Are Nigerian museums turning into relics?

Many Nigerian families as well as tourists used to visit and enjoy the museums because they contained many specimens of Nigerian art, mostly pieces of statues and carvings, remarkable for their variety and quality. They also have archaeological and ethnographic exhibits amongst others. Records show that the museum at Jos, opened in 1952 as a […]

Many Nigerian families as well as tourists used to visit and enjoy the museums because they contained many specimens of Nigerian art, mostly pieces of statues and carvings, remarkable for their variety and quality. They also have archaeological and ethnographic exhibits amongst others.

Records show that the museum at Jos, opened in 1952 as a National Museum, is a center of research into the prehistoric culture of Nigeria. The Esie Museum, at Ilorin in Kwara State, has stone antiquities. The Owo Museum in Ondo State displays arts, crafts and ethnographic relics. There are also museums in Kano, Argungu and Oshogbo. Lagos also houses the Centre for Black and African Art and Civilization.

In Lagos, the national Museum, located at the heart of the city of excellence, Onikan area close to the historical Tafawa Balewa Square Race Course, is far depreciating in value and contents.

Visit to the place by Weekly Trust revealed that the National Museum has lost the glory of a national heritage and house of the nation’s monuments.

Presently, it is a place being visited mostly by school children unlike in the past when families, top government officials as well as foreigners visit for national history. It has turned to a multi-purpose arena for all sorts of activities including social and religious activities and it seems that the place has lost focus.

However, in a bid to re-attract people to return to visitation, there was a road show last year by the Museum Authority to sensitize people and persuade them to visit the Museum but it still has not really changed the situation remarkably.

Mr. Johnson Idowu, a resident of the area said ‘Nothing fascinating could have attracted people’s attention to the nation’s home of artifacts as there is insufficient fascinating artifacts and items to attract the public.’

Moving round the Museum, our reporter observed that the place is less or more than empty as some of the artifacts were said to have been sold, some stolen while some replaced for being old (account given by a curator who pleaded anonymity).

Comrade Olohuntosin Olanrewaju, a senior Museum officer who eventually took our reporter round the artifacts corrected the impression that it is not that people are not visiting the place as in the past.

He said the last year road show was an effort to further create awareness and sensitize people about the need to visit the museum.

According to him, the aim was also to change peoples’ perception that museum is a fetish house rather than a house of national honor where the country’s monuments are being kept and culture is being sustained in the memory of people.

He confirmed that the Museum was formerly used for various social and religious activities but that it has been banned and totally stopped.

On the allegation that some of the artifacts have been sold while some are being stolen, Olanrewaju denied that and explained that some of those artifacts are not presently at the Museum because a voluntary organization, Ford foundation is carrying out overhauling and upgrade of the museum to international standard.

As per what government has done to adequately monitor and take proper care of the Museums, he said, the mindset of the government would have determined that but there is always an annual budget for every ministry which they are expected to disburse to government agencies under the ministries. He said if this money is not properly utilized or deployed for what it is meant for, then who is to be blame? He queried.

Among few displayed artifacts and monuments despite the scantiness in the Museum were the wooden carved pillar called Obu House Post from Asaga, Ohafia in Abia state. This item was used in those days as pillars to support building which is being replaced as modern day concretes or iron pillars.

Bauchi Town gate which was made by the local goal smiths and used as the barricade to restrain entrance into the state then has perforated holes through which the people peep to see who was coming into the town. The gate was said to have been donated to the museum by the emir of Bauchi who died in 1645.

There is also this Sao pot from a village called Dinkwe in Bauchi, the pot is historical because of its size and was said to have been used for cooking, storage and burial at that time.

The Museum still has pictures of past and glorious events about Nigeria mounted at the plywood plank at the photo section. Pictures ranging from the Nigerian independent ceremony activities, pictures of old Lagos, police force with their uniform then, pictures of the sanitary inspectors in- charge of monitoring safety of digging well are pregnant with history. There are also pictures of traditional wears, picture of passengers boarding West African Airways with luggage on their heads and women backing their children all of them bare footed amongst other interesting historical pictures.

Meanwhile form the South to the Northern part of the country, the museum tales are nearly the same. For over thirty five years that the Kaduna national museum has been in existence, many do not know of its subsistence neither of the location.

Situated along Ali Akilu road in Ungwan Sarki, even though there are still a few activities, the museum has also turned to a teaching and socialization arena.

Our correspondent who visited the Kaduna national museum gathered that the museum, just like in the past, is still blossoming even though some of the activities of the museum have collapsed due to insufficient funding.

The curator of the museum, Jafaru Dauda told Weekly Trust that the museum has line up of activities which include: the batik tie and die workshop for house wives and the general public; waste to wealth workshop, that is, using waste materials to produce valuable products for sale; prison outreach programme; social studies teachers’ workshop and fine art teachers’ workshop.

Other activities include cooking competition; all secondary school art competition; end of year children’s’ carnival; physically challenged art competition; independent artist exhibition; HIV/AIDS exhibition on benefit of knowing; children’s day program and long holiday programmes.

According to him, these programmes are usually being planned annually depending on the availability of fund.

He informed that the museum sources funds from organizations to carry out their activities adding that the headquarters sometimes provide fund to observe activities like the international museum day celebration, which is being observed annually on 18th May.

He however noted that the museum prior to the introduction of summer programmes in schools usually experience high turn-out of visitors during holiday periods.

“The introduction of summer programmes in schools has to a certain extent affected some of the activities of the museum as most parents prefer their children to attend the summer programmes,” he added.

The museum curator also said that as people are getting to know the importance of knowledge, the number of visits to the museum is increasing especially visits by organized groups. In the past, he revealed that religious groups hardly visit the museum due to believe that the museum promotes fetish teachings. But today, according to him, many religious groups visit the museum.

According to the record of the museum, in year 2010, a total of 156 organized schools visited the museum as against 94 schools in 2009. The overall number of visits in the year 2010 was 7,385.

In March, 2011; 1, 281 number of visits were recorded but the number dropped significantly to 223 in April partly because it was a holiday period and largely due to the post election crisis that erupted in Kaduna in April. He stressed that up-till now, individual visit to the museum has not yet picked up after the crisis.

The Kaduna museum contains a substantial collection of ethnographic, archaeological artifacts ranging from terracotta figurines of human and animals from the famous Nok culture area dated to about 2,500 years ago, as well as arts works and crafts of both prehistoric and contemporary societies. Also found in the museum are building structures constructed with the Hausa traditional architecture of mud and thatch.

There are also artifacts like masks, pottery, ornaments, brass work, leopard skin used among Igala people as a symbol of power, contemporary leather works, stones and tools from the early, middle and late stone ages (during most of the stone age, man’s ways of life was that of a hunter and he did not live in fixed places but followed his food supplies. Man’s first tools were made of stones and possibly wood, it is only about 2,500 years ago that iron was first discovered in Nigeria by the people of Nok culture.

There are also other sections in the museum such as the craft demonstration village which reflects the traditional craft production process.

There is the open air theatre opened every evening to the general public with a token gate fee of N100 for relaxation and entertainment. The usual entertainment group that holds the show is an independent dance group formally known as Ziyara dance group but now called Shatmaz dance group.

The HIV botamical garden also forms part of the museum. There are different crops and fruits that are capable of boosting the immune system which are cultivated as contribution of the museum to HIV carriers. People who visit this section learn the technologies of cultivating such crops.

There is also the museum kitchen, which was opened this year and is meant for both staff and the general public. The museum shopping complex is where different businesses are run.