Activities >> Sites

Nigeria: Inventory of Bauchi State

Background

The National Commission for Museums and Monuments (NCMM) of Nigeria has just created a Monuments and Sites section, which among other tasks, encourages local initiatives to identify and inventory the immovable heritage in Nigeria. On its side, the School of Environmental Technology of the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University (ATBU), Bauchi, had already begun initial studies of the built heritage. The Bauchi State Government, through its Ministry of Tourism and Culture, noted this development and sought assistance from the university to carry out an inventory of monuments in the state, as a component of a policy to promote and develop tourism in the region. Both NCMM and ATBU already had links with CRATerre-EAG and sought assistance for this programme. In preparation, Ishanlosen Odiaua, a lecturer at the University, was invited to participate as an intern within the coordination team of the course on Inventory and Documentation organized in Bafoussam, Cameroon in July.

Objectives

The long term goal of the inventory exercise is the preservation of the identified cultural heritage sites, in order to provide economic opportunities through better managed tourism and its associated activities. The objectives of this Projet Situé were to:

• carry out an inventory study of the existing sites in the state;
• identify possible sites for conservation and development;
• sensitize decision makers, local communities, and students on the need to preserve heritage.
  

Structure

A core group of seven people, who would carry out the inventory, underwent an intensive training in documentation and inventory with inputs by a representative of the NCMM. A 2 day workshop was then held with the NCMM and representatives of the cultural sections of all the local government areas in Bauchi State to ensure an adequate participation in the identification of sites, as well as to serve as a means to sensitize local governments and people on the importance of heritage and its preservation. This workshop was followed the inventory field work. Information was than collated into a final document after intermediate presentations to the NCMM and local decision makers.

Results in 2003 (work will continue in 2004)

• Training of the core group of seven people was organized.
• A sensitization seminar was attended by representatives of a majority of the local governments in Bauchi State, and more than 100 decision makers have taken part in various phases of the exercise.
• The inventory campaigns were been carried out in all local government jurisdictions.
• Information was crosschecked with existing documentation.
• A second, smaller campaign was organized to complete the work.
• The final document is now available for duplication, which will take place in 2004.