The Government of Ivory Coast (Côte d’Ivoire) has announced that French troops will begin their withdrawal from the country in January 2025.

This marks another significant reduction in France’s military presence in West Africa.

President Alassane Ouattara who disclosed this in his end-of-year address to the country on Tuesday, stated that the move reflects the modernization of Ivory Coast’s armed forces.

“We have decided on the concerted and organised withdrawal of French forces,” Ouattara said, adding that the Port Bouet military base will be transferred to Ivorian control in January 2025.

France has maintained a military presence in Ivory Coast since its independence in 1960, with up to 600 troops stationed there.

Ivory Coast’s decision follows similar moves by other West African nations, which have also requested the departure of foreign troops amid a broader trend of reassessing military ties with former colonial powers.

In recent years, France has been expelled from Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger following military coups.

Chad terminated its defense cooperation agreement with France in November, while Senegal, another former French colony, announced that all French military bases on its territory would close by the end of 2025.

France’s military presence in Africa has been controversial for decades. Critics argue that it perpetuates neocolonial dynamics, while supporters maintain that French troops play a crucial role in combating terrorism and maintaining stability.

However, leaders in these nations contend that the presence of Western forces has not effectively addressed their security challenges, prompting them to seek alternative partnerships, including with Russia.

When Ivory Coast first announced the withdrawal in December, the Russian Foreign Ministry stated that the planned exit of French troops demonstrates they are “no longer needed” in the country.

“This generally fits into the logic of the processes taking place in the Francophone countries of West Africa, whose populations are increasingly critical of the large-scale presence of foreign troops,” it added.

Paris is working to revamp its strategy on the continent, aiming to reduce permanent troop deployments and focus on more targeted operations, while retaining some 1500 soldiers in Djibouti and a small contingent of around 350 troops in Gabon.

The Minister of Education, Tunji Alausa, has confirmed that President Bola Tinubu ordered the reintroduction of Nigerian History as a subject in basic education,

Speaking on Tuesday during Channels Television’s End-of-Year Special Review Show, Alausa stated, “President Tinubu has mandated the return of Nigerian History as a subject in basic education.”

Meanwhile, the media earlier reported that the Nigerian government announced the formal reintroduction of history as a subject in the country’s basic education curriculum after it was abolished 13 years ago.

Former President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua-led government in 2009 removed history from Nigeria’s basic education curriculum supposedly because students were avoiding it with the claim that there were few jobs for history graduates, and that there was dearth of history teachers.

But the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that on Thursday, the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, performed the inauguration ceremony of the reintroduction of teaching of history and training of history teachers at basic education level in Abuja.

The education minister who was represented at the ceremony by the Minister of State for Education, Goodluck Opiah, expressed worry with the way the national cohesion was being threatened with the country retreating into primordial sentiments as a result of lack of knowledge of the evolution of Nigeria following the removal of history from the basic education curriculum.

Adamu noted that a total of 3,700 history teachers had been shortlisted for the first round of training for enhanced teaching of the subject.

The minister said that “History used to be one of the foundational subjects taught in our classroom but for some inexplicable reasons, the stream of teaching and learning was abolished.

“As a result, history was subsequently expunged from the list of subject combinations our students could offer in both external and internal examinations compared to the subjects that were made compulsory at basic and secondary levels in Nigeria.

“This single act no doubt relegated and eroded the knowledge and information that learners could otherwise have been exposed to. It was a monumental mistake and have already started seeing its negative consequences.

“The loss created by the absence of this subject has led to a fall in moral values, erosion of civic values, and disconnect from the past.

“More worrisome was the neglect of the teaching of this subject at basic and post basic levels of education which invariably eroded the knowledge of the evolution of Nigeria as a country.”

According to him, the focus of the re-introduction was the training and retraining of teachers in order to enhance their capacity development which would lead to the mastery of the subject, as teachers would be provided with the requisite skills needed to teach the subject.

Also speaking at the event, the Executive Secretary of the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), Dr. Hamid Bobboyi, confirmed that a total of 3,700 history teachers had been selected from the 36 states of the federation and Federal Capital Territory (FCT) for training, adding that the selection was done on a pro rata basis, 100 teachers each from a state and FCT, stressing that this would equip them with the necessary skills to teach the subject, especially with the modification of the subject content.

Bobboyi said that following the directive by the minister for history to be restored as a subject in schools, the commission and Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC), swung into action which led to the flag-off.

By Gloria Ikibah

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has acknowledged that the year 2024 was a difficult one for Nigerians.

This was revealed in his New Year message, where he outlined strategies aimed at addressing the nation’s challenges and fostering growth.

His statement read: “Though 2024 posed numerous challenges to our citizens and households, I am confident that the New Year will bring brighter days.

“Economic indicators point to a positive and encouraging outlook for our nation. Fuel prices have gradually decreased, and we recorded foreign trade surpluses in three consecutive quarters. Foreign reserves have risen, and the Naira has strengthened against the US dollar, bringing greater stability.

“The stock market’s record growth has generated trillions of naira in wealth, and the surge in foreign investment reflects renewed confidence in our economy.

“Nevertheless, the cost of food and essential drugs remained a significant concern for many Nigerian households in 2024.

“In 2025, our government is committed to intensifying efforts to lower these costs by boosting food production and promoting local manufacturing of essential drugs and other medical supplies. We are resolute in our ambition to reduce inflation from its current high of 34.6% to 15%. With diligent work and God’s help, we will achieve this goal and provide relief to all our people.

“In this new year, my administration will further consolidate and increase access to credit for individuals and critical sectors of the economy to boost national economic output.”