Former presidential aide Reno Omokri has said the reintroduction of Nigerian history as a compulsory subject in our secondary school curriculum is a welcome development, "and I commend the Tinubu administration for making such a progressive policy".

He further appreciated the President and his education ministers for bringing back civics as a necessary subject in our schools.

"This policy will go a long way in instilling patriotism and good citizenship in the younger generation, making them better leaders of tomorrow," Omokri said in a Facebook post.

He said people who do not know their history are unlikely to learn from it, and where they do not learn from history, they will repeat it and then blame history for repeating itself. "This is a step in the right direction.

"I also call on the Federal Government to consider making it mandatory for all Nigerians to take and pass at least one Nigerian language other than their native tongue. This will help foster unity, national understanding, and reconciliation in a way that even the National Youth Service Corps cannot.

"I say this because secondary school children are like a blank slate. They are very impressionable. Learning Nigerian history and an authentic Nigerian language while in that receptive and formative state will go a long way to influencing their psyche and directing their emotional scripting towards empathy for their fellow countrymen and women.

"However, if we wait until they graduate from university before building understanding for their fellow Nigerians in them, it will almost be too late because by then they are already set in their ways and unimpressionable.

"In any case, this is a commendable first step and makes me hopeful that better days are coming soon in our education sector," he said.

ASA