The Federal Government is considering converting one of the properties seized from corrupt individuals by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) into the National Museum in Abuja.
Board Chairperson National Commission for Museums and Monuments (NCMM), Arc. Umma Mamman-Da said this in Keffi, Nasarawa state at the retreat for management staff and curators of NCMM.
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She said that work is presently in progress on locating a suitable property befitting of the National Museum and if one is not found, to apply to the minister of the Federal Capital Territory for land in a strategic location.
Arc. Mamman-Da added that NCMM is working on being able to help trace the roots of African Americans amd other black people around the world whose desire it is to find their roots in Nigeria.
Her words, “Presently work is in progress on the Abuja museum, we have some options, one of which is that the government has some properties seized from corrupt people so we are looking at seeing if we can find a property that fits to be a national museum Abuja, location and otherwise or we had a land which was revoked, we have already written to the minister of the FCT and they are working on if not giving us that land back, then giving us another land in a strategic place where we will now enter into a PPP to build a Museum of national unity in Abuja.
“We need to invite people into our museums and the issue of lack of money will be a thing of the past by creating awareness, we need to be able to tell people in the western world with roots in Africa that we can help them find where they come from. I am assuring you that with our board in place and the present acting DG, I know this sleeping giant has awoken.
“Museum in Nigeria is a large parastatal, it is a very vital aspect of any country because it represents the culture of the country and we have materials and artifact dating centuries back.”
Acting Director General NCMM, Abdulkerim Kadiri said that the agency is presently working on vertual reality, where all the artifacts and monuments in all museums and natural heritage sites in the states of the Federation is captured digitally for people to view online for a small fee.
His words, “We are partnering with a private company that is going around to all our museums in the thirty six states of the Federation to take digital images of our artifacts and monuments in all the museums and natural heritage sites and be able to showcase them on virtual image platforms on the internet where people can log into, pay a fee and learn to appreciate our culture, this virtual reality platform wull create a Museum without walls where you can sit at the comfort of your house and visit our museums and monuments all over the country.
“After that we intend to produce in commercial quantity products we are producing under our arts and craft village to sell and raise funds. People think of the musuem as a dead place but I’ve been working at the museum for the past 13 years and as a chartered accountant, I know that a lot of products the museum produces, we can market and sell to increase the GDP of this country.”
