It was a beehive of activities at the Concordia Academy Yola, as the National Commission for Museums and Monuments (NCMM), celebrated the 2018 International Day for Monuments and Sites and the International Museums Day.

The theme for this year’s International Day for Monuments and Sites as well as the International Museums Day “Heritage for Generations” and “Hyper-Connected Museums: New approaches; New Public” respectively is geared towards the preservation of our rich cultural heritage for socio-economic development.

International Day for Monuments and Sites is an international observance held on 18th April each year around the world with different types of activities including visits to monuments and heritage sites, conferences, roundtable and newspaper articles. It aims to bring global attention to the need to conserve monuments and sites as our cultural heritage and to celebrate the diversity of this heritage.

While on the other hand, International Museums Day is celebrated 18th of May every year all over the world to raise awareness of the facts that, Museums are an important means of cultural exchange, enrichment of cultures and development of mutual understanding, cooperation and peace among people.

In the light of this, the National Commission for Museums and Monuments (NCMM), a Nigerian governing and administrative body which assists in the development of the nation’s Museums systems, the largest in Africa, and is saddled with the responsibility of managing various repositories of cultural artifacts and conserving and restoring the cultural heritage and property of Nigeria as well as promoting national unity has joined the International Council for Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), in its quest of revitalizing Museums and Monuments Sites all over the world. This is to enhance cultural integration, peaceful co-existence, interpretation, promotion and propagation of the values of our national unity and those things that determine the basis of our society and to further appreciate the rich cultural values of this great nation.

The Zonal Coordinator of National Institute for Cultural Orientation (NICO), represented by the Head of Orientation and Cultural Affairs Unit, Hamman Abdulrahman, in his opening speech, reiterated the reintroduction of history into the school curriculum from primary to university level. He said this will acquaint the country’s young ones with what happened in the past so that they would be better informed about choices to be made in other to chat a better path to the future. According to him, it is regrettable to know that due to the neglect of history in the school curriculum, the young generation knows very little about the Nigerian Civil war and other historical landmark of the country.

The event had in attendance stakeholders drawn from both federal and state parastatals and agencies, the private sector, media and civil society organizations and the general public.

Afam Ifeanyi Nwaomu

Head, Corporate Affairs Unit.