An educationist and Director of Merry Bell Academy, Jikwoyi, Abuja, Mrs. Gloria Jeremiah, has urged Nigerian students to go back to their roots and uphold their cultural heritage.
Mrs. Jeremiah, who made the call while speaking to journalists at the school’s Cultural Day with the theme ‘Back To Our Roots’, said the essence of the celebration is to teach their children how to go back to their roots.
She said before they become something else, like American citizens or British citizens, they were first of all Nigerians and “we don’t want our culture to die, we want it to remain by upholding it.”
“The cultural display will benefit the students a lot as they will get to know their main languages and it will teach them not to crave for fast foods like pizza or burger but crave for indigenous food which is even healthier than the fast food and help them to appreciate their roots,” she said.
While noting that some children try to speak in other people’s accents instead of theirs, she said events like this would help them learn to appreciate “the way we dress, our root and the way we look.”
The director also commended the parents and staff who worked to put the event together, saying it was not an easy task.
Also speaking, the Assistant Comptroller General of Fire Service, Bello Ahmed Zaggs, said he was impressed by what the children showcased, adding “our children are willing to come together to unite and fight all the disadvantages.”
Zaggs said: “First, we need history in all our schools and to imbibe the issue of unity among ourselves. The school curriculum needs to be revived; if it can be updated and start from the grassroots it will be better so that the unity of the country will not be at stake.”
While noting that there is need for school programmes that will bring all tribes together so that the unity of the country can be achieved, he said “first we need to have a Nigeria before any other thing.”
Zaggs further recommended that: “We need to have fire safety clubs in primary and secondary schools. We need to understand that we have a curriculum in schools so that the younger ones can have the basic knowledge on what we call fire and how to avert it.”
