The Federal Government said it will be partnering the Ogun State government in its initiative of converting the family house of the famous Ransome-Kuti of Abeokuta, into a museum.
Disclosing this was the Minister of Information, Culture and Tourism, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, on Wednesday, when he paid an on the spot assessment to the buildings located along NEPA road, Imo area of Abeokuta.
The minister who was accompanied by the State Governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, commended the state government for the on-going renovation work on the buildings with a promise to give necessary assistance to the government in achieving its goal of adding more to tourists sites in the state.
Lai noted the significance of the renovation exercise at a time Nigerians, especially lovers of the late Afrobeat legend, Fela Anikulapo -Kuti, were celebrating his twenty years of passage, submitting that the project would stimulate the youths to aspire for greater things.
The family house has been named “Heritage Museum” by the state government.
He said, “It is laudable in the sense that this is one of the most positive steps to actually put our rhetoric into action. We’ve always said that one of the important assets we have is our cultural heritage, our history and this project which is going to immortalise Kuti’s family, I think its very laudable and admirable.
“The Kuti family, as you know, they represent different things to different people, either you talk about education; emancipation; music; entertainment; therefore, this attempt by the government immortalising the family by preserving and restoring the ancestral home of the great family, I think it is very commendable.
“This is the period we are celebrating the 20th anniversary of the death of the maestro himself and I am sure this is within time to be commissioned very soon, probably next year or thereabout.
“The emphasis of this government whether state or federal is that creative industry must turn to creative economy and I think this center is going to be a good model to encourage and inspire the youths.”
The governor said his government considered it imperative to immortalise the Ransome-Kuti family for their invaluable contributions to the country in various fields of human endeavours.
He promised that great sons and daughters of the state like the family (Ramsome Kuti) would be recognised by his government with the construction of museums as a way of preserving heritage.
He said, “All our icons, they have special place in our administration, these are people that define us, when we go out there and say we are Ogun State, we can’t call ourselves who we said we are without those giants that lived before us that laid the foundation that we are all building upon.
“And clearly, the Kuti family is one of those illustrious families that conquered the world, not only Ogun State or Abeokuta or Nigeria. Indeed, sometime when I was away in the US and I took a cab, the music I was hearing was the music of great Fela himself.
“Fela was far ahead of his time, for us, it will be in our interest to let people know his origin, his root, where he was from, and somehow the way the Kuti family, there’s none of them that is not a book and history on his own that people will love to read any day any time.
“We are going to have museum for all of them, it is not just the Kuti Family alone, we have several of them here; we talk about Baba Ogunde; great Ebenezer Obe, thank God he’s still here with us, this is just one of those things we are going to do and we are happy that next year, people will be using this and we will commission this.”