The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), has extolled Nigeria’s recognition of seven culture elements as “Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH)”.
ICH, also known as living heritage, is passed down through generations and recreated by its bearers through interactions with their environment, history and nature.
Abdourahamane Diallo, UNESCO Regional Office Representative for West Africa, and UNESCO Head Office in Nigeria, spoke on Wednesday in Abuja in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).
He spoke on the sideline of the three-day ongoing UNESCO workshop which has the them: “Sharing experiences and good practices in safeguarding ICH in West Africa”.
The workshop, which started on Sept. 17 is to end on Sept. 19, 2024.
“Nigeria has recognised seven elements as ICH; last year, it was Sango festival that was recognised as ICH globally.
“Also recognised is the midwifery, known as knowledge, skills and practices tradition being introduced by Nigeria and other countries, which is not only from Nigeria, but recognised on Nigeria list.
“We have five other elements namely – Kwagh-Hir theatrical performance, Argungu international fishing and cultural festival, Ijele masquerade, Oral heritage of Gelede and Ifa divination system.
“Nigeria tops other West African countries that have recognised cultural elements as ICH; Nigeria has presented the Durban festival of Kano and such will be recognised as ICH.”
He said it had become important for African countries to prioritise culture because most culture is intangible.
“Unlike Europe and Asia with big castles, Africa’s culture is centred on traditions.
“This is where we have wealth of culture elements that we have to safeguard, but we need to raise awareness that it exists.
“Africa countries need to ratify the Convention policy on safeguarding ICH to provide opportunity for each community and country to present culture as important element that must be safeguarded.
“The convention on ICH is a tool developed by UNESCO for the member states, but it complemented the first one, which was the 1972 convention that was a tangible one.
“We realised that there was imbalance in the tangible one because there were more elements from western countries and Africa was lagging behind.
“Africa has lots of culture to be recognised, but the most important part of our heritage is more intangible, which formed background of this convention to enable African countries safeguard the heritage.”
“There were challenges in terms of implementation of the convention by some countries, this is where we are and still face lots of challenges.
Mr Olagunju Idowu, Secretary-General, Nigerian National Commission for UNESCO (NATCOM-UNESCO), who also spoke with NAN, said it had become important for government to prioritise culture as alternative source of revenue.
“We do not have to be waiting for only crude oil to generate economic revenue; we have lots of cultural heritage that we have not registered yet.
“People are coming from all over the world to those cultural areas, so we need to enlarge those ICH programmes.
“Through UNESCO, we can have more ICH; the more we have, the more people will come from across the world, which will bring a lot of foreign exchange to Nigeria,” Olagunju said.
