Towards preserving cultural properties from going into extinction

Cultural properties are the inherited endowments of a nation, a race or a man, and they include artistic, historical, archaeological, ethnographical and even scientific and natural objects.

The word ‘culture’ attached to it denotes that it is a special property which is part of the totality of a people’s way of life that is shared and transmitted from generation to generation.

The need for its transmission, however, necessitates that it should be preserved for posterity, as well as incorporated within the context of our modern development.

Cultural properties belong to all and sundry, and we should all be concerned since these priceless cultural identities are being undermined by some factors, among which are religious beliefs, illicit trafficking, negligence, among others.

A lot of efforts are, however, being made to preserve these cultural properties through some government agencies like the National Commission of Museums and Monuments (NCMM) in order to check the movement of artifacts through the issuance of export permits, acquisition of antiquities from registered vendors, seizure, donation, loan, field discovery, among others.

To further preserve these priceless gifts from going into extinction, there should be more enlightenment drive on their protection through:

Training programme for law enforcement officers on how to check such valuable items as being trafficked or stolen.

There is also the need to establish community museums to educate the public on the importance of preserving our cultural properties.

It is also necessary to include museum studies in the school curriculum, thereby enlightening students, who are future policy-makers.

It is also important to make traditional rulers aware of their roles as custodians of the cultural properties in their domains.

Communities should be involved in the protection of cultural properties by engaging indigenes to man the monuments and archaeological sites in their areas.

Also, museums and other cultural sectors must be well funded in order to provide adequate security and carry out proper research works on cultural properties, while the campaign against the destruction of cultural properties should be intensified.

• Abiodun is an Assistant Chief Curator at the National Museum, Ibadan, Oyo State.