The Etsu Nupe Alhaji Yahaya Abubakar said Bida has become one of the best-selected cities in the world by the United Nations Educational, Social and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) Creative Cities Network (UCCN).
It has also been designated as a city of crafts and folk arts.
Abubakar said this in Abuja yesterday at a two-day National Workshop on the Implementation of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) 1954 Convention on the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflicts.
The monarch, who is also the Chairman of the Council of Traditional Rulers in Niger State said: “Bida City became the first city in the country to be accepted as a member of UNESCO Creative Cities Network, and designated as a city of crafts and folk arts.
“This was as a result of the protection of the Bida city’s cultural property which had survived several armed conflicts dating back from the 11th century to date.
“The city’s traditional institution was able to maintain its respect for cultural property, by not exposing it to destruction or damage in the event of armed conflicts and hostility,” Etsu Nupe said.
According to him, the institution also safeguarded it from theft and vandalism.
He further explained: “This was made possible by deploying traditional measures such as protection by a traditional security system, community networking, knowledge and skills transfer, local practices and learning, storages, festivals and creativity.’’
The traditional ruler said universities that offer archaeology recently discovered that seeming-less glass bracelet technology developed thousands of years ago is still in practice in Bida.”
One of the resource people, Mr Nath Adediran, called on the Federal Government to allocate the statutory budget for the preservation, protection and security of cultural property in the event of armed conflicts.
Adediran, who called for the domestication of the protection of cultural property in the event of armed conflicts, stressed the need for relevant authorities in the education sector to incorporate it into the school curriculum.
“Cultural property defines people’s behavioural pattern in society’s ideals, traditions, arts, morals and beliefs, which gives humanity a national identity. Therefore, it is necessary to preserve our culture, history and heritage,’’ he said.
The Permanent Secretary Ministry of Information and Culture Mrs Ifeoma Anyanwutaku said the national workshop was to produce a strategic plan for the protection of cultural property in the event of armed conflicts.
She recalled that the convention for the protection of cultural property in the event of armed conflicts was adopted at The Hague, Netherlands, in 1954 in the wake of the massive destruction of cultural heritage during the Second World War.
“Nigeria ratified the first Protocol of the 1954 Hague Convention on the protection of cultural property in the event of armed conflicts on June 5, 1961, and the second Protocol on October 21, 2015, and has since committed to the implementation of the instrument,’’ she said.
