‘Living History’: Publisher, authors debunk exclusion of Igbo history, say claim borne out of mischief

By Godwin Okondo

BOTH Accessible Publishers Ltd and the authors, J. M. Itsekure, Mr. Olaitan Olukeye Olajide and Mrs. Taiwo Eucharia Taiwo (who are professional historians as teachers and researchers) have debunked as false claims made on a Facebook video post by Vivian Ifeoma that the Igbo nation is excluded from Living History for Junior Secondary Schools (JSS 1 – 3). They blame it on NIgeria’s reading culture challenge and poor comprehension even for those who manage to read. They maintain that the claims are not only false, but borne out of mischief as there is enough material on Igbo history appropriate for the junior level learners the books cater for.

In the viral post that has been widely circulated and attracted the interest of many, is it clear that Ifeoma either didn’t read the books or decided to be mischievous in the malicious attack of a reputable publisher that has contributed so much to educational development of the country with books that cut across many subjects.

In a statement shortly after the video posts, Accessible Publishers Ltd put out a disclaimer that said, “Our attention has been drawn to a social media video referencing a section of Living History for Junior Secondary Schools (JSS 1). After an internal review by our seasoned authors and professionals, we observe that page 27 of the book is dedicated to Igbo-Ukwu: Culture and Artefacts, where the history, artistry, and cultural contributions of the Igbo people are explored as part of Nigeria’s shared heritage. This section reflects our long-standing commitment to cultural representation within curriculum-approved educational content.

“Our firm, Accessible Publishers Ltd, wishes to clarify that all its textbooks are developed in strict compliance with the curriculum guidelines issued by the Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC), and are authored and reviewed by seasoned subject-matter experts. We therefore invite educators, parents, and the wider community to read the book, explore the content, and form their views based on the complete material. Accessible Publishers Limited remains committed to producing educational resources that inform, inspire, and respect Nigeria’s rich diversity.”

A close reading of the books’ chapters reveals excerpts below that clearly show that Igbo history is not excluded as falsely claimed in the videos but a firmly entrenched part of the book series.

In ‘Land and People of Nigeria’ in Chapter two of Book One in the 3-part books, the authors generally describe the location and people that constitute the Nigerian entity. And on page 15, they write, “Nigeria is inhabited by a large number of tribal groups with over 550 languages. These language groups had in the past formed their own kingdoms and had instituted political entities in Nigeria. These include the Yoruba, Edo, Igbo, Hausa, Ibibio, Efik, Fulani, Kanuri, Tiv, Angas, Ijaw, Isoko, Urhobo, etc. Some of these groups have peculiar customs, traditions and languages.”

And on page 16, the authors continue, “Despite the numerous tribal groups that exist in Nigeria, the Hausa/Fulani, Yoruba and Igbo tribes are dominant and they account for over 60% of the country’s population… the Igbo tribe constitutes about 18% of the population.” And in Chapter 3, ‘Pre-History: Early Centres of Civilisation’ in pages 27 – 30, the authors focus on ‘Igbo-Ukwu Culture and Artefact’ and describe the excavation work of the archeologist Professor Thurstan Shaw at Igbo-Ukwu as one of the earliest Nigerian civilisations. Book two of Living History 2 has the opening chapter titled ‘The Non-Centralised States in Pre-Colonial Nigeria’, where the authors focus on ‘Igbo and its Origin’ and explore this historical origin to flesh out the founding of the Igbo nation.

With these ample evidence, it’s therefore disingenuous and wicked for anyone to claim that the Igbo nation does not feature in Living History for Junior Secondary Schools (JSS 1) or consigned to a footnote. Ifeoma’s claim is not only false but malicious in intent.

One of the authors Mrs. Taiwo, who holds a BA in History from the University of Lagos and an MA degree in History from the University of Ibadan, expressed “shock and disbelief” at Ifeoma’s spurious claim, saying the authors followed the curriculum and could not have excluded any part of Nigeria from the history book series.

According to her, “The first thing that came to my mind (when I saw the video) was, was it really about these books? The first video post wasn’t that clear; you had to zoom to see the covers. That was the post the man made. But I then saw the one the lady (Vivian Ifeoma) did, with the books’ covers. So, my first reaction was shock and disbelief, because there is no way Igbo would not have been mentioned in the books.”

On why she thought the content makers decided to exhibit ignorance about books they possibly hadn’t read before going public, Taiwo said, “Well, the first thing that came to my mind was that this person had not read the books, because the man was saying if Efik history is in a book, how can Igbo history not be there? The next video post was a woman showing the covers. The first book mentioned Igbo history. In writing about the history of any people, what you consider is the geographical location, climate, their neighbours, and then who are they? You can’t understand a people without knowing their location; it’s always about space and time. In addressing that, we mentioned the Igbo among other tribes.”

Taiwo gave details and specific areas where Igbo history is mentioned in the books, including Igbo population, archeological excavations in Igbo-Ukwu and more.

“There is a place where we mentioned the last census Nigeria had in 1979, with 75% of Hausa/Fulani, 21% of Yoruba and 18% of Igbo that give us the population of Nigeria, and I highlighted this and other minorities in the book,” Taiwo stated. “We then moved on to centres of civilisation in Nigeria. Now, the importance of this is to tell us the earliest times we had human civilisation in any area.

“And from archeological findings and carbon dating, the area of social formation where we have artefacts and archeological evidence of human habitation is Nok, and it’s in chronological occurrence. Gaiama and Nok are similar and they normally cluster them together. And then we have Ife, which is Yoruba. Ife and Benin are close, but Benin seems to have succeeded Ife from carbon dating. And Igbo-Ukwu seems to have succeeded Benin, also from carbon dating. Igbo-Ukwu is Igbo; you can’t mention Igbo-Ukwu without Igbo. These are all in the books. One thing about these books is that they’re simplified because of the age of the learners, from JSS 1 – 3. But then, there is no fallacy in the three book series. The books still rest on the framework of history.”

Taiwo therefore asked the public to ignore the content creators and whatever motivated their ill-will towards the books and read them to be better educated about their content.

“When I watched the videos, what came to my mind was that either they did not read the books or they’re not historians. To the public that has been misled – I will tell them to please go and read the books, not because we want to justify ourselves, but because we want the truth to be out there for everyone to access. They should read Book 1, Book 2 and Book 3 of Living History. They should read the books and compare them with the curriculum. The curriculum from when that book was written for JSS1 ends with ‘Centralised States’. Igbo is not a centralised state. In Book 2, which is also written partly by the same author, opens with ‘Centralised State’, according to the curriculum, and in that book the authors point out that Igbo is significant as a major ‘Non-Centralised State’ in all of Africa. Their origin is there; where they are located is there, their political structure, their economy is there.”

Also weighing on the matter is foremost entertainment lawyer, Mr. Rockson Igelige, who recently won a N210 million naira case against Airtel Nigeria Ltd for veteran singer, Veno Omarioghae. He described the viral posts as “defamatory and cyberbullying”, noting, “Spreading unfounded statements, online or offline, with the intent to tarnish or lower the esteem of a person (or product or company) in the eyes of right-thinking members of society is defamatory. In Nigeria, such actions are both civilly and criminally actionable.”