By Taye Ige
On Monday, June 15, the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA), Victoria Island, Lagos, hosted what, at first glance, appeared to be yet another book presentation.
The gathering had all the familiar trappings of such occasions: distinguished guests, scholarly reviews, cultural performances and the ceremonial unveiling of a newly published work. Prominent personalities from Akwa Ibom State and beyond filled the hall. There were business leaders, retired military officers, accomplished professionals and public servants.
Yet, beneath the formalities lay a deeper significance.
The presentation of Uruan: The Iboku People of the Geographical South Eastern Nigeria and Their Bakassi Economic Zone, authored by economist and former Group Executive Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mr. Efiong D. Akan, was, in many respects, an intervention against collective amnesia.
It was a reminder that nations are sustained not only by constitutions and institutions, but also by memory.
The Stories We Forget
Across Africa, some of the most profound histories have travelled from one generation to another through oral traditions. They live in folk tales narrated under moonlight, in songs sung during festivals, in proverbs, rituals and communal ceremonies.
But oral traditions, however rich, are fragile.
They depend on memory. They are vulnerable to migration, urbanisation and the passage of time. Entire chapters of communal identity can disappear within a generation if they are not documented.
This is perhaps what gives Akan’s work its urgency.
The Uruan people, one of the oldest Efik-speaking communities in present-day Akwa Ibom State, have contributed significantly to public service, commerce, academia and national development. Yet much of their story has remained outside the mainstream of Nigerian historiography.
Who tells the story of a people if they do not tell it themselves?
That question echoed throughout the event.
More Than Geography
In his remarks, Chairman of the occasion, Otuekong Captain Augustine Okon , observed that the identity of the Uruan people transcends physical location.
Identity, he suggested, is rooted in language, customs, values and shared heritage.
This distinction is important.
Modern societies often reduce communities to administrative boundaries and political constituencies. Yet identity is far more enduring. It is embedded in memory, worldview and collective experience.
For communities navigating the pressures of modernity, preserving cultural identity becomes an act of survival.
The challenge is not unique to Uruan.
Across Nigeria, minority histories struggle for visibility within dominant national narratives. Indigenous languages face declining usage. Younger generations increasingly know little about the journeys, sacrifices and institutions that shaped their communities.
Documentation, therefore, becomes an act of preservation.
Books become bridges between generations.
The Bakassi Dimension
Perhaps the most contemporary aspect of Akan’s work lies in its treatment of Bakassi.
For many Nigerians, Bakassi remains a geopolitical issue associated with international adjudication and territorial disputes. But behind the legal arguments lie communities, histories and emotional attachments that rarely feature in public discourse.
By situating Bakassi within the historical and economic experiences of the Uruan people, the author broadens the conversation beyond cartography.
He asks readers to recognise that territories are not merely pieces of land marked on maps; they are repositories of memory, livelihoods and identity.
His appeal during the presentation for legal minds, including former Minister and Senator Udo Udoma, to support efforts towards Bakassi reclamation may generate debate. But whether one agrees with the proposition or not, the intervention succeeds in reopening a conversation many assumed had ended.
Perhaps some national questions deserve to be revisited, not merely through the lens of law and diplomacy, but through the experiences of the communities most affected by them.
The Responsibility of the Elite
One striking feature of the event was the calibre of those in attendance.
Former Minister and Senator Udo Udoma was present. So were accomplished corporate leaders such as Larry Ettah, respected professionals like Udeme Ufot, distinguished reviewers including Sir (Dr.) Opeyemi Olukayode Agbaje, Chairman of the National Pension Commission, and Rear Admiral Francis Dan Akpan (Rtd)
Their presence reflected an often-overlooked truth: communities flourish when their most accomplished sons and daughters remain invested in their collective story.
Success carries responsibility.
The responsibility to mentor.
The responsibility to preserve.
The responsibility to give back.
And perhaps, above all, the responsibility to remember.
A society that forgets where it comes from risks losing its sense of where it is going.
Why This Matters
Nigeria is a nation of extraordinary diversity.
Hundreds of ethnic nationalities coexist within a shared political framework. The challenge has always been how to build national cohesion without erasing local identities.
The answer cannot be cultural amnesia.
National unity does not require uniformity.
Rather, it demands mutual respect for the histories that make up the Nigerian experience.
When communities document their stories, they enrich the national archive. They expand the country’s understanding of itself.
In preserving Uruan history, Akan has contributed not only to his people, but to Nigeria.
Beyond the Launch
As the final photographs were taken and copies of the book exchanged hands, it became clear that what had transpired at the NIIA was more than a ceremonial launch.
It was a declaration that history matters.
That identity matters.
That future generations deserve more than fragmented memories and fading recollections.
They deserve records.
They deserve context.
They deserve to know who they are.
Long after the applause has faded, that may well be the enduring legacy of Efiong D. Akan’s latest work.
For ultimately, the true value of history lies not in nostalgia for what has been lost, but in its power to illuminate what still can be preserved.
*Taye Ige writes from Lagos
