The Minister of
Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has reiterated the Federal
Government willingness continue to fight against the illicit trafficking
in Cultural Property, reports ITRealms.
Declaring open an
exhibition of repatriated Nigerian artefacts in Lagos on Thursday, the
Minister challenged the National Commission for Museums and Monuments
(NCMM) to double its efforts in checking the illicit trade in cultural
property.
''It is my wish that the
NCMM will begin to look at means and opportunities to re-invigorate its
export and clearance permits operations and even devise other methods of
checking the illicit trafficking in cultural property.
''I was reliably told
that there was the system of taking the pictures of all the objects
leaving the country and the passport numbers of those exporting
non-antiquities out of the country. I think the NCMM should go back into
all of the systems that can be used to stop, check and stem the illicit
trafficking in cultural property of Nigeria,'' he said.
Alhaji Mohammed also
urged the NCMM, the Nigeria Customs Service and other law enforcement
agencies to be more vigilant especially at the nation's sea ports,
airports well as land borders, to check these abuses and illicit trade.
He thanked the
Ambassadors and Cultural Attaches of the United States of America, France,
Canada, Switzerland and South Africa, where the artifacts were
intercepted, and appeal to them not to relent in their efforts in that
regard.
''I must thank you the
more for respecting the International Laws and in particular the respect
of the Red-List Agreement of 1997 that has declared the export of these
Nigerian cultural property illegal,'' the Minister said.
He gave the assurance
that Nigeria will fully domesticate the provisions of the UNESCO 1970
Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import,
Export and Transfer of Cultural Property, which was ratified by Nigeria on
24 Jan. 1972 and came into force three months later.
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