History jamb syllabus 2023

The aim of the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) syllabus in History is to
prepare the candidates for the Board’s examinations. It is designed to test their achievement of the
course objectives, which are to:
1. impart knowledge of Nigerian history from earliest times to the present;
2. identify the similarities and relationship between the people of Nigeria as they relate to the
issues of national unity and integration;
3. appropriate African history and Africa’s relationship with the wider world;
4. analyse issues of modernization and development;
5. evaluate the past and relate it to the present and plan for the future.

SECTION A: NIGERIA UP TO 1800
1. Land and People of Nigeria:
a. Geographical zones
b. People within the zones
c. The people’s relationship with the
environment
2. Early centres of civilization:
a. NOK, Daima, Ife, Benin, Igbo Ukwu
and Iwo Eleru
b. Monuments and shelter system:
Kuyambana and Durbi-ta-Kusheyi
3. Origin and Development of Nigerian
states and societies
a. Central Sudan – Hausa, Fulani and

Kanuri
b. Niger/Benue valley – Nupe, Jukun,
Igala, Idoma, Tiv and Ebira
Candidates should be able to:
i. identify the geographical zones and the people
within them;
ii. establish the relationship between the people
and the environment
Candidates should be able to:
i. examine the significance of various centres;
ii. differentiate between the various monuments
such as caves and huge rocky areas;
iii. establish their historical significance.
Candidates should be able to:
i. relate the different groups of people occupying
the various zones to their traditions of origin;
ii. determine their inter-group relations;
iii. account for their economic, social and political

c. Eastern forest Belt – Igbo and Ibibio
d. Western forest Belt – Yoruba and
Edo
e. Coastal and Niger–Delta – Efik, Ijo,
Itsekiri and Urhobo
i. Factors influencing their
origin and migration
ii. Economic, social and
political organizations
iii. Inter-group relations, war,
peace, trade and religion.
4. Economic Activities:
a. Agriculture – hunting, farming,
fishing,
animal husbandry and horticulture.
a. Industries – pottery, salt-making,
iron-smelting, blacksmithing, leatherworking, wood-carving, clothmaking, dyeing and food processing.
b. Trade and trade routes:- local,
regional, long distance, including
trans-Sahara trade?
c. Trade and trade routes: local,
regional, long distance, including
trans – Sahara trade
5. External Influences:
a. Europeans:
i. early European trade with
the coastal states.
ii. early Christian missionary
activities.

iii. the trans-Atlantic slave trade
(origin, organization and
impact)
b. Arabs
i. introduction, spread and
impact of Islam;
ii. trans-Saharan trade.
organizations.
Candidates should be able to:
i. compare the various economic activities of the
people;
ii. differentiate between crafts and other forms of
occupation of the people;
iii. relate the trade routes, to their importance to
Nigerian history.
Candidates should be able to:
i. examine the impact of early European contact
with the coastal people;
ii. assess the early Christian missionary activities;
iii. trace the origin, organization and impact of the
trans-Atlantic slave trade;
iv. assess their impact;
v. assess the impact of Arab contact on the people
South of the Sahara.

SECTION B: NIGERIA 1800 – 1900
1. The Sokoto Caliphate
a. The Sokoto Jihad – causes, courses
and consequences.
b. The rise of the caliphate
c. The administration of the caliphate
and relations with neighbours.
d. Intellectual activities in the caliphate
e. The collapse of the caliphate
2. Kanem-Borno
a. The collapse of the Saifawa dynasty
b. Borno under the Shehus
c. Borno under Rabe
3. Yorubaland:
a. The fall of the Old Oyo Empire

b. The Yoruba wars and their impact
c. The peace treaty of 1886 and its
aftermath
4. Benin
a. Internal political development
b. Relations with neighbours
c. Relations with the Europeans
5. European Relations with Nigeria:
a. The suppression of the trans-Atlantic
slave trade.
b. The development of commodity trade
and rise of consular authority.
c. Christian missionary activities.
Candidates should be able to:
i. examine the causes, courses and consequences
of the Jihad;
ii. determine the factors that led to the rise of the
caliphate;
iii. examine the administrative set-up of the
caliphate and its relations with its neighbours;
iv. examine the significance of the writing of the
jihadists;
v. trace the internal and external factors that led to
the collapse.
Candidates should be able to:
i. determine the factors that led to the collapse of
the Saifawa dynasty;
ii. examine Borno under the administration of the
Shehus;
iii. assess the role of Rabeh in Borno’s history.
Candidates should be able to:
i. examine the causes of the fall of the Old Oyo;
ii. examine the causes and effects of the Yoruba
wars:

iii. assess the impact of the 1886 peace treaty.
Candidates should be able to:
i. examine the internal political development;
ii. establish her relations with her neighbours;
iii. assess her relationship with the Europeans.
Candidates should be able to:
i. give reasons for the suppression of the
trans-Atlantic slave trade;
ii. trace the development of commodity trade;
iii. examine missionary and European activities in
the area;

d. Impact of European activities on the
coast and the hinterland.
6. The British Conquest of Nigeria:
a. Motives for the conquest
b. Methods of the conquest and its
result.
c. Resistance to and aftermath of the
conquest.
SECTION C: NIGERIA 1900 – 1960
1. The Establishment of Colonial
Administration up to 1914:
a. Administration of the protectorates
b. Local administration, forced labour,
foreign currency, taxation and
monetization
2. The Amalgamation of 1914:
a. Reasons
b. Effects
3. Colonial Administration after the
Amalgamation:
a. Central Administration:-
Legislative and Executive Councils
b. Indirect Rule – reasons, working and
effects
c. Local government institutions, native
authorities, native courts and native
treasuries.
d. Protest against colonial rule –
Ekumeku Movement in Asaba
hinterland 1898 – 1911, the Satiru
uprising 1906, Egba and the Anti-tax
Agitation 1918, the rising in Okeho
and Iseyin 1918, Warri Tax Revolt in
1927 -28, Aba Women Movement in
1929 and the Water Rate Agitation in
Benin in 1937 – 38.
iv. account for the rise of consular authority.
Candidates should be able to:
i. determine the reasons for the conquest and the
method used;
ii. evaluate the results of and the reactions to the
conquest.
Candidates should be able to:
i. examine the administrative set-up of the
protectorates;
ii. examine the system of administration with
emphasis on forced labour, foreign currency,
taxation and monetization.
Candidates should be able to:

i. examine the reasons for the 1914
Amalgamation
and its effects.
Candidates should be able to:
i. relate the composition of the central
administrative
set-up to its consequences;
ii. identify the reasons for the introduction and
workings of the indirect rule system;
iii. assess the effects of indirect rule;
iv. account for the anti-colonial movements;
v. examine their significance.

4. iv. The Colonial Economy:
a. Transportation
b. Agriculture
c. Mining
d. Industry
e. Commerce
f. Banking.
5. Social Development under Colonial
Rule:
a. Western education
b. Urbanization
c. Improvement unions
d. Health institutions
6. Nationalism and Constitutional
Development:
a. The rise of nationalist movements;
b. The 1922 Clifford Constitution and
the rise of Nigeria’s first political
parties.
c. The Richards Constitution of 1946
d. The Macpherson Constitution of
1951.
e. Party politics – regionalism,
federalism and minorities agitations.
f. The dawn of independence the
Littleton Constitution of 1954,
constitutional conference in Lagos in
1957; and
g. In London in 1958, the general
elections of 1959 and independence
1960.
Candidates should be able to:
i. examine the nature of the economy as it affects
transportation, agriculture, mining, industry,
commerce and banking.
Candidates should be able to:
i. identify the areas of social development under
colonial rule;
ii. examine the impact of social development on
the people;
Candidates should be able to:
i. trace the emergence of the nationalist
movement;
ii. assess the roles of the different constitutions in
constitutional development;
iii. determine the factors that aided the attainment
of independence;
iv. examine the impact of the constitutions on the
people;
v. trace the development of party politics and its
impact;
vi. examine the 1945 constitutional conference.

sECTION D: NIGERIA SINCE
INDEPENDENCE
1. The politics of the First Republic and
Military intervention
a. Struggle for the control of the centre;

b. Issue of revenue allocation
c. The 1962/63 census controversies
d. The Action Group crisis
e. Military intervention – reasons and
significance of the Ironsi Regime
2. The Civil War:
Causes and effects
a. Causes
b. Courses
c. Effects
3. The Gowon Regime:
a. Reconstruction, Reconciliation,
Rehabilitation.
b. The era of oil boom, social and
economic development
c. State creation
d. The fall of Gowon
4. Murtala/Obasanjo Regime
5. The Second Republic
6. The Buhari Regime
Candidates should be able to:
i. give reasons behind the struggle for the control
of the centre;
ii. account for the controversies in revenue
allocation;
iii. account for the controversies generated by the
1962/63 census and the Action Group crisis;
iv. provide reasons behind military intervention;
v. assess the significance of military intervention
and the role of the military under Ironsi.
Candidates should be able to
i. examine the remote and immediate causes of
the war;
ii. assess the effects of the war;
iii. examine the courses.
Candidates should be able to:
i. examine the effects of Gowon’s plans to reintegrate the East;
ii. account for the economic and social
development during the oil boom;
iii. give reasons for the creation of states;
iv. examine the reasons for and the effects of the
overthrow of Gowon.
Candidates should be able to:
i. assess the achievements of the
Murtala/Obasanjo Regime;
Candidates should be able to:
i. evaluate the legacies of the Shagari
Administration
Candidates should be able to:
i. assess the achievements of Nigeria under
Buhari

7. The Babangida Regime
8. The Interim National Government
(ING)
9. The Abacha and Abdulsalami Regimes
10. Nigeria’s role in conflict resolution,
ECOMOG in Liberia, Sierra Leone
and Guinea.
11. Nigeria in International Organization;
AU, ECOWAS, UN, the
Commonwealth of Nations and OPEC
PART II: AFRICA AND THE WIDER
WORLD SINCE 1800
SECTION A: WEST AND NORTH AFRICA
1. Islamic Reform Movements and State
Building in West Africa:
a. Relationship between Sokoto and
other Jihads.
b. The Jihads of Seku Ahmadu and AlHajj Umar
c. The activities of Samori Toure
Candidates should be able to:
i. assess the strengths and weaknesses of the
Babangida era;
ii. examine the transition programme under
Babangida.
Candidates should be able to:
i. examine the role of the interim National
Government in the history of Nigeria.
Candidates should be able to:
i. assess the role of the Abacha and Abdulsalami
regimes in the history of Nigeria.
Candidates should be able to:
i. identify the West African states that benefited
from Nigeria’s military assistance;
ii. examine the impact of Nigeria’s role in
ECOMOG.
Candidates should be able to:
i. assess the role of Nigeria in the formation of
AU and ECOWAS;
ii. examine the benefits accruing to Nigeria as a
member of the U.N, Commonwealth and
OPEC.
Candidates should be able to:
i. establish the relationship between the Sokoto
Jihad and other Jihads in West Africa;
ii. compare the achievements of the Jihads of Seku
Ahmadu and Al-Hajj Umar;
iii. assess the significance of the literary works of
the period;
iv. examine the activities of Samori Toure of the
Madinka Empire.

2. Christian missionary activities in West
Africa
a. The foundation of Sierra Leone and
Liberia and the spread of Christianity
b. The impact of Christian Missionary
activities.
3. Egypt under Mohammed Ali and
Khedive Ismail:
a. The rise of Mohammad Ali and his
reforms
b. Mohammad Ali’s relations with the
Europeans
c. Ismail’s fiscal policies
d. The British occupation of Egypt
4. The Maghrib and European incursion:
a. Turkish rule in the Maghrib
b. French occupation of Algeria, Tunisia
and Morocco
c. Italy in Libya
d. Maghribian reaction to European rule
5. The Mahdi and Mahdiyya Movement
in the Sudan
a. Causes
b. Courses
c. Consequences
Candidates should be able to:
i. determine the factors that led to founding of
Sierra Leone and Liberia;
ii. examine the importance of Sierra Leone and
Liberia in the spread of Christianity;
iii. assess the impact of Christian missionary
activities in West Africa.

Candidates should be able to:
i. determine the factors that aided Mohammad
Ali’s rise to power and his reforms;
ii. establish the relationship between Mohammad
Ali’s Empire and the Europeans;
iii. account for the fiscal policies of Ismail;
iv. examine the reasons for the British occupation
of Egypt.
Candidates should be able to:
i. determine the factors that led to Turkish rule in
the Maghrib;

ii. give reasons for the French occupation of
Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco;
iii. account for Italian presence in Libya;
iv. assess the Maghribians reaction to European
rule.
Candidates should be able to:
i. examine the causes, courses and consequences
of the Mahdiyya Movement in the Sudan

 

SECTION B: EASTERN AND SOUTHERN
AFRICA
1. The Omani Empire
a. Sayyid Sa’id and the rise of the Omani
Empire
b. The empire’s commercial and political
relations with the coast and the
hinterland.
c. The Empire’s relations with the
Europeans
2. Buganda in the 19th century
a. The British occupation of Buganda
b. Religious politics
3. Ethiopia in the 19th century
a. The rise of Theodore II and his attempt at
the unification of Ethiopia
b. Menelik II and the survival of Ethiopian
independence.
4. The Mfecane:
a. The rise of Zulu nations
b. Courses and consequences of the
Mfecane
5. The Great Trek
a. The frontier wars
b. British intervention in the Boer African
relations
c. The Great Trek and its consequences.
Candidates should be able to:

i. determine the factors that led to the rise of the
Omani Empire;
ii. establish commercial and political relations
between the Omani Empire, the coast and the
hinterland;
iii. examine the relationship that existed between
the Omani Empire and the Europeans.
Candidates should be able to:
i. give reasons for the British occupation of
Buganda and show the effect of religion had on
the politics of Buganda.
Candidates should be able to:
i. examine the factors that led to the rise of
Theodore II as the Emperor of Ethiopia;
ii. analyse the strategies that were adopted to
achieve Ethiopian unification.
iii. assess the effects of Menelik II in the survival
of Ethiopian independence
Candidates should be able to:
i. trace events in Nguniland before the Mfecane;
ii. determine for the factors that led to the rapid
rise of Shaka.
iii. examine the courses and consequences of the
Mfecane.
Candidates should be able to:
i. determine the factors that led to the frontier
wars;
ii. account for British intervention in the BoerAfrican relations;
iii. describe the nature of the Great Trek;
iv. examine its consequences.

SECTION C: THEMES IN AFRICAN
HISTORY SINCE THE
SCRAMBLE
1. The new imperialism, the partition and
the European occupation of Africa
a. Causes of the scramble
b. The Berlin Conference
c. The occupation and the reaction of
Africans.
2. Patterns of colonial rule in Africa:
a. The British
b. The French
c. The Portuguese
d. The Belgians
3. The Politics of decolonization
a. Colonial policies and African
discontent
b. The impact of the two world wars
c. Nationalist activities and the emergence
of political parties and associations
c. Strategies of attaining independence
4. Apartheid
a. Prelude to apartheid
b. Rise of Afrikaner nationalism
c. Enactment of apartheid laws
d. Internal reaction and the suppression of
African nationalist movements
e. External reaction to apartheid, AU, the
Candidates should be able to:
i. examine the causes of the scramble;
ii. account of the decision reached at the Berlin
Conference and its aftermath.

iii. examine African reaction to the occupation.
Candidates should be able to:
i. compare the patterns of colonial rule by the
various European powers.
Candidates should be able to:
i. examine the policies employed by the colonial
masters;
ii. show the magnitude of African discontent;
iii. assess the impact of the First and Second
World Wars on African nationalism,
iv. determine the strategies used in the attainment
of independence.
Candidates should be able to:
i. trace the origin of apartheid in South Africa;
ii. give reasons for the rise of Afrikaner
nationalism;
iii. describe how apartheid laws were enacted;
iv. relate the internal reaction to apartheid to the
African struggle for majority rule;
v. relate the contributions of African states and

 

Commonwealth of Nations, UN and the
frontline states.
f. The dismantling of apartheid
g. Post-apartheid development
5. Problems of Nation-building in Africa
a. Political and economic constraints
b. Ethnic and religious pluralism
c. Military intervention and political
instability.
d. Neo-colonialism and under
development.
e. Boundary disputes and threat to African
unity
f. Civil wars and the refuge problem.
international organizations to the fight against
apartheid;
vi. identify the steps taken towards the dismantling
of apartheid in South Africa;
vii. assess the post-apartheid development in South
Africa.
Candidates should be able to:
i. examine the political and economic problems
faced by African countries in nation-building;
ii. determine the role of ethnic and religious
problems in African;
iii. examine the role of the military in African
politics;
iv. examine the role of neo-colonialism in Africa;
v. assess the problems of boundary disputes;
vi. establish the relationship between refuge
problems and civil wars in Africa