In recent years, the global economy has taken the deepest and uninspiring nosedive towards the realm of recession, with developing nations and continents being the worst hit. Africa as a continent and Nigeria as a nation are currently caught in the web of economic fiasco.
The museum is an indispensable institution, with its colossal roles in societal transformation and nation building. No doubt, the financial muscles of individuals could rightly be said to be directly proportional to smooth and peaceful functionality of the museum. But this invaluable institution is currently being threatened by hunger. What then is the way forward in the face of this challenge?
First, what is a museum? According to the International Council of Museums (ICOM), a museum is a non-profit, permanent institution in the service of society that researches, collects, conserves, interprets and exhibits tangible and intangible heritage, open to the public, accessible and inclusive. Museum fosters diversity and sustainability. It operates and communicates ethically, professionally and with the participation of communities, offering varied experiments for education, enjoyment, reflection and knowledge sharing.
This above definition of museum is all-encompassing. Museum, indeed, plays essential roles in our society. The efforts being put to ensure our ecosystem remains balanced and sustained should equally be consciously and adequately accorded to the museum. This goes to further stress the point that it is expedient that every community, irrespective of its location, should ensure that there is this institution. The overwhelming role the museum plays in shaping our life and promoting peace gives validation to its importance. Therefore, the museum deserves to be called a permanent institution in the service of society. To allow the museum in any society to lie fallow in the face of economic turbulence is a tale of shooting oneself in the foot.
As it is, nations and individuals have been hit by financial holocaust. Even companies are being shut down and jobs are being lost daily. Many potential tourists are fast becoming extremely careful in their scale of preferences. Government of nations are equally cutting down on their budgets to fit into frugal adjustment and expenditure. In African countries, including Nigeria, there has been a massive change of lifestyle priority. This has left recreational activities including visits to the museums, zoos, parks and gardens with the slimmest chance of choice. The need to pay more attention to the basic ingredients of human survival such as food, shelter and clothing on individual budget can be well comprehended and not faulted. An average family is being faced with the reality of having to spend so much, unlike before, to put food on the table, pay for house rent and as well shoulder the school fees bills. Even rich families, known to visit the museum on occasions, have scaled down and no longer visit as before. No doubt, people need to fill their stomach before considering the next line of priority. The prices of foodstuff are getting out of the reach of even the rich in society. In Nigeria, Benin City inclusive, prices are soaring on daily basis.
The ancient city of Benin, the capital of Edo State, is famous for her bronze casting artefacts and her rich cultural, historical and monarchical dynasty. The panoramic view of this city testifies to the fact that is, indeed, an ancient city with a touch of taste and class. This city harbours the National Museum, strategically located at the centre of the city known as King’s Square roundabout – the Ring Road. It is a very busy area and easily accessible within the metropolis. The museum has over a hundred staff in various departments and units. The museum’s gallery is open to the public from Monday to Friday from 8am to 4pm. On Saturdays, it opens to the public at 10am and closes at 4pm. The museum’s gallery has gained massive recognition across the globe for its huge collections. Visitors come from far and near for one purpose or the other. The access fee is fixed at five hundred naira (N500.00) per visitor, which is less than a dollar.
It would be recalled that before now, tourists used to come in their numbers with chartered buses from neighbouring African countries. The museum’s spacious premises was usually a sight to behold with its beehive of activities likened to a carnival scenario. Tourists from across the continent were not equally left out of this description of fun-seekers coming to enjoy the best that the Benin Museum has to offer. Also, schools usually took turns rapidly to book for excursion. Then, there was never a dull working moment as visitors in their numbers needed to be monitored, educated, guided and assisted in various area of interest. Then, access fee to them was not an issue, as long as their curiosity was satisfied.
Now, with the serious hard-biting effects of the economic quagmire, the Benin Museum is largely having its own share of this financial challenge. This is coupled with the fact that the city is largely dominated by public servants – salary earners. All of this has contributed to the National Museum, Benin City, experiencing a lull in tourist visitations. On occasions, though, a couple of visitors still come around from different parts of the world, but it is not in any way near what it used to be in the past. The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic equally contributed to the reality of this austerity measure that has now snowballed into a norm. People prefer saving for their basic needs to spending on a visit to the museum. Now, parents are more concerned about saving for their children’s school fees than thinking of bringing their children to the museum.
But thanks to the ongoing innovation by the Edo State Government, through the initiative of the governor. The State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, had earlier made it mandatory as part of school curriculum in the state for both the private and the public schools to visit the museum. This laudable gesture has been the reason for schools coming while in session to book ahead for their turn. This has, indeed, been an encouragement so far to the museum system. Also, the State Government, in mutual partnership with the museum, equally ensures that dignitaries and participants in any government-sponsored programme visit the museum as part of the programme. It can be testified that the Benin Museum has over the years been a beneficiary of this initiative.
However, museums all over the world, especially in Nigeria, require urgent rescue attention. There is no challenge under the sun without a solution. All that the government needs to do is to look inward and think outside the box with a view to proffering a lasting solution. The following suggestions may be considered:
1. Government should ensure that inflation rate in the country is curtailed to the barest minimum. This will help in alleviating the economic heat in the land.
2. Economic experts should be fully engaged by the government in order to proffer adequate economic advice.
3. The Federal Government should as a matter of urgency encourage the state governments by assisting them to meet some basic needs of the people. This include rendering free transportation service to the citizenry. This is currently being practised by the Edo State Government, through the office of the Governor. This will go a long way in ensuring that the movement of people and visits to the museum are not hindered by the sudden hike in transportation fee within the metropolis.
*Aboloma is an ethnographer at the National Museum, Benin City.
