NAN-H-67
Antiquities
By Yinusa Ishola
Omu-Aran (Kwara), Sept. 18, 2017 (NAN) Chief Festus Awoniyi, a community leader in Omu-Aran, Kwara on Monday advocated adequate security for the preservation of Africans antiquities and heritages.
Awoniyi told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Omu-Aran, that incessant shipment of African antiquities abroad was eroding the citizens’ identity and dignity.
He lamented the increasing reports of daily loss of highly cherished antiquities from the continent, saying the trend deserved urgent attention of concerned authorities and stakeholders.
Awoniyi noted that the nation museums were presently lacking the acceptable global security standard to protect antiquities and other similar valuables against theft.
He called for more training and retraining for Antiquities Protection Officers (APO) in museums to address the ugly trend.
“The primary duty of an APO is to ensure that the public, the museum staff and any outsider adhere to certain fundamental rules of security to prevent theft, fire, damage and personal injury.
“The museums rules and regulations guiding such security should be clearly states and be enforced APOs.
“Maintaining security will involve inspecting the outside of the museums to check the integrity of windows, doors, fire hazards and unlocked enclosures that should be secured.
“Every APO as well members of museums staffs should be adequately trained on these aspects,” he said.
He called for adequate equipment of museum protection officers with basic tools such as torchlight, mobile radios equipped batteries to ease their jobs.
The community leader urged government to increasing funding and allocation to culture and tourism sector in order to achieve the desired economic diversification.
Awoniyi also advocated the data capturing of potential and viable cultural sites and antiquities, especially at the grassroots as a way of promoting tourism. (NAN)
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Edited by Grace Yussuf