Encyclopaedia Nigeriana: The Sands of Time
Nigeria’s national wealth does not lie in the abundance of her natural resources alone but obviously – and even more so – from her unique composition as an amalgam of cultures with origins dating back to pre-historic times. Like the elephant of folklore fame, it is quite difficult and often misleading to get a single […]
Nigeria’s national wealth does not lie in the abundance of her natural resources alone but obviously – and even more so – from her unique composition as an amalgam of cultures with origins dating back to pre-historic times. Like the elephant of folklore fame, it is quite difficult and often misleading to get a single source of information on the various elements of the Nigerian experience, and the nation – which has been tagged by both local and international observers as one of the most culturally-diverse political entities on earth – remains a curious enigma to some, and an unexplored or completely misunderstood phenomenon to others.
However, an encyclopaedic publication has emerged that is set to give Nigerians and indeed the global audience more than a glimpse of Nigeria’s different faces, images, voices and echoes from the sands of time. Entitled Encyclopaedia Nigeriana, the 640-page book is the first volume from an ambitious research project aimed at documenting “everything Nigerian” in ten volumes.
Encyclopaedia Nigeriana, an anthology of randomly-selected articles on what makes Nigeria tick and a phenomenon on the African Continent, unveils in a unique way some historical incidents by providing interesting key facts which conventional history books often overlook or ignore. A gamut of information which you may not find in existing conventional history books are given detailed background and presented in proper historical context. This makes Encyclopaedia Nigeriana a ready source for quick corroboration of general information on Nigeria, and broadly an authoritative spring of authentic nuggets and facts about Nigeria.
Laid out in an almost befuddling alphabetical order (save for the sandwiched History Book from pages 224 – 390 which presents a chronological account of key historical events from 1000BC to the year 2010), Encyclopaedia Nigeriana is a refreshing deviation from previous government-sponsored publications of the type which often focus almost squarely on political image laundering rather than the myriad of nuggets of issues that make the country infinitely interesting. For instance, many Nigerians may know or have heard of Akassa Town in Bayelsa State but not many are aware that the 18th century 60-metre high lighthouse by its seaside was solar-powered long before the current global frenzy on renewable energy, nor do they care about the historical political events that led to the tragic deaths of the men buried at the town’s “Whiteman’s Graveyard” which some consider to be a “tourist attraction”. Every smart Nigerian pupil knows (at least we hope so) the name of the designer of the Nigerian flag but perhaps very little else about such a national icon. Many will gleefully retort that Nigeria was amalgamated in 1914 but, when probed a bit further, turn up without the slightest clue of the events and motivations that necessitated such a landmark occurrence, or the relationship between those events and some of the socio-political challenges facing the nation today. While the book is decidedly brief in its tackling of the many topics it delves into, it compensates by offering quite a lot of interesting information on historical dates and personalities, towns and tourism events, landmarks, natural and economic resources, art, craft, ethnicities etc about the country. Also interesting is the mix of bios featured in this first volume. The authors, in addition to all the usual suspects (top politicians and past leaders), also managed to sneak in articles on a number of youth icons and several Nigerians who have distinguished themselves through academic pursuits.
Authored by a young Abuja based brand communications company, +234Express®, Encyclopaedia Nigeriana is certainly an exciting intellectual expedition that is capable of broadening the minds of Nigerians especially in the context of the current quest for reading renaissance in the country. In that sense, one can say that it coincided with and will definitely add value to this administration’s reading advocacy as captured in President Goodluck Jonathan’s commentary during the launch of the Bring Back The Book initiative when he said: “Leading our great country to a new height can only be realised and sustained if we all have access to rich information; rich information documenting our history, values, prospects, challenges and people. Bringing back the books and indeed bringing back our books is what we need at this time in our existence to make our today count and to take a hold of our future.” Going by the president’s remarks, Encyclopaedia Nigeriana is certainly one of “our books”.
Admitting the obvious risk in claiming to have published an encyclopaedia for a nation of Nigeria’s complexity, the authors stated in the preface that the information contained in this first volume “barely scratches the surface” of the raw research data already gathered on the histories of the diverse peoples, cultures, traditions and incidences across the length and breadth of Nigeria. One wonders if such can actually be fitted into the 10 volumes they propose!
Although the articles are arranged alphabetically, a careful reading of Encyclopaedia Nigeriana however reveals its structure as deriving from core components or areas that make up the Nigerian persona – geography, sociology and anthropology. The broad thematic segments include personalities, arts and culture, ethnic nationalities and languages, towns, cities and states, landmarks and tourism, sports, cuisine as well as memorable historical moments from both ancient and modern eras of Nigerian experience.
A major distinguishing feature of Encyclopaedia Nigeriana, which is also available in hardcover and in digital eBook form, is the generous use of choice pictures to illustrate articles. These pictures make the book both reader-friendly as well as appealingly explorative, and some, like the photo of the mangled mass of the Niger River Bridge after it was blown up by Biafran troops during the Civil War (featured on page 501), or the array of priceless Benin plaques carted away during the kingdom’s sack in 1897 proudly displayed at the British Museum (featured on page 258), are quite capable of evoking some thought.
While the book has as its major limitation in what one may describe as its very limited coverage of all the thematic areas, this drawback is mitigated by the prospect that this is only a first portion of what the authors plan to be ten. As Nigerians and indeed visitors to Nigeria, intellectuals and all those interested in the country wait for the subsequent volumes, it is hoped that those copies will be more enriching by being broader in its focus.
Iduh is a journalist based in Abuja.