry and double standards especially on issues bordering political correctness. For instance, with regards to Boko Haram versus Niger Delta militants, Kawu notes the tendency by some to obfuscate nuances and make wrongful political judgements: “It is interesting that people accept that anti-state groups in the South fight for just causes, but refuse to understand that there is also an issue of struggle against injustice at the heart of the emergence of Boko Haram or other proto-religious movements in Northern Nigeria. The other platform is to interprete the emergence of these militant formations as an expression of conspiracy against Goodluck Jonathan’s emergence as president”.

I have experienced Kawu’s lamentation first hand when I wrote a piece titled “Nigeria’s new anarchy: dialogue with our militant extremists is not a bad idea” also published in Sahara Reporters (June 28, 2011). In this piece, I deliberately noted that Boko Haram and Niger Delta militants share some DNA in common – “they are perverse manifestations of Nigeria’s failing state”.   Many condemned me as one of those northern academics who tolerate Boko Haram, and despise Nigeria’s new balance of power headed by President Jonathan. I am disappointed with such obtuse responses, but nevertheless remained consoled by the fact that most of us are ignorant – or perhaps in denial – of our history.

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This brings me to the second issue raised by Kawu namely the collapse of the teaching of history in our school system. “More than ever before” argued Kawu “these are times to teach history and I even go far to say that history should be compulsory for every student, no matter the field of study. “ The value of history in raising our consciousness and nurturing our conscience need not be over-emphasised. It has the potential to make us more reflective citizens and humans. After all, even scientists study “the history and philosophy of Science”. Their recollection of the stories of Archimedes, Charles Darwin, Isaac Newton, Michael Faraday and Einstein make them better and more creative scientists. As Nigerians, we need to go back to our pre-colonial and post-colonial histories so that we could better appreciate the contributions of pre-colonial statesmen such as Jaja of Opobo, Nana of Itsekiri, Queen Amina of Zazzau, Sheikh Usmanu Dan Fodio, Sheikh El-Kanemi and so. We also need to recollect our post-colonial history, in terms of our modest success and monumental failures in nation-building. Our lessons in history should not be elite-centered: we should also seek to understand the contributions of common people, subaltern groups – indeed every worthy event - to appreciate why we are where we are today.

RESTITUTION OF CIVIC EDUCATION IN NIGERIA

In addition to the ignorance of our history, we also appear to be detached from civilisation and civility. We behave as if we live in the medieval period. Civic values – such as courtesy, respect, dignity, tolerance, dialogue etc – have migrated from our midst. There is an apparent entrenchment of militarism. To overcome this, it is important to offer “civic education” as a compulsory subject at all levels and tiers of education in Nigeria. By civic education I mean the range of courses that expose students to our decent values, as well as our rights and responsibilities as citizens of a heterogeneous democratic society. The name varies from one society to another – citizenship education (Britain), civic education and social Justice (France) or civic, social and political education (Ireland) – but they all emphasise the making of active, reflective and constructive citizens. In liberal democracies, the concept of citizenship is the core element of the political system. Citizens fit into a bevy of spaces as voters, neighbours, consumers, clients, fund raisers, volunteers etc. They are nurtured to make constructive and critical contribution to politics, society, charitable work and good neighbourhood.

But like other concepts such as democracy, citizenship is a culturally-constructed – that is, it differs from one society to another. In the context of Nigeria, civic education was first introduced by the British colonialists to teach “natives” the virtues of good citizenship, particularly, the values of obedience, humility, and submission of constituted authority. Citizenship education was designed in parallel with “leadership education” which was taught in the so-called elite colleges attended by sons and daughters of traditional rulers and other fractions of the bourgeoisie. Such schools were aimed at nurturing future rulers and leaders. At independence, the British colonialists handed over power to this corps of western educated elites who were trained to behave and act like white man in black skin.

Like most institutions foisted by imperialism, we need to deviate from the faulty and unjust citizenship values that we inherited form our erstwhile colonial powers. It is important to deconstruct the very concept of citizenship with a view to tailoring a more productive and robust construction of the term. As Kawu noted earlier with regards to the teaching of history, citizenship/education too can be a site of contestation, especially in a chaotic fledgling pluralist democracy like Nigeria where key democratic institutions such as constitution, state, economy etc are equally contested. There are a number of challenges to be considered. First, in Nigeria citizenship suffers from dualisation of society. Citizens are seen are seen as synonymous as “followers” as opposed to “rulers”. Those in position of authority (holders of public offices) orchestrate themselves as “rulers” – a special set of privileged citizens to be unconditionally obeyed by the followers (citizens). Citizens/followers disobey their leaders at their own peril. Those of who are followers of religions (Nigeria is one of the most religious countries on the planet!) are always inundated with spiritual verses enjoining obedience to constituted authority. We are not equally reminded of the fact that the same religious texts enjoin our rulers to rule with compassion, honesty and fear of the Lord. As if to reinforce the leader-follower divide, our laws are built unjustly: a leader who steals billions of dollars is set free after some phantom investigation and court proceeding; while a commoner who steals a goat risks the full wrath of the law!

Secondly, Nigerian citizenship is at the mercy of militarisation, the entrenchment of military values,  a resultant effect of prolonged military rule which ended only twelve years ago. Citizens are equated with “civilians” – the very opposite of military and paramilitary men. One the one hand, civilian-citizens are constructed as docile and weak members of society who could not gather the courage to join the army or police to defend the country. On the other hand, military people are glamorised as our very own “Rambos” who have volunteered to lay their lives for the safety of the so-called “bloody civilians” and therefore expect to be paid back with total awe, admiration and financial extortion. In common spaces such the streets, beer parlours, and petrol stations, civilian-citizens are expected to give up their queues and other entitlements to uniformed people as a sign of gratitude. Otherwise, they are prone to rough treatment from the armed personnel who will soon mobilise their kind to humiliate disrespectful fellows. In short, armed persons behave as if they are exempt from rule and regulations, and as if they are above other members of society (citizens).

Given the foregoing, it is imperative to struggle to develop institutions and policies on citizenship education, one that will inculcate participative, reflective and constructive citizens. And this journey may take time.  A starting point is to review our national policy on education, view to adding citizenship education modules, and embedding the secular democratic values needed by our country. Our primary and secondary schools and universities, should develop and deliver courses that aim at teaching the concepts and practices of constitutionalism, rule of law, civil liberties, civil society, equality, participation, election, nonviolence, dialogue, deliberation.  These concepts should be customised to meet our national needs, and should be conscious of our national culture and history. In our universities and other higher education institutions, citizenship education should be offered as compulsory General Studies (GST) module.

In addition to civil society, our military and paramilitary institutions need their very own citizenship education. All military training agencies – Nigerian Defence Academy, National Defence College, Staff Colleges etc – should introduce courses that emphasise human rights, democracy, rule of law, justice, criminology and so on. The aim is to inculcate a sense of equal citizenship in our uniformed men, as well as respect for fellow citizens and the rule of law. In advanced democracies, uniformed men are trained to treat civilians as fellow citizens who taxes are used to sustain them and the country.
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Dr Usman Tar is the Managing Editor of Information, Society & Justice, an academic journal based at the Faculty of Applied Social Science, London Metropolitan University, United Kingdom. Tar received his doctoral degree (PhD) in Peace Studies at the University of Bradford, United Kingdom. He teaches and writes on conflict resolution, and public policy among others. Email: [email protected]

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