Kadiri tasks communities on preservation of heritage

The Acting Director General, National Commission for Museums and Monuments (NCMM), Alhaji Abdulkerim O. Kadiri, has called on the local communities to assist government in the preservation of Nigeria’s monuments and sites.

Kadiri made the plea recently on the occasion of this year’s International Monuments Day, which was celebrated locally across the outstations of the Commission.

With Rural Landscape as this year’s theme, the Acting D.G insisted that preservation of national monuments are critical to the nation’s wealth of history.

According to him, such national assets should form part of the legacies a country should bequeath its younger generations.

He added that the year’s celebration offered both national and international committees, the opportunity to raise awareness about the relevance of rural landscapes, the challenges confronting their conservation, the benefits they provide and how rural landscape are intrinsically linked with sustainable development.

“The day represented the opportunity to foster communication and build links with communities while acknowledging their involvement in the creation, evolution and richness of these rural landscapes.

“Since this day is meant to highlight the importance and contributions of monuments and sites to the social, political, economic and cultural development of the society, the Commission therefore needs the support of the communities and other stakeholders for the realisation of our set goals and objectives of preserving our monumental heritage for humanity”, Kadiri stressed.

The International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) had in 1982, declared April 18, the International Day for Monuments and Sites.

The following year (1983), the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) approved the date during its 22nd General Conference.

Since then, April 18 has been set apart globally to raise awareness about the relevance of monuments and how vulnerable they have become in the face of changing beliefs and civilisation.