#max siollun

[demmyfuji]

[cathonye]

Elections, Prejudice, and Influence

Elections, Prejudice, and Influence

Campaign Video?

I watched a YouTube video about Nigeria and Boko Haram called “COUNTER INSURGENCY OPERATION: The Gains and Prospects,” from Max Siollun’s website.

The video opens on five men in uniform, most white, at the back of a truck which contains a large cooler like I take to the beach, a rifle, and a water bottle. Next we see Nigerian soldiers searching in what looks like a school…

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[cathonye]

Two Atrocities, Two Approaches

Two Atrocities, Two Approaches

Paris and Baga – Both Newsworthy?

Margaret Sullivan, NYTimes Public Editor

“What makes one atrocity more newsworthy than another?” asks Margaret Sullivan, Public Editor of The New York Times, in her piece on January 24. She comments on the extensive coverage of the Paris bombing at the magazine office: “Coverage was wall to wall: In The Times, not a day went by, for 10 consecutive days, without…

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[cathonye]

#BringBackOurGirls - Three Months Missing; Kennedy Era End?

#BringBackOurGirls – Three Months Missing; Kennedy Era End?

Nigeria’s Finance Minister in CNN Interview

In the last few days I have seen several comments on the missing girls in northern Nigeria. perhaps because the three month anniversary of the kidnapping was Thursday.

NIgeria’s Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala

CNN’s Christiane Amanpour spoke with Nigeria’s Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala in an interview I found on Max Siollun’s blog.The…

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[chi-readingafrica]

Max Siollun, Nigerian historian and author of forthcoming Soldiers of Fortune, says it's up to writers to make Nigerian history more interesting.

Why do so many Nigerians know so little about their own country’s history? The federal government must take much responsibility for this. Nigerian history is not intensively taught in schools largely because after the civil war, the federal government tried to brush the country’s past under the carpet in order to foster reconciliation. It deliberately imposed a historical blackout on Nigeria’s younger generation because it did not want students to know that the country’s early history was rife with ethnic violence, military coups and people who murdered their political opponents in the middle of the night or during rush hour traffic. Teaching that to young people seemed like it would be an excellent way to raise a new generation of angry, embittered racists.

But the government is not entirely to blame. The absence of a library culture, and Nigerians’ quest for ‘professional’ academic paths such as medicine, engineering, law and accountancy, has also increased people’s alienation to their history.

We writers must also share the responsibility.

Read the entire post here.

I must agree, Adichie's Half of a Yellow Sun did get me interested in Nigerian (& African) history.