A visit to the Museum

Yesterday was a public holiday and a perfect opportunity to step out and feel the Lagos breeze. I had a plan though, a visit to the Museum. I once visited as a kid, my parents thought it nice to intimate us with our heritage and culture, now I want to tell them another round of thank “yous” as it turns out they took me to The National Museum Onikan Lagos and I only visited its shadow yesterday.

First the Museum was looking quite dull from the outside and then we paid an entrance fee of 300naira which is fair for what I thought I was going to see. I have been working on a series of short stories about the Yoruba creation myth and about our gods so I thought I would find some sort of inspiration from seeing relics of my culture…how wrong I was.

The air was humid, either the Air conditioners were not working or they weren’t turned on and the fans were just too few to help with that stuffy air. The “Ifa”/Yoruba relics were there but obviously from recent times and the stone carvings from the old times were dusty, cracked, broken off at the edges. Some descriptions were missing and others had wrong spellings or incomplete information. For example I would have loved to see or learn a little about the Igbo culture as well and there were too little things and then no sensible descriptions. The only thing I noticed there seemed to be a good number of were from the Akwa-Ibom/Cross Rivers region, they were beautiful pieces.

Now let’s not even talk about the Nigerian Government section, the curtains were dusty and then same few descriptions. I would think they would employ a storyteller to write captivating footnotes under each president’s image. I am not one to bash my country but honestly we could do better. This is a sham and they know, I guess that’s why we were instructed not to take pictures.

A museum is a representation of our culture and heritage and I am of the opinion it should at least be in good condition. For me as a kid it was a fun place to be but now some 18 years later I can neither find the thrill nor purpose of this place.

I would still continue on my search for inspiration and I hope I find it because I can’t wait to share more comical versions of Yoruba Myths for your pleasure.

XOXOXX…cheers to a happy New Year.

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