How colonal seat of power lost its shine

Old Residency was the name given to Nigeria’s first seat or power. It had accommodated the early British administrators of the Niger Coast territories. It was the seat of power of the Protectorate of Southern Nigeria and after the 1914 amalgamation, it became the residence of the Old Calabar Province. In the 1950s, it had […]

Old Residency was the name given to Nigeria’s first seat or power. It had accommodated the early British administrators of the Niger Coast territories.

It was the seat of power of the Protectorate of Southern Nigeria and after the 1914 amalgamation, it became the residence of the Old Calabar Province.

In the 1950s, it had served as a ministerial guest house. After the Nigerian Civil War, it accommodated the offices of the then South Eastern State which had late Brigadier General Udoakaha Esuene, as the first military governor.  The building and its compound were declared a national monument (No 20) in 1959.

The massive one storey building, made of hard and exotic woods imported from Glasgow in the United Kingdom in prefabricated form, was erected in 1884 by the first consul general, Mr. Hewett.

It is also called Old Residency to distinguish it from the slave history museum located few metres away at the Marina Resort also in Calabar. Both museums now come under the official name National Museums and Monuments Commission.

Because of its rich history, the Old Residency used to be a very popular place that attracted the rich, the poor, government and private workers, school children and fun seekers even from outside Cross River State almost on a daily basis.

The heavy traffic of visitors kept the national monument bubbling.  This way, it had helped the management to rake in little income with which it maintained the surroundings as well as offset small debts and pay for other overheads, without necessarily relying on subventions from its national headquarters in Abuja.

An official of the museum, who would not want to have his name in print, said before now in a week they usually have three to five primary and secondary schools come on excursions but since the government of Professor Ben Ayade decided to disallow the public from patronising the services of the museum, it has more or less become a ghost town.

The lull in human traffic into the premises of the museum and lack of government patronage account majorly for the reason some of its structures and facilities have decayed, the surrounding unkempt and its aesthetics gradually waning.

The official said “When members of the public were frequenting the Old Residency, it was very lively and the insignificant charges for the services at the museum helped us to maintain the building, cut the grasses, buy fuel, fix plumbing works, buy stationery and certain chemicals to clean up certain earthnographic and terracotta artifacts, and other minor things without necessarily waiting on Abuja. You can see that visitors no longer come here. Only last week, we succeeded in hiring a labourer to help cut the grasses.”

When asked why the public suddenly stopped visiting the museum, he explained that “We received series of calls from the state security adviser, Mr. Jude Ngaji, requesting us, the management, to have audience with the state governor, Prof Ben Ayade, on security issues at the museum. We were about to honour the invitation when the chief security adviser to the governor came and picked my then curator – a woman, and myself.  We were told that the state government wants to take over the monument, relocate us elsewhere, and if possible, buy it over.

We were accused of harbouring criminals and cultists who constituted nuisance and are security risk to the state government because of the nearby presidential lodge, the official residence of the state governor, those of the deputy governor and chief judge of the state.  They warned that if we don’t oblige they have the powers to seal up the place.

“We were surprised to hear that from them.  We reminded them that various governments had operated from their offices and residences which all surround us and they did not see us as nuisance or security risk.  We insisted that the Old Residency is not only a federal establishment but a monument recognised by federal laws, and so cannot be destroyed or relocated by reason of Decree 72 of 1979.

“Every museum should be freely accessed by the public. It must have what we call crafts village as well as relaxation spots and eateries. All these were thriving.  One evening, they came in and arrested some management staff, operators of the crafts village, owners of the eateries and detained them. Then, they sealed up the crafts village, drove away the operators, and also blocked the main route which leads to the museum and the presidential lodge and stationed security details there permanently. This way, the public no longer have free access to the museum.

The 46 members of our staff are subjected to thorough screening before being allowed to enter their workplace.  The resultant effect is therefore that the place has been killed literarily thereby depriving us of the little income which was used to maintain the old structure and surrounding. More than 50 persons were also deprived of their livelihood from the eateries and crafts village.”

Neither the state security adviser, Mr. Jude Ngaji, nor the commissioner for tourism, Mr. Eric Andersen, picked the calls made to their phone numbers. But Mr. Christian Ita, the chief media aide to Gov Ayade, denied that the governor ever made offers to buy over the Old Residency.  “It is all blackmail and unsubstantiated allegation because we know that it is a federal property,” he said.

He had insisted that the museum had been turned into a criminal’s den and had become a public nuisance where all manner of people sell and buy drugs, alcoholic beverages, as well as get intoxicated. “You know that the presidential lodge which houses visiting top dignitaries is situated next door. The governor’s, deputy governor’s and the chief judge’s official residences are all in the same neighborhood. The loud music and huge presence of persons of questionable character were very disturbing. Was that what the Old Residency was meant for,” he asked.

A staff of the presidential lodge who also pleaded anonymity said it might be because the governor, his chief of staff, the governor’s younger brother, Dr Frank, often prefer to transact sensitive government businesses at the lodge and so may not want too many prying eyes. “There were too many people at the museum who would drink late into the night. It was very risky to the state government. Perhaps that’s why they had to ban them from selling inside the museum,” the man explained.

When our reporter visited the Old Residency yesterday, he noticed that the grasses and weeds had just been cut and the overfilled wastes bins evacuated. The official said they had to contribute in order to clean up the surroundings of the museum which had become an eyesore.

There is urgent need to attend to the historic building, now 134 years old, which had served as office and residence of former governors-general of the old southern protectorate; or by extension, the first seat of power in Nigeria.

The official lamented that because the new policy of the Treasury Single Account (TSA) by the federal government, funding from the headquarters is no longer as regular as it used to be. “And this has affected the running and maintenance of the monument.  Again, this has been compounded by the blockade against visitors by the Ayade’s government,” he said.

“Certainly, the museum needs adequate attention. The objects displayed and those in the stores need constant temperature to survive. The library needs shelves. In fact, the entire structure needs what we call restoration and preservation.  All these need attention and money. We need special chemicals to clean many of the ancient objects and carvings so as to restore their original states,” he said.