US signs Bilateral agreement with Nigeria for the implementation of grant for Cultural Preservation
By Edoamaowo Udeme
The united States yesterday signed the Memorandum of Understanding with Nigeria for the implementation of Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation grant.
The event which took place yesterday at the US Embassy Nigeria was in respect of the Sukur Cultural Landscape in Adamawa State which is another UNESCO’s World Heritage Site in Nigeria. This site is under imminent threat of insurgency and immediate danger imposed by the global climate change.
According to the acting United States Ambassador, in Nigeria, David Greene, “We awarded this AFCP grant to the International Council on Monuments and Sites in Nigeria, or ICOMOS-Nigeria”.
“Its purpose is to document, conserve and improve the cultural heritage of the Sukur UNESCO World Heritage Site in Adamawa State”.
He took the moment to recount the history that laid the foundation for US Nigeria collaboration and the history of the U.S. Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation.
” We have provided $1.5 million for 14 projects across 21 states since 2001. We are so proud that, with our Nigerian partners, we have been able to preserve culturally significant art, sites, and other heritage items”
“I will give just one outstanding example: in 2020, we awarded the U.S. non-profit organization CyArk a $125,000 grant to digitally survey and document the Busanyin Shrine within the Osun Osogbo Sacred Grove” Greene said
“That effort created a digital record of the shrine to use in planning future projects and preservation initiatives, and at the same time provided training in digital tools and cultural heritage management for local professionals”he stressed
Green noted that “Building on twenty years of AFCP grants, in 2021, the United States and Nigeria signed the bilateral Cultural Property Agreement. With that, we intensified joint efforts to identify, intercept, and repatriate looted, or other displaced cultural property and related heritage works”.
“These efforts paved the way for the official transfer in October 2022 of twenty-two Benin Bronzes back to Nigeria. I am pleased to report that since 2022, the number has grown, and now a total of sixty-three Benin Bronzes have been successfully repatriated to Nigeria”.
“That brings us up to today. Our latest AFCP grant will support ICOMOS-Nigeria and its local partners to help preserve Sukur cultural heritage through infrastructure enhancements, revival of threatened traditional crafts, and documentation and preservation of the Sakun language”
“This will require a collaborative effort amongst each of your organizations, so I am proud and pleased to witness your signing today of the Memorandum of Understanding covering the planned project”.
“We truly appreciate your unwavering dedication to conserve, protect, and preserve Nigeria’s cultural heritage. My government and I eagerly anticipate building upon this partnership in the years to come, and I can tell you that I personally hope to have an opportunity to visit the Sukur site” he added
Responding, The Minister of Arts, Culture, and the Creative Economy Hannatu Musawa, said that the MOU will usher in profound development to one of Nigeria’s UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Sukur Cultural Landscape through funding provided by the ever supportive US Ambassador’s Fund for Cultural Preservation.
Stressing that the United States Embassy in Nigeria, and its Cultural Affairs Section has always enjoyed a good relationship with Nigeria through the Ministry of Information and Culture, recently designated as the Federal Ministry of Art, Culture and the Creative Economy.
“This relationship extends to Agencies under this Ministry, especially, the National Commission for Museums and Monuments. Some of our noticeable collaborations include:
The Cultural Property Agreement Implementation Grants (CPAIG) Program for Emergency and Disaster Preparedness Response and Recovery.
The Cultural Property Implementation Act (CPIA) Agreement.
The soon to commence Cultural Antiquities Taskforce (CATF) training on Illicit Export of Nigerian Antiquities.
And the Nigeria-USA Bi-National Commission meetings in which the NCMM has been contributing to”.
“The USA has consistently supported cultural projects in Nigeria. One of the means through which the United States deploys its supports for culture, is the veritable Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation. It is worthwhile to state that the USA has graciously and bountifully extended its friendship towards Nigeria through this Fund” Musawa stressed
Some of the projects the United States has supported Nigeria include:
The Re-Org Project wherein many National museums in Nigeria were supported in re organizing their collections. This was done in conjunction with Ahmadu Bello University. The Sungbo-Eredo archaeological Earthwork Conservation Project of the ancient moat bestriding an extensive swathe of the modern boundary of Lagos and Ogun States in Nigeria in conjunction with the College of William and Mary in Virginia, USA in conjunction with the NCMM and two Nigerian Universities.
“This project will help to preserve and build awareness of this monumental public work that is currently under increasing pressure from urbanization, industrialization, and erosion”.
Another project is the preservation and conservation work at Osun Osogbo Cultural Site which is a World Heritage Site.
Others are the 3-D Documentation of the Busanyin Shrine in Osun
Osogbo Cultural Site in conjunction with CyArk.
And the Yale University agreement with NCMM on wood
conservation in National museum, Lagos.
“I am glad to state that this year; the USA again, through the Ambassador’s Fund is supporting heritage preservation in Nigeria”
“This project is being anchored by the Nigerian branch of the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) and the NCMM under the coordination of Terry Little of Ahmadu Bello University, a true lover of Nigeria. Other partners are the American University of Nigeria, Yola and Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. Other contributors are the Washington State University, University of Calgary and Factum Foundation from the United Kingdom”. Said Musawa
The project aims at undertaking a 2-year conservation and preservation work in the Sukur Cultural Landscape, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, which is regarded as a place of Outstanding Universal Values. The work also involves the conservation of the tangible and intangible heritage of Sukur Cultural Landscape, enhancing community capacity, strengthening local, national and international links and networks for conserving the site’s Outstanding Universal Values and buttressing the resilience of the Sukur community in the face of insurgency and climate change.
” this event affords me the opportunity of mentioning the Cultural Property Implementation Act
(CPIA) Bi-lateral Agreement between Nigeria and the USA which was signed in February, 2022″.
” Under the CPIA Agreement, no archaeological or ethnological material that is the subject of the said bilateral agreement may be imported into the United States without documentation certifying that the exportation of such objects was not in violation of the laws of Nigeria; undocumented objects are subject to seizure and forfeiture and will be returned by the Government of the United States to the Government of Nigeria without the need for costly lawsuits”. She noted
She added that the agreement has proved to be of immense benefit to Nigeria as it constitutes deterrence to illegal exporters of Nigerian antiquities and to make a success of this agreement and to train the stakeholders in Nigeria, the US Government and the US Embassy in Nigeria are collaborating with the NCMM to organize a training program for stakeholders in Nigeria. These stakeholders include the customs, immigration, Office of the National Security Adviser, the Nigerian Police etc have been carefully selected for their relevance.
She announced to the US Embassy that these Nigerian stakeholders have been assembled by the NCMM and they are all geared towards a successful outing and are fully ready to receive the training from their American counterparts.
“I hereby give the NCMM my full go-ahead on this and admonish them to make sure that the incidences of illicit export of Nigeria’s antiquity is further stymied and that they work closely with the US Embassy and afterwards bring good reports to me” she added.
The event was also witnessed by Dr Kabiru Bala, the Vice Chancellor of Ahmadu Bello University in Zaria, Salisu Mohammed Lawal, who represented Dr. DeWayne Frazier, the President of the American University of Nigeria (AUN) and Dr. Oluwatoyin Sogbesan, the President of ICOMOS-Nigeria
