The provost of the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA) Professor Azubuikwe Nwankwo has stated the readiness of the institution to host a successful 63rd Annual Congress of the Historical Society of Nigeria (HSN) scheduled for October 7th-11th 2018.
Professor Nwankwo made this known in an exclusive interview with CEOAfrica correspondent in Kaduna on Tuesday.
He said, “We are very familiar with the ethos and traditions of the academia including conference organization which is an important hallmark of academic undertaken. We got into this business with all amount of seriousness .We are quite aware and sensitive to the demand of organizing a major national and international conference and this has been one of the oldest academic organizations in Nigeria, we are quite sensitive and aware of the implications on the academy, the weight and burden to pull off such a huge conference.
“We did go into this oblivious of those burdens so we are quite prepared from the word go. We are ready at the NDA- a leading premiere military university in sub-Sahara Africa. We are ever ready and been a military institution we can never be taken unawares.
On the impact of the military in Nigeria history since independence, Nwankwo stated that the military has been a stabilizing factor in the Nigeria Society.
“It will be a great deal of disservice to academia to delineate the boundary of political impact of history to 1960 because 1960 has a lot of political undertones but the history of the military in Nigeria goes all the way back down before the Berlin conference to the ancient historical conquest of Mansa Musa and the rest of them when military prowess transverse the whole of the sub-Sahara Africa and that tells a lot about military interface with history” he said.
He affirmed that history has actually shaped the development of many other disciples including marketing and business.
“History is about the society, about the mirror on the wall through which the society sees itself, so if you take a look at that, you begin to see that it is about a nation looking at itself, trying to figure out where it is coming from, where it is going and the challenges and obstacles along the way, you begin to see that the military has been very fundamental in shaping contemporary Nigerian history.
Therefore, it is an irony that although people want to go back to 1960 but leading on to the independence era when you begin to see autonomous Nigerian military which has developed and demonstrated prowess across West Africa form Congo to all those disturbed nations up until the contemporary time and the military has been a major stabilizing factor in Nigerian society tiil date.
You only need to look at all the troubled spots in Nigerian, the peace missions where the military have represented the country.
So bye and bye, the military is juxtaposed with the development of Nigeria as a nation but if you move that apart and want to concentrate on the heartland of history, the question remains where do you begin ?, where do you end? and without meaning to go into ontology of history and where it is headed, I can confidently say that the military is so important in delineating and mapping out where Nigeria is coming from and where it is today.
Some people will of course say contemporary democracy in Nigeria was shaped and husbanded by the military in a way even though there has been a bit of tinkering.
So, I think the history of Nigeria is incomplete without giving due credence and credibility to the role of the military in contemporary Nigeria society”, he added.
He admitted that while there have been challenges that have faced us as a nation, the military has always performed at their best and it would be misleading to say the Nigerian military has not done enough even though like in every human endeavor you can never reach a point of absolutism.
He expressed the believe that the military remain sensitive to its core function of securing the territorial integrity of the nation which has impacts on peace, stability and economic development.
“Nigeria has come a long way and it is not yet Uhuru, we are aware that there are challenges and you only need to look at the North East and the rest them to know the quantum of problems facing the Nigeria nation.
The military didn’t create these problems but the military is confronting them.
So, in a nutshell, the military has done well as an institution but there are still mileages to be covered” he stated.
