How Nigeria’s world heritage sites can help tourism

These sites are also regarded as models and national icons which carry badges of authenticity (originality) and integrity (wholeness). One essential ingredient of world heritage sites is that they must be of outstanding universal value.The stated aim of listing as a UNESCO world heritage site is conservation, and it cannot be ignored that many sites […]

These sites are also regarded as models and national icons which carry badges of authenticity (originality) and integrity (wholeness). One essential ingredient of world heritage sites is that they must be of outstanding universal value.
The stated aim of listing as a UNESCO world heritage site is conservation, and it cannot be ignored that many sites on the prestigious list experience a boon of a very different kind.
Nigeria’s rich heritage resources, which are both natural and cultural, are important tourist attractions in the country today. These heritage resources range from historic places, landscapes, sites and built environments, biodiversity, collections through past and present traditions, cultural practices, indigenous knowledge and technology to the contemporary life of the host communities and indigenous custodians or owners in whose landscape and cultures these heritage resources are located.
These heritage resources are diverse and can be found in virtually every locality in the country which has different levels of significance and values which can be appreciated, understood and utilized if properly presented and interpreted to the public.
Among the tourism and recreational resources in Nigeria are protected ecosystems, protected landscapes and cultural sites.
Nigeria currently has two world heritage sites: the Sukur cultural landscape and the Osun Oshogbo sacred groove.
Sukur cultural landscape is an ancient hilltop located in the Mandara Mountains in Madagali local government area of Adamawa state, and was inscribed as the first world heritage site in Nigeria December 1999.
While Osun Oshogbo sacred groove is the biggest and perhaps the only surviving sacred grooves and rain forest in Yoruba land, and was also inscribed in 2005.
Though a framework to guarantee listings of more sites in Nigeria on this very prestigious list is ongoing presently by National Commission for museums and monuments Abuja.
The world heritage list is established as part of the international implementation of the world heritage convention.
The world heritage convention is the convention concerning the protection of the world cultural and natural heritage adopted by UNESCO in November 1972. Through this instrument, nations of the world who are signatories to the convention have agreed to take inventory, recognize and protect unique and irreplaceable monuments, groups of buildings as well as outstanding natural and cultural sites lying within their territories.
The convention is the bedrock document of the world heritage sites and the world heritage list, kept by the world heritage center in Paris.  Nigeria became a signatory to this convention in 1974.
The Federal government signed this convention on behalf of the states and local governments. States are therefore expected to key into this programme by joining hands with National Commission for museums and monuments, the Nigerian tourism development corporation and the National parks to ensure that they reap the benefits derivable from enlistment.  It behooves the state and local governments to join hands with the Federal government to ensure that more sites are listed.
The management, conservation and protection of our common heritage have been a world movement involving a range of actions and actors from both public and private institutions.
World heritage sites are models for sustainable tourism, the concept of sustainable tourism is embedded in the united nation world tourism organization (UNWTO) global ethics of tourism. This is a kind of tourism, which attempts to strike a balance between environment, economic growth and cultural diversity. Sustainable tourism creates an alliance with culture and nature in such a way that the community interest within the framework of tourism development is guaranteed in form of job creation, poverty alleviation and environmental sensibility.
In some countries, the site inscription is highly promoted as part of the tourism strategy and it is then linked to economic development. Most countries in Africa like Kenya, Ethiopia, Egypt, and South Africa have accorded tourism development a priority position in their national economic planning, and earn much of their national income from tourism. 
In other instance the world designation is certainly an important tool for cultural heritage tourism and a positive impact on income generation. Thus the benefit to the visitor or tourist is a positive experience and benefit to the site is good recognition with managed impact on the fragile resources.
Domestic tourism based on such global standards has the power to correct misconception about the image of Nigeria, promote awareness and pride of one’s culture.
A world heritage offers the model for best practice in product development and site management in laying the foundation for domestic tourism.
Aisha is a Senior Heritage officer, National Museum, Kaduna