Director General of the National Commission for Museums and Monuments (NCMM), Olugbile Holloway, has said that the commission has prioritised and is working on diplomatic relations with other countries in order to facilitate the return of Nigerian artefacts that are in Western Museums so as to improve Nigeria’s museum ecosystem.
Holloway said this in an interview with ARISE NEWS on Sunday, where he emphasised, “We want to get to the point where it’s now unheard of to have artefacts from other parts of the world in your museum”
The NCMM DG explained that while repatriation is a top priority, it was not a one-size-fits-all solution for all countries, saying, “Regarding the repatriation, you have to understand that different countries have different laws around repatriation. So, it’s not a one size fits all strategy. How we would interact with the British museums is different from how we would interact with museums in Germany. So, it’s really a case by case study, a case by case exercise. But I think that the core of what we’re trying to achieve is to ride on the global awakening around the position of the black man in the world. When we talk about Black Lives Matter, there is a corresponding- if black lives matter, then black heritage matters and black artefacts matter. So, it’s a trickle down effect.
“So it first starts with a mindset change, and I think that once the mindset starts to change, these objects even become too hot to stay abroad, even the people that have them in the museums know that this is no longer acceptable. And for me, it’s really a zero sum game. It’s not a case of return some, we want to return all the artefacts, as many as we can. And I have told the Commission and we have discussed it as a priority.”
He also pointed out that in the repatriation of artefacts back to Nigeria, diplomacy is very important, saying, “It requires a high level of diplomacy. I think that we must understand that yes, while we have the right to ask for these things back, how you ask determines the results, and the relationship building as far as tapping into contacts you may have personally on a strategic level, it can’t just be- give us our artefacts. That’s the ask. I think that diplomacy is the first thing. The second thing is when you are interacting with the different countries, there’s also that question of- okay, we’re giving you this, what then happens to it? We must be very clear with ourselves.
“If a country has taken the artefact from you, they do not should not have a say in what happens to that artefact when they return it to you, so let’s put that out there first of all. But in answering that question for a wider audience, it comes back to the question of the museum ecosystem. If we approach it regionally and decide that we want to have regional crown jewels, regional museums that are truly regional museums, then that answers your question.”
Holloway was then asked about the preservation of Nigerian artefacts, both those already in the country and those that will hopefully be returned to the country. He responded, “The NCMM is currently constructing a world class storage facility in Benin. It’s fantastic, I’ve inspected it several times. And we should be commissioning that probably Q1 next year.”
“The security measures that have been put into this, it’s not just a building, it’s like a vault. So, from a safety perspective, you know, that was the intention, to make sure that these things can be stored in, because they’re priceless,” he added.
Holloway then addressed what he believed to be the issue with Nigeria’s museums, saying, “We need to look at the entire museum ecosystem. We currently have 53 museums across the country, but a lot of people don’t know this, because I feel that the storytelling, the infrastructure, the value proposition to people is really what’s lacking. So, I think one of the things that we’re really looking at is how do we reimagine the museum ecosystem? How do we start to tell these stories in a way they can relate to the average Nigerian, but also to Nigerians that are more familiar with westernised ways of telling stories.
“So, it’s not one size fits all, I think the strategy has to be quite holistic. But the core of a museum really is not the infrastructure, it’s the story telling, and I think that’s what’s been lacking in a lot of our heritage preservation exercises, because we have so many rich stories, these stories haven’t seemed to scale the way other stories from other parts of the world scaled. The question now is how do we give these stories- the myths, the legends- the amount of fuel it needs to appeal to the global audience as well.”
Ozioma Samuel-Ugwuezi
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