The Decree No. 77 of 1979 and Nigeria’s Cultural Heritage: An Appraisal

Nomishan, Terngu S.

doi:10.2139/ssrn.4050323

SSRN Journal

2021

DOI: 10.2139/ssrn.4050323

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The Decree No. 77 of 1979 and Nigeria’s Cultural Heritage: An Appraisal

Terngu S. Nomishan

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Cited by 2 publications

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Reflections on the Customary Laws of Benin Kingdom and Its Living Cultural Objects in the Discourse of Ownership and Restitution

Sogbesan

Laotan-Brown²

2022

Santander Art and Culture Law Review

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The British punitive expedition of 1897 led to the theft and vandalization of the cultural heritage of the Benin kingdom. The plunder included more than 3,000 cultural objects made of bronzes, ivories, beads, and other objects, which were produced since the 1st century AD to commemorate historical moments, political transitions, and ritual purposes. This theft dishonoured the spiritual and ritual significance of these living cultural objects, and has turned them into museum artefacts. As international debates on restitution and the return of Benin Bronzes intensify, two pertinent questions which arise are: Who will be the custodians of the returned artefacts?; and How will they be conserved? In this article, we address these two questions through the lens of Benin customary laws and practices. We argue that within this local jurisprudence, the Emwin Arre– the living cultural heritage described above –belong to the Oba of Benin and should be returned to the royal Palace, where they will be preserved, protected, and shared with the present and future generations.

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Reflections on the Customary Laws of Benin Kingdom and Its Living Cultural Objects in the Discourse of Ownership and Restitution

Sogbesan

Laotan-Brown²

2022

Santander Art and Culture Law Review

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection and Nigeria’s Heritage Legislation

Nomishan,

Sule Sani

2023

Santander Art and Culture Law Review

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This article focuses on the legal and technical challenges of protecting intangible cultural heritage in Nigeria. Over time, Nigeria and its population have focused heavily on the petroleum industry as the primary source of the country’s economic sustainability, ignoring other viable economic sectors such as heritage preservation, protection, and management for sustainable tourism. This is because the country’s heritage legislation has been severely eroded and rendered ineffectual in protecting Nigeria’s heritage resources, in particular its intangible cultural heritage. Various stakeholders have expressed concern about the need to maintain and protect cultural assets all around the world. This has thus led to the promulgation of laws governing their protection. These regulations, however, did not begin in Nigeria until the colonial period, when the necessity to acquire and conserve heritage objects became recognized. Therefore, this article uses an exploratory research design with key informant interview methodologies as a data-gathering instrument. As a result, it demonstrates that numerous intangible cultural heritage resources in Nigeria are negatively impacted by political and societal instability, the increasing demand for antiquities and artworks, and socioeconomic challenges, amongst other human-induced factors. The existing heritage law in Nigeria, Decree No. 77 of 1979, is insufficient in terms of currency, enforcement, and efficiency, rendering its provisions ineffective.

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The Decree No. 77 of 1979 and Nigeria’s Cultural Heritage: An Appraisal

Cited by 2 publications

References 7 publications

Reflections on the Customary Laws of Benin Kingdom and Its Living Cultural Objects in the Discourse of Ownership and Restitution

Reflections on the Customary Laws of Benin Kingdom and Its Living Cultural Objects in the Discourse of Ownership and Restitution

Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection and Nigeria’s Heritage Legislation

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