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Survey Of Preservation And Conservation Of Local History Collections In Nigeria
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1.3 THE NATIONAL WAR MUSEUM UMUAHIA
The
national war museum is located at Ebite Amafor in Umuahia, the capital
city of Abia State. The idea of the establishment of a museum of the
history of warfare which would enable Nigerians to appreciate and
understand the course and content of the war more fully was suggested in
1971 by Dr. Eyo Ekpo, the Director of Antiquities. Although, the idea
was acceptable to the military government, the suggestion was not acted
upon because the country has not quite settled down after the war.
Although, too, the government decided to collect materials connected
with the war and carryout photographic documentation on field equipment
and evidence for future use, no real effort was embarked upon until 1977
when the Army Council finally approved the establishment of Nation War
Museum at Umuahia. The purpose of the National War Museum was to collect
vital documents and objects that were related to Nigerian civil war and
to serve as a centre for information on Nigeria warfare through ages as
a research centre for military science.
The decision to establish a
National War Museum at Umuahia mooted by the then Chief of Army Staff
Limited. General Theophilus Yakubu Danjuma (Rtd) after his visit to
Yugoslavia and USSR in 1976. While in these countries, he was shown war
monuments and related relies, and he marveled at the attention and
importance attached to them and their preservation in museum. On his
return to Nigeria, at the second meeting of the Army Council in 1977, he
mooted the idea of the establishment of war museum in his reference
letter No (NA/COAS/58) of 13 April 1978 to the then Head of the
Military. government; genera T.Y. Danjuma stated, “my view is that
although the idea of setting up a National War Museum came from the
Army, the museum itself will not be an Army or even Armed Forces
institution, but a National. In other words the National War Museum will
be a sub-unit of the Department of Antiquities. However, the Army will
assist the department in the procurement and collection of items of
interest to the museum. This suggestion was accepted by the, then Head
of State and commander of the Armed Forces of Nigeria.
In pursuance
of its decision to establish the war museum, the Army set up an advisory
committee comprising officers from the Nigerian Army, the Nigerian
Navy, the Nigerian Air force and the National Commission for museums and
monument to assist in the development, operation, maintenance and the
research activities of the museum. On September 16th, 1982, the
committee had its first meeting at Umuahia under the chairmanship of
major General Sanni Abacha. When he was moved to the command at the 2nd
division he handed over the chairmanship to the then Lt. Col. J.N.
Shagayo in January 1984. During the first meeting of the committee under
Lt. Col. J.N. Shagayo, it was decided that the museum should be
launched on January 15th 1985.
With the official launching of the
museum in January 1985 by the then Chief Supreme Headquarters Major
General Tunde Idiagbon (Rtd), individuals and groups, immediately
responded to the call and contributed to the growth which culminated in
the formal commissioning on Thursday 14th September, 1989. Today, the
museum has an area of 3,778 hectares of land.
It maintains a research
library which as at the time of this writing, has been fully developed,
it houses exhibition galleries, stories, curatorial centres,
audiovisual units and a multipurpose wall.
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ABSRACT - [ Total Page(s): 1 ]This research study aims at identifying the presentation and conservation of Local history collections in Nigeria, a case study of National War Museum, Umuahia, Abia State. In the process of carry out this research, the researcher identifies the problems/constrain, methods/techniques adopted, the classes of artifacts kept and also proffer solutions to the effective procedures for preservation and of local history collection in a museum under study. In the study, the researcher observed among num ... Continue reading---
