Enugu, Oct. 28, 2024 (NAN) A Professor of History, Prof. Chukwuma Opata, says it is wrong to say that Africans are people without history, saying that human civilisation actually began in Africa.
Opata, the immediate past Chairman, Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), stated this during the Memorial Lecture in honour of the late historian, Prof. Catherine Acholonu, on Monday at UNN.
The event was organised by the Catherine Acholonu Centre for African Cultural Sciences and the Department of Tourism Studies at UNN.
Acholonu was an author, researcher, and political activist. She served as the Senior Special Adviser (SSA) to former President Olusegun Obasanjo on Arts and Culture and was a founder-member of the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA).
Opata, a lecturer at the Department of History and International Studies, UNN, explained that civilisation commenced in Africa before moving to Europe and other parts of the world.
He regretted that Africa’s failure to tell her story had made the Western world not only claim the civilisation but also regard Africans as people without history.
While urging Africans to tell their own story, Opata disclosed that the civilisation actually started in Igboland and stressed that there were facts to prove it.
Opata, who was also a guest speaker, described Acholonu as an advocate for Nigerian identity who ensured that Nigeria’s contributions to civilisation were not only remembered but also celebrated.
According to him, the late academia worked diligently to ensure that artefacts like the Ikom Monoliths were included in the World Monuments Fund’s 2008 Watch List of the 100 most endangered sites for cultural presentation.
“Her life’s work, which included blended scholarship with activism, was dedicated to the preservation, repatriation, and global recognition of Nigerian artefacts and cultural legacies.
“She championed many causes, particularly the fight for the recognition of Nigeria’s contributions to global issues.
“One of the Acholonu’s most notable initiatives was her tireless advocacy for the repatriation of Nigerian artefacts that had been taken to other countries during the colonial period and now reside in private collections and museums worldwide,” Opata said.
Earlier, the Acting Head, Department of Tourism Studies, Dr Chidinma Oguamanam, highlighted the significant contributions of Acholonu to the understanding of the Igbo people and their cultural heritage.
Oguamanam pointed out that Acholonu was a visionary scholar whose research challenged traditional narratives and provided new insights into Igbo history.
According to her, Acholonu’s legacy will continue to inspire future generations of scholars and researchers, especially on the complex history of the Igbo people, and pay tribute to the great scholar.
Also, the daughter of the late Acholonu, Ms Ifunanya Acholonu, said the perception of Black Africa by western scholarship as dark, dormant, without history or civilisation had always rankled her mother, who was fascinated by the Black African identity.
She maintained that her mother was not a historian but a scholar of literature, African literary studies, and linguistics.
According to her, her mother felt the pressure to engage in her own research and discover for herself the true story of Africa and whether or not Africa played a role in the history of mankind and civilisation.
“She discovered that prehistoric Igbos influenced world civilisation and gave humanity writings, language, belief systems, knowledge, culture, and wisdom.
“My mother also discovered that our oral traditions bear records of our history, kingship patterns, migrations, and ethnic bloodlines.
“More so, when other Nigerian and foreign scholars had not suspected that the symbols on the monoliths were a form of writing, Prof. Acholonu was the first to make that discovery.
“After 11 years of research, she stumbled on what she called a library of ancient stone inscriptions, comprising of monoliths called Ikom Monoliths, numbering about 350 in Ikom and neighbouring villages,” she said.
She added that her mother noticed the enigmatic writings on them, consisting of geometric and astrological symbols.
“Similar symbols were found on Igbo-Ukwu artefacts, and upon decoding, the symbols observed that these writings were communicating about the people who wrote them.
“Her findings were covered in four books tagged the African Renaissance Series. Through these books, she called for a reconstruction of the truth of the pre-history of Black African Indigenous Peoples.
“A rewriting of our story and for our people to take their ancient heritage seriously rather than accept doctored narratives handed down to them by western scholarship,” Ms. Acholonu said. (NAN)
