Inside Awo Museum where a slave merchant was buried

Despite its historical and cultural significance, the Awo Museum, located at Lekki community in Lagos and named after the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Nigeria’s first minister of local government, and finance, as well as the first premier of the Western Region, is relatively unknown. It also accommodates a house that served as a detention centre […]

Despite its historical and cultural significance, the Awo Museum, located at Lekki community in Lagos and named after the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Nigeria’s first minister of local government, and finance, as well as the first premier of the Western Region, is relatively unknown. It also accommodates a house that served as a detention centre for the late sage, as well as the tomb of a slave merchant, Mr Lecqi, Daily Trust on Sunday reports.

The ancient Ibeju-Lekki community has been popularised by the establishment of the Lagos Free Trade Zone, which has become one of the fastest-growing industrial hubs in Africa playing host to many multinational companies, real estate firms, among others.

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From the Dangote Refinery and Petrochemical Company, which has already started churning out fertiliser; Bollore Transport and Logistics, H&Y International, among others, it is estimated that companies under construction in the zone are worth over $20 billion.

But beyond the industrial hub springing up, closeness to the Atlantic Ocean, several beaches and resorts have further added to the allure of the Lekki Free Trade Zone.

But it is in this clime that one of the country’s most iconic museums is located. The Awo Museum, named after the late premier of the defunct Western Region and Nigerian nationalist, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, provides the bespoke get-away experience for tourists and picnickers due to proximity to the beach.

Navigating through the chaotic Lagos traffic for about 80 kilometers along the Lekki-Epe expressway to the Dangote Refinery could be a particularly tiring journey. But from Dangote Refinery, the drive to Awo Museum takes another 10 minutes. It could be faster on a bike, according to those around the area.

While the road is generally good from the Lekki Free Trade Zone junction, along the Lekki-Epe expressway, members of the community said the road, built many decades ago, was deteriorating due to the massive construction works going on in the area, with articulated vehicles and trucks plying it on a minute basis.

“The road is generally smooth from Eleko junction, but it is being damaged by construction trucks in the area. The same road connects many communities and villages,” one of the residents said.

Despite many beaches springing up and providing homely ambience for fun lovers and picnickers, the Awo Museum stands out. It represents history and incarnates the struggle of the nationalists for the country’s independence and the roles played by the late sage, Awolowo.

So, when mentioning the Nigerian museums that have scientific, historical, cultural and artistic significances, the Awo Museum would incontrovertibly not be left out.

Besides, it is a great location to enjoy great leisure, retreat, reflection, research and business activities, or catch up with Nigerian history.

Daily Trust on Sunday reports that the museum is also called Awo’s Prison. A bungalow building was his detention centre in the early 1960s during his trial on charges of treasonable felony. The museum itself is said to be dated back to the 18th century.

Little wonder, therefore, that the museum is under the umbrella of the Obafemi Awolowo Institute of Government and Public Policy, a non-profit, independent think tank and research institute, also situated on the beautiful Lagos coastline.

A check on the website revealed that the institute is aimed at encouraging innovative thinking and visionary intellectual pursuits capable of meeting the challenges of governance by conducting research, training, policy engagement and outreach programmes on socio-political and economic conditions of Nigeria in particular and Africa in general.

Tucked away in the lush surroundings of Lekki, far away from the city hustle, the institute also boasts of a resource center, cabana, natural lake, in addition to the museum, dedicated to promoting “ideas and principles of democracy and good governance as illustrated by the life and work of Chief Obafemi Awolowo, one of Nigeria’s founding fathers and the leader of the Yoruba nation.”

And many prominent Nigerians are members of the Board of Trustees of the institute. They include Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, a former governor of Osun State, Chief Bisi Akande, who is the chairman; Mr Ibukun Akin Fakeye, acting secretary; Professor Sophie Oluwole (deceased), Mr Odia Ofeimum; Dr Wale Adebanwi, governor’s representative (members)

The museum is enclosed with the historical artifacts and documented facts about Chief Awolowo’s detention and the Portuguese slave merchant, Mr Lecqi’s visible tomb.

Lekki town was named after the Portuguese slave trader, Mr Lecqi, who originally owned the house where Awolowo was detained. The museum is also a five-minute walk from the Lekki Local Council Development Area (LCDA).

The museum is quite different from others because it is located in a coastal area with a coconut plantation, where visitors can relax and experience the natural breeze from the sea.

However, the museum leaves much to be desired despite having the crème-de-la-crème as members of the board. The expected development and publicity from the government, especially that of the South-West, is practically invisible.

Mr Ogunbekun Abolore, who works at the museum, told Daily Trust on Sunday that the workers, who were 11 in number, had been reduced to four, adding that they are being owed salaries for up to four years.

He said the museum had been abandoned for a long time until the former governor of Lagos State, Babatunde Fashola, renovated it in 2009.

“Other three members of staff and I have been coming to work because we are hoping that things would get better. More so, we are indigenes of the local government.

“Mr Ibukun Fakeye, the acting secretary of the Board of Trustees, has been the one checking on us with words of encouragement and financial support,” he said.

The senior special assistant to the chairman of Lekki Local Council Development Area on revenue, Saliu Jamiu, said the surrounding of the museum still had an unoccupied space that could be used to build facilities like hotels, halls and  a special event centre to attract patronage.

“If the state government invests in the ancient museum it will attract more tourists to visit, and that will improve to the revenue of the state,” he said.

A youth leader in Lekki, Ogunbekun Sharafa Adewale, said the major challenge with the museum is the little or lack of awareness around it, which is why many people don’t visit regularly.

“On my own, I have taken the responsibility to inform people about the museum, its significance, why they need to come. This is the major problem with this place. Many people don’t know that it exists, so the much expected patronage is not there.

“The ancient monuments within the museum will always evoke nostalgic feeling among visitors and the memory would last forever,” he said.

Mr Saheed Idris, who teaches at the Roman Catholic Mission Primary School, Lekki, one of the ancient schools not far from the museum, said schools and private organisations did come to visit the place as excursion but suddenly stopped because there are no other supporting facilities.

“If the government can build lodges and halls for seminars, this place will develop and many people would begin to visit for many events,” he said.