Nigeria is indeed rich
with diverse cultural heritage. It is this cultural heritage that portrays the
common man, who he was; he is and would be, to the world at large. Basically,
in Nigeria today, it is a tormenting issue that this cultural heritage has been
flushed into the deep sea of westernization and civilization as society now
termed it as “fetish”, “archaic” and “rubbish” e.tc. This has led to frequent
damages of many cultural heritage, geared by the spirit of Christianity to have
brainwashed many so called ardent Christians famously termed the “born-again” .To
note, it is very grievous of them to destroy the book of their historical
records and means to proof to the outside world that they indeed have root.
Howbeit, one could view
it; it is believed that they were pioneered into such act by the mind of
ignorance. Ignorance in the sense that they knew not the potentiality,
informative and educative value of these our cultural heritage. They failed to
acknowledge that this heritage could be preserve for posterity; hence they take
solace in its mass destruction. Many have erroneously believed that museum is a
place where irrelevant materials of the ancient period are kept and many do not
even know what museum is all about. Museum is a place for showing man who is
not fully aware of himself, his capabilities and inventiveness. It is a mirror
that captures the look of man in the past and tries to link him up to the
present. In another development, museum which is an institution is known for
collection, preservation and display of objects with the basic aim of
entertaining, educating and providing materials for research on aspects of
man’s heritage. Museum is for the society, it has collection for attracting
different categories of people to have interest in cultural affairs. Museum
preserves and conserves cultural heritages. It helps to foster a sense of local
pride and maintain traditional values. Museum helps us to be aware of the need
for preserving our cultural heritage and keeping in touch with its traditional
usefulness. The museum is filled with artistic expression of the different
ethnic groups in Nigeria, making it possible for each distinct ethnic group to
have access to it, so as to take some look into the cultural values of groups
and to draw out areas of divergence and convergence of cultural make up. The
Nigerian artistic tradition and works include: Ife Benin and Nok art cultures,
which are the oldest civilian of art. And through the showcasing of these artistic
objects in the museum, the younger generation comes to know and study the
cultural upbringing of their society. The primary aim of a museum is as follows:
1, To collect, protect and preserve the national
identity
2, Educate the masses on their heritage and the
culture of other people.
3, To provide entertainment and relaxation for those
who visit.
4, To protect the national image on the
international scene
A
CALL FOR RE-EVALUATION OF MUSEUM
A cursory glance into
our society today, reveals that these traditions and cultural heritages are
being crushed in their thousands. This is because colonialism brought with it western
education and some Nigerians have become enslaved and brainwashed by the
western way of life. And as a result of this brainwashing, many now believe
that they are less intelligent than the western people and that western culture
is better than theirs.
Despite all these, we learnt how
Africans prior to the western cultural infiltration highly esteemed their
cultural heritage. This however led Okonkwo in Chiuna Achebe’s “Things fall
apart” to protest brutally against the invading act of the western culture into
his indigenous culture. He stood vehemently against the intruding westerners.
He was thus moved by the mind to preserve his heritage. Could such motivation
be found in this contemporary age? Obviously the response is no because we all
have unwholesomely assimilated the injunction that every cultural object is fetish
and of talisman. What then should be done? Must we keep eyes wide open and see
these informative objects destroyed? This calls for re-evaluation and
re-assessment. Taking into cognizance, that the object pass some information
should be a clear reason why they should be spared and preserved for posterity.
Rather than destroying these cultural heritage during spiritual purging, it is
advisable that Christians should take these object into the museum custody
where they can be showcased to portray the African rich cultural value, and
more importantly for evidence to prove that Africa and indeed Nigeria did not
suddenly dropped from the moon. We have a base from where we emanated.
Finally, everyone is
called into this wholesome task. Government should legislate and enforce
statutes against the indiscriminate destruction of these objects. The mass
media should publicize the relevance of these artistic expressions through the
usual radio- link-interactive programmes. The printing press must likewise give
this issue its imperative importance. The ordinary citizens both Christians and
non-Christians alike should rather present these artistic expression as
donation to the museum instead of taking pleasure in crushing them. Until this
is done, we will never be spared by our fore-fathers for tarnishing the duty of
preserving these objects they faithfully left in our custody.
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