Stolen Nigerian artifact found in Italy

Date:

Artifacts

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By Mercy Osajiugo‎

‎The artifact that represented goddess of fruitfulness reluctantly released by Nupe people to Niger State Museum and stolen some decades ago, has been found in Italy.‎

The Executive Director, Niger State Council for Arts and Culture, Mr Emmanuel Zhiri, made this known to the News Agency of Nigeria in Minna on Thursday.

“This artifact was found in Italy recently by the Commissioner for Information, Mr Jonathan Vatsa’’, Zhiri said.

Zhiri added that it would cost the state a “huge fortune,” to retrieve it.‎

Zhiri spoke on the sidelines of the 2017 Commemoration of the World Museum Day‎ with the theme: Museum and Contested Histories: Saying the Unspeakable in Museums.”

Zhiri said Niger state museum was one of the well-organised premier museums with experienced professional personnel‎.

Zhiri said government was working seriously to expand the museum by bringing in more artifact to enrich the state’s museum.

“We are working strategically to bringing in more artifacts to uphold our cultural heritage.

“We have identified artifacts we are going to bring in, like the musical strings of the late Walo Shatan Gwari and late Nupe musicians’ musical strings used in the course of their musical career.‎

“We are going to pay the custodians of these musical strings and bring them to the Niger state museum.

“It is going to cost us about N2 million to bring them from the Niger Zone A, Zone B and Zone C”, he said.

Zhiri added that the essence of bringing such artifacts to ‎Niger museum was to preserve the history and make it public to those who did not know such history.

“People come in here to learn the history of different artifacts; we keep them safe for posterity.

“Managers of museum strive a lot to bring in inherited artifacts from the people they were bequeathed to because they do not know the use as much as we do.

“They do not know the significance of these artifacts. As far as they know, they are keeping them because they inherited them‎. That is how much most of them know”, he said.

He said they do a lot of research on artifacts in the museums.

“We do compilation of oral and written tradition of the artifacts so that the people will get to know more about the artifacts, community, people and their culture”, he said.

Facebook Comments Box

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

Share post:

Subscribe

Latest

More like this
Related

AFCON 1980 Hero Kadiri Ikhana battles for life in Edo hospital

Kadiri Ikhana, a former Super Eagles defender and 1980...

Napoli turn down Galatasaray’s offer despite meeting Osimhen clause

Napoli have turned down a €75 million offer from...

NUJ Urges Journalists to Shun Fake News Ahead of 2027

The Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) has cautioned journalists...

VP Shettima arrives London to accompany Buhari’s remains

Vice President Kashim Shettima arrived in London on Monday...

[FULL STATEMENT] Presidency speaks on report linked to Shettima on Gov. Fubara’s sack

The State House, Abuja No Link Between VP Shettima’s Remarks...

Barcelona star Yamal faces backlash over alleged exploitation at 18th bash

The Spanish Government has called for an official investigation...

“Tinubu’s Govt May Weaponize Courts Against ADC” David Mark Alleges

Interim National Chairman of the African Democratic Congress (ADC)...

UK Govt scales back Afghan relocation figures, faces scrutiny over secrecy

The UK government has drastically revised its estimates for...
Join Us On WhatsApp
Join Us On WhatsApp