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Title: Nigerian Peoples and Cultures Editors: Akinjide Osuntokun and Ayodeji Olukoju Publisher: Davidson Press, Ibadan, Nigeria Year of Publication: 1997 ISBN: 978 -32964 - 3- 4 Pages: 365 + ii
This collection of essays was necessitated by a vacuum 'arising from the paucity of information on a university-wide course on Nigerian Peoples and Cultures' (ii). The task of bringing together in one volume much valuable information on the aforementioned theme previously scattered in numerous publications underscores the importance of the book. More important, the uncertainty of the future of Nigeria in recent years, particularly during the Abacha years when the book under review surfaced, reveals the underlying inspiration that made the publication a reality; that is, the desire to use history as a tool of forging national unity among the various ethnic groups. Thus, almost all the authors dwell on such binding features as trade, inter-ethnic marriage, traditions of origin and the replication of social and political institations which existed in various Nigerian communities before colonialism gave vent to other forms of intergroup relations that have sharpened the individuality of each of the ethnic groups to the extent that Nigeria may very well remain, as Yomi Akinyeye puts jt, 'a nation of the future' (329). The book also scores a point in the sense that the target audience are mainly the youth on whom the mantle of leadership will fall. Henct, this group needs to be thoroughly schooled in the idea of 'beauty in diversity'; for, an improper understanding of the importance of promoting a united Nigeria could break the nation.
The first essay attempts to discuss briefly the over 374 ethnic groups in Nigeria; of course such a subject requires an entire book. It sets the pace, though without any serious interpretative analysis, for subsequent chapters by its emphasis on the earliest centres of civilization in selected pre-colonial Nigerian towns and cities. However, there seems to be a contradiction between the authors' presentation of the Bayajidda legend and that of Dioka in the fourth chapter. While the former rightly ascribe the establishment of the Hausa states to Bawo, Bayajidda's son (6), the latter gives the glory to Bayajidda who he says 'had seven sons' (56). While it is true that in reading an edited...