Nigeria Calls For Awareness Sensitization on Protection of Cultural Heritage

The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has
called for the sensitization of local communities across Africa in
order to raise their consciousness about the importance of protecting
cultural heritage against marauders.

The Minister made the call at the two-day International Conference on
the Safeguarding of Cultural Heritage in Conflicts Areas, which
rounded off in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, on Saturday.

He said during the crisis in Mali in 2012-2013, the great majority of
historic manuscripts which were saved were housed by family libraries,
adding: ”These private individuals, knowing the inestimable value of
these manuscripts, devised strategies that got them out of harm’s
way.”

Alhaji Mohammed said the $100 million Fund to be established for the
purpose of protecting cultural heritage in areas of conflict should
make provision for the sensitization campaign

”For us in Africa, the pivotal position of the local people cannot be
over emphasized. Therefore, the international fund to be established
should also cater for the sensitization of local people. Another point
linked to the issue of funding is that in Africa, we lag behind in
electronic preservation of heritage monuments, sites and manuscripts.
The fund should also cater for this in the Internet age,” he said.

The Minister stressed the need for political will in order to sustain
the efforts to protect cultural heritage in times of conflict.

”I talk about political will because this will not be the first or
only attempt that has been made to safeguard our cultural heritage
during armed conflicts. There are historical precedents and existing
legal framework in this regard. The 1954 UNESCO Convention for the
Protection of Cultural Property in the event of Cultural Property in
the event of Armed Conflict and the 1970 UNESCO Convention on the
Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and
Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property readily come to mind
here,” he said.

Alhaji Mohammed disclosed that Nigeria has joined all the Conventions
aimed at dealing with the threat to and destruction of cultural
property, and that the country is now in the process of domesticating
them.

”It is absolutely important for all the countries of the world to
subscribe to all these conventions. Countries must show their deepest
concern about cultural genocide being manifested in the the activities
that have led to the convening of the conference. In addition to
joining the treaties, it must be emphasized that nations must adopt or
receive the Conventions into their domestic laws,” he said.

The Minister said Nigeria, like many other countries in the world,
including Mali and Afghanistan, has recorded attacks on its cultural
heritage, adding: ”One of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites in the
country, the Sukur Cultural Landscape in the North-eastern State of
Adamawa, was not spared by the Boko Haram insurgency.”

While calling on States to declare as a war crime the intentional
destruction of cultural heritage, he stressed the need to check the
activities of those involved in the art trade as well as the universal
or encyclopedic museums.

”The art trade, by which I mean auction houses – from the multi
nationals like Christie’s, Sotherby’s and Bonhams to the lesser ones –
must be held to greater accountability with regard to their patronage
of individuals and groups who come to them with unprovenanced cultural
heritage objects… The Universal Museums like the British Museum, the
Louvre, the Prado and the Armitage should desist from purchasing
objects of uncertain provenance,” Alhaji Mohammed said.

At the end of the conference, which was attended by representatives of
40 nations, including several Heads of State and Government, the Abu
Dhabi Declaration for the establishment of the International Fund for
the Protection of Cultural Heritage in Armed Conflicts and the
creation of an international network of safe havens to protect
cultural property during armed conflict was adopted.