The National Commission for Museums and Monuments, Lagos office unveiled digitalised documentaries of Nigerian heritage sites on Thursday.
NCMM, Institut Français de Recherche en Afrique, and the Centre for Democracy and Development unanimously carried out the project.
Speaking during the unveiling at the National Museum, Onikan, Babrabra Morovich, Director of INFRA-Nigeria, said the digitalised heritage sites encompass monuments and artefacts from Ibadan, Benin, and Ile-Ife.
She said the challenges encountered during the project related to disseminating the research work to all Nigerians, adding that this was the most important aspect of the project.
Ms Morovich said the project’s benefit was directed at the public, who had been provided with a platform for easy understanding of heritage.
Sa’eed Husaini, CDD acting director, said the project’s primary purpose was to preserve potentially endangered materials, disseminate them, and make them accessible. The project had six components, each of which currently had at least one website for the public to access information and archival materials that had been digitised and uploaded.
He said the public could now visit those sites and download their desired materials.
One of those engaged in the project, David Afolayan, CEO of GIS Konsult Ltd., identified emerging problems he encountered while executing the project.
Mr Afolayan said climate change threatened most heritage sites nationwide, citing the town of a thousand gullies in Auchi, Edo, and a series of floods at heritage sites in Ibadan.
He added that the analogue way of record-keeping had become obsolete and inadequate, making him embrace new technologies for the project.
Mr Afolayan said in digitalising the religious architectural heritage of Ibadan and urban archaeology mapping of the pavements of Ile-Ife, he had engaged the Geographic Information System as the best technological platform.
According to him, GIS integrates computer hardware, software, and humanware to collate, process, analyse, and display geographically referenced data to solve complex problems.
He said he had trained no fewer than 100 researchers, students and stakeholders during the project.
Femi Olanrewaju, an Architect, noted that 137 churches, I42 mosques, and 127 shrines had been digitalised, as well as two Egungun festivals, to provide resourceful materials for all. He said this was to encourage the promotion of religious tourism in Nigeria.
Nkechi Adedeji, the curator of the Lagos Museum, harped on the need for heritage conservators to be well-informed in the area of heritage preservation using the GIS. She encouraged them to consistently develop laudable ideas to protect the nation’s heritage resources for future generations.
Adisa Ogunfola of Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) advised building a digital interpretation centre for all the urban archaeological heritages of Ile-Ife in partnership with the National Museum, Ile-Ife.
He said the successful medieval Ile-Ife recapturing had ensured future security for all.
