The U.S. Consulate on Thursday in Ibadan said it was in search of an improved way to preserve Nigeria’s cultural heritage for future generations.
Mr. Russell Brooks, Public Affairs Officer of the Consulate, made the disclosure at the opening of a three-day training on “Museum Digitalisation and Artifact Preservation”, organised by the mission for some museum staff in the South-West.
Brooks said that the U.S. mission was to develop potential in the Nigerian museum industry.
According to him the mission sought to broaden access to Nigeria’s museum resources and services through digitisation, as the internet brought an extensive opportunity for museums to collect their resources.
He added that the workshop would help Nigeria to project their culture to the world.
“We want to train professionals to know how they can conserve their materials for people who might not be able to physically consult the museum materials, we are in search of an improved way to preserve Nigeria’s cultural heritage,” he said.
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Alhaji Abdulkerim Kadiri, the Acting Director-General, National Commission for Museums and Monuments (NCMM), said digitisation of the museums would provide security for the cultural objects.
Kadiri, represented by the NCMM Director of Museums, Mrs Edith Ekunke, added that it would also serve as references for research and conservation of the objects.
“The training is a welcome development which hopes to open up new frontiers for the NCMM, develop the inventory of our collections and train the trainers that will pass on digitalisation knowledge to others in their various stations.
“Our commission is one on the front burner for the return and restitution of African object illegally taken abroad, the training will assist us with details of our collections,” he said.
Earlier, the Curator, National, Museum of Unity, Ibadan, Dr Amos Olorunnipa, said the training was an added advantage to the staff and the commission.
“Without doubt, this training will bring the capacity needed to develop and build specialisation in digitalisation of museum collections with current technologies in line with best practices.
“It’s my hope that the workshop will allow an effective preservation, protection and marketing of our unique cultural objects for now and future generations,” he said. (NAN)