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THE NIGERIAN, AFRICAN AND BLACK BIOGRAPHICAL AND HISTORICAL SERIES The tradition in most parts of Africa and the Black-world is the belief in oral documentation as the medium for keeping historical records instead of the more western and retrievable written documentation. Usually, this oral tradition is passed on from generation to generation, from fathers to sons (especially) and daughters. It is the expectation of the “generation past” that the “generation present” will apply the same method in giving information to the “generation future”. While it is believed that oral documentation may be authentic in its delivery and witness, but as it passes on from generation to generation, implicitly, it becomes distorted, details are affected and possibly compressed and generally there is a complete departure from the original text in terms of content, context and perspective. By the third and fourth generation from the original period of witness the true account would have been “lost”. More so, the methodology of poetic nuances for ease of retention lends it to difficult interpretation within modern context. This has made collection of true historical facts on Africans and the Black race very difficult. Except for persons whose vocations and achievements have put them on the world map and who practice or are resident in the developed parts of the world, others and their antecedents (with all their worthy achievements) pass on unnoticed, unacknowledged and unrecorded Without any doubt, the lack of documented historical information on Africa and the Black race has accounted significantly for our underdevelopment socially, economically, politically and intellectually. People are unable to learn from their ancestors, improve on their achievements, and even make further intellectual discourse and discoveries, which could empower them socially and economically. In spite of conscious efforts by a few conscientious researchers and institutions, popularisers of information such as CNN can still run historical tit-bits on the historical antecedents of cowries as currency without reference to the use of cowries as currency in pre-colonial Africa. This is not to mention such controversies as who got to the North Pole first or who discovered what. In recognition of this gouge in our developmental process, Bolaji Akinyemi and Associates, a Consulting Firm led by a former Minister of Foreign Affairs and Professor of Political Science, Professor Bolaji Akinyemi, has taken the responsibility to initiate and document a biographical and historical series on individuals and institutions in Africa and in the Diaspora. The serial will be in three hierarchical yet distinct collections;
The character of this work can be adduced from the character of the promoters (Including Professor Akinyemi) who having excelled in their primary assignments are willing and committed to exposing the richness of social, economic, political and intellectual knowledge and accomplishments of Africans and Blacks in the Diaspora. It is expected that this work will articulate and treatise the unique identity and contributions of Nigerians and Nigeria, Africans and Africa and the Black race in its true worth in such a way that they will earn their deserved acknowledgement and respect from the rest of the world. This series will serve as a reference point for those who wish to learn about past and present achievements of Africans and Africans in the Diaspora. To the extent that there were accomplishments in the past, and that there are accomplishments now, the series will provide the Black race with the wherewithal to appreciate that in spite of slavery, there are solid individual and institutional achievements to inspire the present and the future. It should however be emphasized that a series of this nature is timeless and enduring. This is so in that each generation will throw up its heroes and leaders whose activities will need documentation. THE NIGERIAN SERIES A nation without written history is a nation that has never existed. A man without written history is like a man that has not existed. Up till now, Africa and African historical leaders still suffer from non-appreciation due to lack of historical records. An Oxford Professor of History once went as far as saying that Africa has no history before the advent of colonialism. This view which still has currency outside Africa is due primarily to the absence of written history in pre-colonial Africa. Oral tradition on which African history is based simply does not command the same acceptability and respect as written documentation. In the twenty-first century Nigeria has moved away from the generation of “independence” leaders to “development” leaders. Historically, “independence” leaders have had the advantage of name and achievement recognition. “Development” leaders, on the other hand have had a more difficult task, partly due to intense political competition and partly due to a cultural trait where successors find it difficult to credit their predecessors with any achievement. In addition, the PHD (Pull Him Down syndrome) has impacted negatively on the image of development leaders. This negative image has been reinforced by military regimes which sought justification for their regimes by discrediting previous regimes. A recurrent theme in Nigerian political development has been the agitation for state creation. This has been motivated primarily by a cry for recognition. Nothing legitimises this recognition more than documenting the history of a state and giving recognition to those who fought and sacrificed for the creation of states. Due to a euro-focussed information flow, Richard Branson of Virgin Airlines fame and Bill Gates of Microsoft fame have become role models to be studied in business schools and emulated by millions. Yet young entrepreneurs who have built up from scratch what by any yardstick would amount to giant corporations abound in Nigeria unsung and unrecorded. Nigerians in Diaspora are breaking grounds in every field of endeavour, shattering long-term records and demystifying the claim to superiority by the western world. Yet, they are not acknowledged or celebrated in an appropriate way. For example, available facts show that in every academic year, more Nigerians graduate from doctorate programs in different institutions in the United States of America than persons from any other country apart from host country (this figure is between 15% - 20% of foreign graduates of PhD). Also, almost every college and university, even in the remotest environments in the United States, and in the remotest part of the world, have Nigerians in their faculty. Now some of these Nigerians are involved in research and have made achievements that ought to be recorded and celebrated. Currently, for every four living black persons in the world, one of them is a Nigerian, and there is this belief that Nigerians are the most travelled and largely dispersed persons in the globe. There is this irrepressible entrepreneurial spirit in every Nigerian that makes them outstanding everywhere, albeit sometimes negatively. Most of these Nigerians are building other countries socio-economically, improving the environment of their host nations but receiving little or no acknowledgement. This series aims to change all that as it will eulogize their achievements. THE AFRICAN SERIES The socio-economic and political condition of the African continent is quite unnerving, and it constantly gives cause for concern. Without doubt, Africa is the most battered (in every sense of the word), impoverished and least revered continent in the world. This continent of nearly 860 million peoples (2003 figures est.) has not been well represented in world affairs. It has been disregarded and termed as “housing the poorest number (and percentage of persons) as well as the highest level of rebellion and inter-ethnic wars”. The only notable occurrences in the continent today, are conflicts and wars, diseases (H.I.V/AIDS and the likes) and poverty. Despite the appalling plight of the continent, we are privileged to have persons who have excelled in politics and the government, the sciences and the academia, corporate establishments, Non-Governmental and Not-for-Profit organisations and discernable private endeavours. Africa has some corporate giants that have become accomplished in their business undertakings and are very good examples for the corporate world in terms of quality of personnel, strategy, culture and levels of success. Some of these companies and other technology companies in Africa have ventured and pioneered businesses in other continents establishing their presence in these places and transferring their home grown technology to these climes. Most of the citizens of this continent are gainfully engaged in one vocation or the other. Some are very well educated and exposed, well informed and highly productive in their areas of calling. Others may not be so educated yet they are without doubt very productive and are impacting their environment. Their spheres of influence include agriculture, mining, exploration, tourism, trade, information and communications technology. Their contributions are tangible and can be evaluated but there are no existing and credible machinery within the continent to promote their achievements which could inspire others to greater heights. Africa has the largest deposit of gold and diamonds and other solid minerals that are desired by the other countries and continents of the world, yet, while these minerals are exploited and coveted by these peoples, the African continent is given little or no relevance in terms of acknowledgement or reference. We will traverse the length and width of this misunderstood and misrepresented continent, scoop up the truths about her strengths and weaknesses, the people and organs of development and look critically at its limitations and communicate its accomplishments via this series. This series will be truth well told and published. We expect that progressively, it will become a true reference material for Africans and the rest of the world. THE BLACK SERIES It is on record that our Black ancestors were taken from their traditional environment and homes to serve as slaves in various nations and continents of the world. Today, descendants of these slaves have excelled in various spheres of activities though they have not been well celebrated like their white counterparts. In fact, some of them that have achieved much more than their white counterparts have been given less prominence and relevance. The highest concentration of well-published Black achievers is in the Americas, where the black race has refused to be put down by the scourge of racism whether visible or subsumed. They have excelled in sports, entertainment, business and politics. They have not allowed the history of how they became Americans becloud their sense of judgement and affect their talents and purposes. This series will go beyond the obvious achievers and will not be limited by location or area of endeavour. We will seek to celebrate accomplishments of Black persons and institutions in every part of the world whether economically, socially, politically or intellectually. This series will be their true voice and they will be heard. Persons and organisations will be invited to subscribe to be documented in this series after a well-constituted selection committee working with very broad and comprehensive criteria may have found them worthy to be entered in the series
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