1
A KEYNOTE ADDRESS BY THE DIRECTOR GENERAL, NATIONAL
COMMISSION FOR MUSEUMS AND MONUMENTS NIGERIA,
MALLAM YUSUF ABDALLAH USMAN DELIVERED ON THE OCCASION
OF COMMONWEALTH ASSOCIATION OF MUSEUMS (CAM) ON THE
7TH MAY 2012 AT THE NATIONAL MUSEUM, CALABAR
MUSEUMS IN THE SERVICE OF SOCIETY: THE ROLE OF HERITAGE
MANAGEMENT INSTITUTIONS IN THE AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT
AGENDA
INTRODUCTION
The idea of public museums in Africa emerged during the colonial
era.1 Ever since, there have been questions concerning the role or
significance of museums in the development agenda of Africa. Okita2
once drew attention to the fact that museums did not appear to
have a very good image with the general public. The reason was
essentially because most critics of the museum idea saw the
establishment of museums as a financial waste, without any practical
benefits to the lives of the people. How then can museums in Africa
address the question of relevance in the face of Africa’s development
agenda? How can the museum help to improve the economic and
social conditions of the African? Can the museum be of any help in
raising the health status of the African? What can the museum do to
promote peace and security on the continent? These are serious
questions. But these are the issues that the African has to grapple
with as he or she faces his or her day to day existence. Can the
museum rise to the challenge? Can it provide the answers or help the
African to find the answers? Murray3 once remarked that ‘in a
museum can be gathered together the evidence of past civilizations
and achievements in art that will help the Nigerian to have pride and
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confidence in himself.’ It could be argued that a sense of pride and
confidence could spur one to great achievements. But apart from
this sense of pride and confidence’, is there anyway the museum can
make a direct contribution to the development agenda of Africa? As
Afigbo4 has remarked, museums should also exist to improve the lot
of the common people in addition to providing entertainment and
promoting national and racial pride.This paper intends to
examinehow museums as heritage managementinstitutions can do
that. We will start with the definition of a museum and then
consider museum development in Africa. Next we will focus on the
challenges of development in Africa and the role of the museum in
meeting these challenges. We will also examine Nigeria’s leadership
position in the management of museums.
WHAT IS A MUSEUM?
The origins of the museum or mouseion (Greek) go back to the
classical times in ancient Greece and Rome. Alexander 5 explains that
the museum, in the ancient world, was a temple dedicated to the
Muses. The muses were nine young goddesses who watched over
the welfare of the epic, music, love, poetry, oratory, history, tragedy,
comedy and dance.6 The Mouseion of Alexandria which was founded
in the third century B.C. by Ptolemy Soter (“Preserver”) had some
objects including statues of thinkers , astronomical and surgical
instruments, elephant trunks and animal hides, and a botanical and
zoological park.7Alexander8remarks that though the ancient Greeks
and the Romans viewed the museum in different terms than the
present day, the ancient world possessed public collections of
objects valued for their aesthetic, historic, religious or magical
importance.
3
A museum is a complex institution, and defining it is not easy .9One’s
definition would depend on whether one likes or dislikes museums.
10 A former Director General of the National Commission for
Museums and Monuments, Dr O.J. Eboreime11once argued that the
museum was the cultural equivalent of the central bank of any
nation. The museum holds in trust the irreplaceable treasures and
heirlooms representing the collective heritage, the soul and identity
of the nation. 12Not surprisingly, that was the point of view of
someone who liked museums. Yet there is another perception of
museums as houses of juju.13This certainly is not a very
complimentary remark about museums. Yet there is a tendency for
this notion to prevail in Nigeria among those not familiar with the
activities of museums. Perhaps with a bit more knowledge of what
museums stand for, there might be a change of minds in this set of
Nigerians to get them to like museums.
Burcaw14 has listed a number of definitions of museums especially
from Douglas A. Allen, late Director of the Royal Scottish Museum in
Edinburgh, Edwin H. Colbert, George Brown Goode, late Director U.S.
National Museum,,
the American Association of Museums,
International Council of Museums, UNESCO, Germain Bazin, The
Swiss National Museum and by Burcaw himself.
In the American Association of Museums’ definition for the purposes
of accreditation, a museum is an organized and permanent nonprofit institution , essentially educational or aesthetic in purpose,
with professional staff, which owns and utilizes tangible objects,
cares for them and exhibits them to the public on some regular
schedule.15Key words in the definition are further defined for clarity
as follows:
4
 organised institution: a duly constituted body with expressed
responsibilities
 permanent: the institution is expected to continue in
perpetuity
 professional staff; at least one paid employee, who commands
an appropriate body of special knowledge and the ability to
reach museological decisions consonant with the experience of
his peers, and who also has access to and acquaintance with
the literature in the field
 tangible objects: things animate and inanimate
 care: the keeping of adequate records pertaining to the
provenance(origin), identification, and location of a museum’s
holdings and the application of current professionally accepted
methods to their security and to the minimizing of damage and
deterioration

schedule: regular and predictable hours which constitute
substantially more than a token opening, so that access is
reasonably convenient to the public 16
How different is this definition from that of Douglas Allen17 who
defined the museum as a building to house collections of objects for
inspection, study, and enjoyment may be one of details and changes
in the expanding role of museums over the years.
Although the definition of museums may differ slightly in different
parts of the world, it is generally accepted that a museum collects
and displays items for the education and entertainment of the
public. Hence the acknowledgement by UNESCO18 that museums of
whatever kind, all have the same task – to study, preserve, and
exhibit objects of cultural value for the good of the community as a
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whole.Burcaw20 regards the museum as existing to make important
educational or aesthetic use of a permanent collection.
Some other perspective belief that a museum is defined more by its
function of collecting, storing, and exhibiting of objects for
educational and/or entertainment purposes, than by the use of the
term as a prefix or a suffix. The space for storage of collections and
exhibitions is an important aspect of this functional definition. The
space is to be allocated in the following percentages collection (30%),
exhibition (30%) and area for administrative purposes (40%). Some
of the world’s leading museums which do not have the word
museum attached to their names. Notable among these are the
Smithsonian Institution in the USA, Le Louvre in Paris, France and the
British Royal Academy of Art in England.
Our review of the definition of museums must necessarily end with
the International Council of Museums (ICOM) since the council has
been described as the umbrella body of all the museums in the
world. ICOM22 comprehensively defines a museum as a non-profit
making, permanent institution in the service of society and of its
development, and open to the public, which acquires, conserves,
researches, communicates and exhibits, for purposes of study,
education and enjoyment, material evidence of people and their
environment.
MUSEUM DEVELOPMENT IN AFRICA
In discussing Museum development in Africa, we will be guided by
the superb and masterly chronicle of the progress of museums in the
continent as captured by E.N. Arinze23 in his article titled:African
Museums: The Challenge of Change.
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A common heritage
Arinze acknowledges that the majority of museums in Africa share a
common heritage because they were products of the colonial era;
being essentially twentieth century creations. The creation of these
museums was informed by the passion of expatriates in colonial
Africa for collecting
indigenous traditional art and studying the cultural history of
traditional societies which helped them in their governance.
However the reasons that African museums were established in
colonial times were different from those of museums in Europe
which were created as agents of change providing educational
enjoyment to the public. African museums were instead created to
house ‘curios’of a ‘tribal’ people and to satisfy the curiosity of the
elite citizenry almost to the total exclusion of the local people who
produced the objects and materials.
Religion
Religion played a critical factor in the development of African
museums. Adherents of the two predominant religions, Christianity
and Islam, attacked the cultures of Africans and challenged
traditional values and rites and belief systems. New converts to Islam
or Christianity usually discarded objects associated with their
traditions. These objects were either destroyed or collected by
clergymen who in most cases deposited them in museums with scant
information. This assault contributed substantially to the building of
collections in the early museums of Africa.
Museums of Antiquity, Archaeology, Ethnography and material
Culture
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The early African museums were mainly museums of
antiquity,archaeology, ethnography, and material culture; with little
deviation into the realms of natural history. Arinze observes that this
was in spite of the fact that most African countries had beautiful and
abundant flora and fauna. Thus these museums were not established
to serve the needs and interests of the African people, rather they
were dedicated to the interests of the colonial powers, the national
elite and the highly educated foreigners, all of whom formed the
bulk of the visiting public.
No Professional Training in colonial museums
In relating the condition of the African worker in the early museums,
the Africans were not given solid professional training, rather they
were engaged as attendants and cleaners who accompanied
expatriates during field work to help collect materials and clean
excavated archaeological objects. A few of the Africans who were
taught how to operate a camera and move objects within the
museum and in the field never acquired professional training.
Post –Independence Situation
African museums broke out of the old mould in the post –
Independence period in Africa. Museums now became active and
effective vehicles for nationalism and for fostering national
consciousness and political unity. Museums became tools for
reaching out to the people to forge greater national understanding
and a feeling of belonging. As Arinze observes, museums became the
symbol of freedom and change. They were used to project the rich
cultures of the great civilizations that flourished over the years in
Africa, thereby highlighting the contribution of Africa to the global
march of civilization. In Nigeria, plans were put in place to establish
national museums of unity to highlight the various cultures that
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make up the heritage of the people of Nigeria. After her
Independence in 1957, Ghana’s National Museum and Monuments
Board became the rallying point for Kwame Nkrumah’s pet idea; the
‘African Personality’. In Senegal, the National Museum in Dakarwas
used to propagate Senghor’s philosophy of ‘Negritude’.Similar efforts
were made in East, Central and Southern Africa to give museums a
profile of national importance and relevance. By this time due to the
funding they received from governments, museums had become
effective government institutions under the supervision of parent
ministries.
Beginning of Professional Training
The immediate post- independence period witnessed efforts to give
museum workers professional training. This move was led by
UNESCO’s establishment of a bilingual Regional training centre in Jos
in Nigeria in 1963. The centre over the years trained many
professionals who today hold important positions in museums across
Africa. Another training centre was also established by UNESCO ,
seven years later in Niamey, Niger, to train French speaking museum
professionals when that of Jos ceased to be a bilingual institution.
These training programmes which continued to the mid-1980s
contributed to the rise of a corps of skilled museum professionals
who helped in shaping a new focus for museums in Africa. Arinze
describes this period as one of change development and
transformation. For instance between 1980 and 1985, Nigeria put
together the famous exhibition titled 2,000 Years of Nigerian Art:
Legacy of A Nation which toured the world for five years. This
exhibition destroyed the argument that African history was colonial
history and that African civilization was ‘dark’ all through. Today, we
all acknowledge that African art is respected and accorded its rightful
place of honour and pride.
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Stagnation Sets In
The development of African museums suffered a setback in the late
1980s and after because of prevailing political, economic and social
realities and problems of Africa. The museums became victims of the
African crisis of the period. The museums ceased to evolve and
became stagnant. Of particular interest was the fact that the
museums rather than promoting new ideas and strategies to meet
these upheavals in the body politic of the African continent; they
clung to the past showing little motivation and no clear vision of
what to do.
State of Training Today
From the heady days of the mid 80s one is dissatisfied with the state
of training of museum staff in Africa in later years. There is an acute
shortage of qualified and well-trained personnel to manage and staff
African museums. Whereas staff could go abroad for training in the
past, and study locally in Jos and Niamey, today overseas training has
almost stopped due to lack of funds, while the Jos and Niamey
centres have ceased to be effective since UNESCO ended its funding
and technical support to the two institutions. Significantly, however,
the International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and
Restoration of Cultural Property (ICCROM) in Rome has since 1986
run courses at various levels to address the specific problem of
Preventive Conservation in African Museums (PREMA.)The course is
said to be effective in addressing the problem of dust, rot and decay
in the various storerooms and exhibition galleries of African
museums.The PREMA programme has continued to run the
university course in Africa, in the following centres:
Jos(Nigeria),Accra(Ghana), Port Novo(Benin), while the national
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course is run in the Central African Republic, Ghana, Guinea, Mali,
Benin, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
The Way Forward
I believe that for African museums to move forward, they will have
to carry out an honest, incisive and in-depth self-evaluation and
critique to confront a number of issues .A fundamental issue is the
need for African museums to redefine their mission and their roles
and themselves. African museums also need to break away from
their colonial vestiges to create African-based museums that will
represent their communities where issues of health, urbanisation,
the environment and politics are as important as the traditional
questions of collecting, presenting, protecting and safeguarding the
cultural heritage.
CHALLENGES OF DEVELOPMENT IN AFRICA
We will adopt principally the analysis of this subject by Mkezalamba
and Chinyama in their article published online titled: Implementation
of Africa’s Integration and Development Agenda: Challenges and
Prospects.
Mkwezalamba and Chinyama have identified four developmental
challenges facing Africa. These are (1) Peace and Security (2)
Governance (3) Social challenges and (4) Economic challenges
1. Peace and Security
I will rate the prevalence of conflicts and political instability
as one of the most critical challenges to Africa’s integration
and development agenda. On-going conflicts in parts of the
continent and some which have occurred over the last
decade and a half in places such as Sudan, Dafur, South
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Sudan, DR Congo, Somalia, Mali, Guinea-Bissau, Equatorial
Guinea, and Northern Nigeria have helped to create an
environment of perpetual insecurity. The effects of these
conflicts are massive loss of human lives, displacement of
people leading to a high number of refugees, emergence of
child soldiers, high incidence of vulnerability and social
exclusion, destruction of physical and socio-economic
infrastructure and the erosion of human and institutional
capacity. In addition, this situation exacerbates the level of
poverty, makes it difficult to accelerate sustainable
development and diminishes the capacity of these
countries, regions, and subsequently the continent of Africa
to focus on integration and development; and adversely
affecting the prospects of achieving the Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs).
2. Governance
They attribute conflicts and political instability largely to bad
governance characterised by inequitable distribution of
national and natural resources, human rights violation,
absence of the rule of law, lack of democracy and an
inclusive and fair representation in government. Other
aspects of bad governance include corruption, lack of
transparency, accountability and responsive institutions
with their accompanying tendency to encourage the
misapplication and inefficient use of scarce resources.
The limited ability of African states to perform even the
basic functions of effective governance accounts for the
failure of many institutional and economic reforms to have a
significant impact on poverty reduction and sustainable
growth in the continent.
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3. Social Challenges
Infectious diseases and Poverty comprise the social
challenges identified by Mkwezalamba and Chinyama.
3.1
Infectious diseases
The diseases include AIDS, Tuberculosis poliomyelitis and
malaria. The report of the final review panel of The
United Nations New Agenda for the Development of
Africa points out that throughout the 1990s, these
diseases overwhelmed the health systems of most
African countries; where most of the governments had
cut their already meagre health budgets. The result was
the inability of many Africans to access any health care at
all and hence ended up in poor health. The poor health
inevitably resulted in low productivity and poverty.
Initiatives taken at confronting the situation included the
setting up by the UN Secretary General of the Global
Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. An African
Summit was held in Abuja in 2001, where African
countries committed themselves to the allocation of 15%
of their annual budget to fight the scourge of HIV/AIDS.
Other health interventions include the launching of the
‘Roll Back Malaria Campaign’. The UN notes that these
efforts need to be supported, intensified, and coordinated to ensure their maximum effectiveness.
3.2
Poverty
According to Mkwezalamba and Chinyama, the
proportion of people living in extreme poverty (i.e. less
than US$1 a day) in Africa (excluding North Africa)
increased from 44.6% in 1990 to 46.5% in 2001. In actual
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terms the number of people living on less than US$1
during this period rose from 227 million to 313 million.
The figure for the world’s developing countries for this
period registered a significant reduction in the level of
extreme poverty from 27.9% to 21.3%.
The African region under consideration also had the
highest level of undernourishment with one-third of the
population living below the minimum level of dietary
energy consumption. In the area of primary school
enrolment, this region of Africa had the lowest enrolment
rate of all the regions globally. Access to safe drinking
water , though promising, was nonetheless all too low to
achieve the MDG target. They concede that a number of
African countries have made good progress in reducing
income poverty.
4. Economic Challenges
Mkwezalamba and Chinyama explain that Africa’s economic
challenges relate to trade including declining terms of trade
facing African exports, low levels of Foreign Direct
Investment (FDI), huge external and domestic debt levels ,
and the rising oil price.
4.1 Trade
Africa has been hit by the declining terms of trade facing
exported primary commodities. The Dhoha ‘development
round’ of trade which was expected to make trade more
effective for economic growth and poverty reduction has
not achieved much. Africa remains marginalized in the
world market. The pledge by rich countries to reduce
subsidies to their farmers and also reduce tariffs on
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imports from developing countries
has not been
successful. Reports speak rather of developed countries
increasing subsidies to their farmers. Another trade
challenge facing Africa is that of poor intra-African trade.
The reasons advanced for this include the type of
products traded which are mainly raw materials and
agricultural products, poor infrastructure, institutional
and financial weakness and poor trade regulations among
member States of the African Union.
4.2 Foreign Direct Investment (FDI)
It is necessary to point out that the level of investment in
Africa is low and her share in global FDI is low too.
Investment coming to Africa tends to concentrate in a
few countries that export resources like oil and minerals.
The argument is that the investment climate in Africa
does not attract the foreign investor because of such
factors as unstable economic conditions, poor
governance, and persistent conflicts and insecurity.
4.3 Debt burden
Mkwezalamba and Chinyama observe that many African
countries spend their scarce resources in servicing debts
instead of allocating them to growth and social services.
Several debt reduction initiatives including the Highly
Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative have been put in
place to tackle the problem. In 2005, the Gleneagles
Summit reached a decision to cancel debts for 18 HIPCs
including 14 from Africa. However, these initiatives have
fallen short of meeting the demands of African countries.
Domestic debt is also a burden on a number of African
countries.
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4.4 Increasing Oil Prices
The assertion by that rising world oil prices remain one of
the determining factors of global economic performance
is incontrovertible. Any increase in the price of oil signals
the beginning of economic hardship in many African
countries.
The challenges to development in Africa also include the
environment (climate change), low capacity utilization of technology
, cultural issues such as the neglect of societal norms and values, e.g.
lack of respect for hard work, the elders and the absence of
community spirit. I am aware that other challenges do exist.But for
the purposes of this paper we will focus on the ones we have
mentioned here as some of the challenges which museums or
heritage management institutions could take on and through
utilizing their technical expertise find ways to approach the
problems.
ROLE OF MUSEUMS IN OVERCOMING AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT
CHALLENGES
1. The Challenge of Peace and security
The museum can assist in meeting the challenge of peace and
security by mounting exhibitions to show the ill effects of
conflicts. The exhibitions should also reflect the
interdependence of peoples stressing that no man was an
island. The fact that communities are now so interconnected
that the whole world has become a global village should be
emphasised as well. Through the mounting of interactive
exhibitions people would be made to communicate with each
other and educate themselves on the differences and
similarities of their cultures and the need to respect such
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cultures, and work out ways of living together peacefully. The
details of such exhibitions should be worked out, but it is
necessary to suggest that wide ranging consultations should be
made with groups and agencies concerned with the
maintenance of peace and security. For instance it would be
appropriate to consider the roles of government agencies e.g.
Cultural Agencies, National Orientation Agency (in Nigeria), the
African Union especially the Peace and Security Council
(PSC),and religious bodies among others, in promoting peace
and security among the people within a community.
2. The challenge of governance
The educational units of museums have a great role to play in
showcasing programmes that will highlight the effect of
governance on the development of a community, a country or
even the African continent. On display in such programmes
would be such concepts as democracy, human rights, rule of
law, transparency, accountability, and corruption. The use of
audio-visual means and other communication devices to relay
the message to the public is highly recommended. The effects
of good governance should be compared with that of bad
governance.
3. The challenge of social, economic and technology issues.
Museums can play a problem-solving role in the management
of social and economic issues confronting communities.
Museums would easily become an integral part of our daily
lives if they were more people-oriented, and made to provide
solutions to society’s problems. The case of an exhibition on
guinea-worm infestation organised by Umebe Onyejekwe, a
former Deputy Director of NCMM, which was a huge success
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because it addressed an issue that affected many communities
at the time. And this is what we are encouraging our Museum
professionals to do.
Museums could be challenged to mount exhibitions on other
pressing health issues like malaria, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS
as a way of helping to overcome impediments to Africa’s
development agenda.
Other social and economic issues like poverty, trade( internal
and external), debt burden, oil prices , desertification, erosion
control, epileptic power supply and a lot more, could be
presented as exhibitions to the public in a manner that would
generate awareness of the problem and lead to a process of
providing solutions.
In further trying to solve our social and economic problems
museums should also try to revive our arts and crafts industry
by creating employment opportunities for our artists,
craftsmen and craftswomen.They could be provided space
within the museums to make and sell their products. This idea
goes back a long way to the time of K.C. Murray, who could be
described as the father of Nigerian museums.Some museums
have tried the idea, and seemed to have abandoned it. There is
need to bring back the idea.
A lot more attention should be paid to the creation of Natural
History, Science and Technology Museums to raise the level of
awareness of people in these subjects. These museums should
aim at stimulating the interest of people, especially children in
Science and Technology and thereby help to reduce the
technology divide that exists between Africa and the developed
world.
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NIGERIA’S LEADERSHIP POSITION IN MUSEUM MANAGEMENT
Museum management in Nigeria has made tremendous progress
since the first museum was established in Esie in 1945 under the
National Antiquities Service headed by K. C. Murray. A second
museum soon followed in Jos in 1952 which was built to house the
famous Nok terra-cotta first discovered during a mining expedition.
But the expansion in the establishment of museums began when the
National Antiquities Commission with its executive arm the Federal
Department of Antiquitiesreplaced the National Antiquities
Service.Decree
77
of
1979
dissolved
the
National
AntiquitiesCommission along with the Federal Department of
Antiquities.The number of museums has continued to grow with the
formation of the National Commission for Museums and Monuments
(NCCM) which replaced the National Antiquities Commission and the
Department of Antiquities.After the Nigerian Civil War (1967-1970),
the Federal Government embarked on a policy of establishing
museums of national unity in States of the Federation to promote
cultural educationand foster unity and understanding among
Nigerians. That policy has contributed to this growth in the number
of museums in the country and has produced a large museum
system which is scattered across the country and consisting of 36
national museums, 63 national monuments;and 2 UNESCO world
heritage sites at Sukur Cultural Landscape in Adamawa State and the
Osun Oshogbo Grove in Osun State. The large museum system in
Nigeria and the the equally large number of the Commonwealth
Association of Museums (CAM) members in Nigeria has informed the
association to hold its next regional meeting in the country.
The NCMM has the responsibility of administering national
museums, antiquities, and monuments in the country.
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Nigeria’s leadership role in museum activity in Africa is well
recognised. This is buttressed by the achievements that have been
recorded over the years by NCMM. Its 2010 Annual Report29
catalogues these achievements as follows:
 An exhibition titled: 2000 Years of Nigerian Art travelled to
seven cities in Europe and the United States of America
 Research works on Nigerian cultural heritage were successfully
published. They include ‘AnIntroduction to Nigerian
Traditional Architecture (3 volumes) by Professor Dmochowski;
2000 Years of Nigerian Art by Ekpo Eyo; NokTerracottas by
Bernard Fagg; Nigerian Images by Bernard Fagg; Yoruba
Pottery by Mrs A. K. Fatunsi
 Publication of Journal titled:Nigerian Heritage: Journal of the
National Commission forMuseums and Monuments( 18 copies
have so far been published).
 Listing of two Nigerian Heritage Sites as World Heritage Sites by
UNESCO. The sites are Sukur Cultural Landscape and Osun
Oshogbo Grove
 Ancient manuscripts in Arabic, and ancient publications about
pre-colonial and post-colonial periods (in Nigeria) are preserved
in museum libraries.
 Sensitization about Nigeria’s cultural heritage. This has led to
skills acquisition and the emergence of culture - based
industries thus providing jobs for the youth and reducing youth
restiveness
 Enhancement of professionalism among museum staff through
long term and short term training programmes. These comprise
in-house seminars, localised workshops and international
conferences
20
These achievements in number of museums, monuments,
heritage sites, researches, publications, training programmes,
membership of internationalmuseum bodies and a staff
strength which stood at 2724 as at 2010 and a lot more place
Nigeria in the leadership position in museum management in
Africa.
CONCLUSION
There has always been some concern about the role of museumsin
the African society. The issue of relevance has tended to alienate the
African from the museum idea. Also related to this situation has
been the question of integrating the museum within its local milieu.
Of course the idea of the museum as a public forum is an imported
concept and so to the African, removing objects from their ancestral
homes for display elsewhere, was not very appealing; apart from the
fact that the objects themselves were sometimes considered to be
associated with unwholesome practices. Whichever way one viewed
it, the museum objects were looked upon as curious items. However,
museums in Africa have come a long way from the colonial times.
Much of the conversation now is focused on how museums can key
into the development agenda of Africa. It may not be enough just to
collect and display objects – though that in itself could be
satisfying.There should now bean added dimension to the role of
museumsin Africa.At the Bangui Regional Seminar in 1976 , curators
and museologists rejected the museum of traditional colonial
conception which was alien to African realities and opted for the
museum with a problem-solving approach that could contribute to
socio-cultural development.30This I presume is what Archibong31
means when he says ‘museums should be people-oriented and
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relevant to daily life.’That is the direction for museums in Africa to
take: identify African problems at whatever level and help in finding
solutions to them. This is why we believe museums have a great role
to play in solving Africa’s developmental problems and in doing so,
win back the sceptical African to the museum idea.
Thank you.