How Nigeria can make fortune from museum —Omisore

As Nigeria continued to seek avenues of generating more revenues to stabilise the economy of the country, which has been beleaguered for months following the instability in crude oil production and the irregularity in oil prices at the international level, Nigerians of different backgrounds and exposure had been coming up with suggestions on options they considered viable enough to help the country.

In the spirit of this search for better alternatives to crude oil, the point has always been made for a home-grown and truly Nigerian approach, with a large number of people rooting for agriculture as the best way out of the economic quicksand. But a former Deputy Governor of Osun State and a two-term Senator representing Osun East District, Dr Iyiola Omisore, has come up with another veritable alternative to the country’s overt dependence on petrodollar—cultural tourism through museums.

“In a bid to explore other non-oil revenue generating sectors in Nigeria, cultural tourism has been forecasted to be a source of increased Federal Direct Investment, tourist attraction and revenue generation, which ultimately implies that our museums have to be restructured to fit international standards while not altering our artefacts,” the senator quipped on Thursday, at the 2017 edition of the International Museum Day celebration organised by the National Museum of Unity, Ibadan.

Omisore, an engineer and politician of several years standing, noted that the country sits on a tremendous wealth with its valued artefacts in museums spread across the country, noting that cultural tourism has been an untapped source of wealth for decades.

The senator, in his keynote address entitled “Museums and contested histories: Saying the unspeakable in museums,” had earlier decried the state of museums in Nigeria, noting that the increasing fascination with western culture has continued to retard the progress of the country. According to Omisore, museums in Nigeria are historical centres where the heritage and culture and the memories of the forbears, are kept, thus the current trend of museums being allowed to deteriorate should be reversed.

“The challenge is how museums can be transformed into places of interest for our teeming and predominantly youthful population, thereby opening up another erstwhile unexploited revenue source for government,” said Omisore, who is fast gaining acclaim as a man with solutions to myriad of problems, given his antecedent as an engineer with years of expertise in electrical and civil engineering, project management, politics, budgeting and recently Public Private Partnership.

As the senator lightened up the venue with his deft address on a topic that should ordinarily be out of his reach, the guest lecturer, Dr Adisa Ogunfolakan of the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, could not but literally confer a professorial title on Omisore. Ogunfolakan, who is the Director of Museum at OAU, had jovially noted that Omisore had done justice to the topic of discussion and that he should be awarded professor of museum studies.

Coincidentally, the duo of Omisore and Ogunfolakan hailed from Ile-Ife, which is believed to be the cradle of Yoruba history, culture and civilisation. Though that could not have been said to be the only reasons for the expertise with which the duo did justice to the theme on museums and contested histories, a theme that was agreed upon globally to showcase the roles of the museums in the society, their shared Ife heritage showed forth in the knowledge of the topic and the passion for the restoration of the museums.

In his lecture, Ogunfolakan maintained that though there were many misconceptions about museums, they must preserve exhibits of past histories so as to shape the future of a people. Highlighting the roles museums need to play in the society such as performing the role of research and documentation, contributing to the cultural personality of a people and providing avenues for community activities, Ogunfolakan contended that the relics and exhibits of war in a museum will speak of the need for peace in the future.

He added that the museum is meant to bring people with differences together, pointing how the museum day celebration had brought together Chief Alex Anozie, an Igbo leader and a culture enthusiast, Aare Latosa, Chief Mabinuori Adegboyega, Omisore and Dr Newton Jibunoh from different geopolitical zones in the country.

The guest lecturer, however, pointed out how museums had been suffering because of lack of funding, calling on well-meaning individuals to contribute to building museums, while also calling on the government to ensure that students “are exposed to museums,” a position that corroborated Dr Omisore’s earlier advice on how to reposition museums as a major tourist attraction in Nigerian. The Ife-born politician mentioned the need to raise more awareness about the museum, calling on the government authorities to collaborate with cultural agencies to organise activities that will endear the cultural heritage of the country to the youths.

According to Omisore, who served as the chairman of the Senate Committee on Culture and Tourism in 2007, including museum study in educational curriculum and creating interschool competitions in museum in order to arouse the curiosity and research among the youths about their heritage.

Speaking earlier, the curator of the National Museum of Unity, Dr Amos Olorunnipa, maintained that 18th of May of every year has been set aside to celebrate the international day celebration, noting that the National Museum of Unity was established in 1976 to reconcile the Nigerian society after the civil war that ravaged the country. Also speaking on behalf of the Director-General of the National Commission for Museums and Monuments, Mallam Yusuff Usman, Olorunnipa said the museum day had been set aside to raise awareness on the important roles museums play in the society, saying the date has become important worldwide.

Noting that museums were educational centres and veritable tools for promoting peace, the DG called on institutions and establishments that have existed for 50 years to set museums to showcase their histories.

At the event, which lasted for several hours, several side attractions such as cultural dance and chants from the staffers of the museum and cutting of celebration cake, with the major highlight being the presentation of awards to Dr Omisore, Dr Jibunoh, the Oyo State’s Commissioner for Information, Culture and Tourism, Mr Toye Arulogun, who was represented, for their support to the museum.

Recognition was also given to other individuals and corporate entities in the state such as the African Newspapers of Nigeria, publishers of the Tribune Titles and the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) Ibadan and among others.

The event was attended by several dignitaries including the cultural enthusiasts, educationists and politicians, among which were the South-West zonal head of the NTA, Mrs Jennifer Famosinpe, Honourable Kayode Alufa, Mr Yemi Omisore, Mr Adetona Famadewa and Mr Tunde Alarape, who were on the entourage of Dr Omisore and a host of others.