Anyaoku tasks FG on museums rehabilitation @ 70th Anniversary of NCMM

Former Secretary General, Commonwealth of Nations, Chief Emeka Anyaoku, has decried the poor state of Nigeria museums saying, “Nigeria museums are in dire need of rehabilitation, conducive storage and display of artifacts and substantial financial support from the government.
Anyaoku stated this at an exhibition to mark the 70th anniversary of the National Commission for Museums and Monuments (NCMM) held at Onikan, Lagos.
He noted that, in most parts of the world, including the developing countries, governments, foundations, and wealthy individuals who provided substantial financial support for the establishment and sustenance of museums recognised the intrinsic value of museums adding that museums were institutions where the cultural heritage and artifacts depicting the history of peoples and nations were kept and exhibited.
He disclosed that the world’s great museums took pride in telling the story, cultural histories of their nations and peoples adding that in many cases, they also exhibited artifacts from countries other than their own.
Anyaoku, who was privileged to serve for 8 years after his retirement from Commonwealth of Nations as the Queen’s Trustee of British Museum, said that owing to the unique versatility of its over 7000 collections of artifacts, the British Museum prided itself as being museum of the world and for the world.
He said that museums were uniquely important for rebirthing the colonial and euro centric perspectives of Africa and their peoples pointing out that the notion of Africa as a dark continent without real history and established arts and culture was one of the factors that fueled the transatlantic slave trade as well as racism against black people.
He extolled the great impact, which the Nigerian museums made in 1977 when it organised an exhibition in London and subsequently in other cities in Europe and America adding that the exhibition of 2000 years of Nigerian arts was hugely successful because it opened the eyes of so many in Britain and other European and American cities where the exhibition took place.
He urged government to pay special attention towards viable museums. His words, “There is the inestimable value of artifacts in the museum in telling the cultural story of various Nigerian people that constitute the nation.
“It is important to note that there are cultural artifacts that tell the stories of the country as an important part of learning about the history of our country. Nigeria museums have a special role to play in the development of pride and self-confident by Nigerians because it is a priceless historical artifacts to show to Nigerians and indeed to the world.
He appealed to the Minister of Information and Culture, Mr. Lai Mohammed, to see to it that the government devoted more substantial support to the Nigeria museums and the display of the country’s works.
Director General, NCMM, Mallam Yusuf Abdallah Usman, said that the “70 Iconic Objects” exhibition dated back to 1945, adding that the event was part of the statutory functions of the museum as enshrined in the Act No 77 of 1979 that established the commission.
He added that the Museum was rightly positioned at this time of the country’s political development to tap from the wealth of experience from industry practitioners, so that “we can propel the commission forward under Buhari’s administration.”
He maintained that the exhibition featured seventy exquisite objects and antiquities dating back several centuries adding that they were objects of great historical and aesthetic values, selected to reflect the traditions of every part of Nigeria.