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Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection and Nigeria’s Heritage Legislation

Publication date: 13.12.2023

Santander Art and Culture Law Review, 2023, 2/2023 (9), pp. 293 - 320

https://doi.org/10.4467/2450050XSNR.23.032.18652

Authors

,
Terngu Sylvanus Nomishan
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8275-3134 Orcid
All publications →
Abubakar Sule Sani
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2314-8641 Orcid
All publications →

Titles

Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection and Nigeria’s Heritage Legislation

Abstract

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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Information

Information: Santander Art and Culture Law Review, 2023, 2/2023 (9), pp. 293 - 320

Article type: Original article

Titles:

Polish:

Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection and Nigeria’s Heritage Legislation

English:

Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection and Nigeria’s Heritage Legislation

Published at: 13.12.2023

Article status: Open

Licence: CC BY  licence icon

Percentage share of authors:

Terngu Sylvanus Nomishan (Author) - 50%
Abubakar Sule Sani (Author) - 50%

Article corrections:

-

Publication languages:

English