Alaafin’s palace, a deserving national monument

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Museums or national monuments preserve the tangible evidence of man’s history, creativity and the physical aspects of the world he inhabits. They also give people opportunities to rediscover themselves (including their natural resources) and to identify their place in the past, and the role they can play in the contemporary world. In this report, BODE DUROJAIYE writes on the Alaafin of Oyo’s palace as a national monument, in view of roles it has been playing in the development and promotion of patriotism and awareness of the rich natural and cultural heritage.

In 1979, a comprehensive review of the legislation concerning cultural resources in Nigeria was undertaken with the promulgation of Decree no. 77.
This Decree dissolved the National Antiquities Commissions and the Department of Antiquities established by the earlier decrees.
It created, in its place, the National Commission for Museums and Monuments which was designated as a corporate body with powers to generate funds and enter into contracts.
It also made fresh provisions for the designation of national
monuments and ensured stiffer penalties for the destruction,
unauthorised alteration and removal of monuments in Nigeria.
As of date, there are over 40 Federal Museums, including museums in the making (i.e centres) in Nigeria, and, at least, one in each state.
Other relatively important museums are located in major historic towns with galleries and render comprehensive services in addition to reflecting the history of the locality.
Thus, for instance, the museum in Benin has a collection centred in Benin and related antiquities, while the one in Ile-Ife, which was opened to the public in 1956, is centred on the antiquities of Ife and environs.
But, rather than bequeathing its deserved status of National Monument on the ancient palace of the Alaafin in Oyo town, the Federal Government merely constructed a “mini-museum” adjacent to the palace.
The “mini-museum’’ could better be described as an empty shell, with nothing in it to really justify its construction, except few workers posted there to dust up the office during working days.
Despite that the palace of the paramount ruler, the Alaafin
indisputably remains the White House, Vatican and cultural Mecca of the Yoruba race, it is being neglected and uncared for.
A visit to the ancient palace will no doubt convince one that it is indeed a store-house of Yoruba culture and tradition and deserves to be accorded a National Monuments status by the Federal Government.
The palace is adorned with works of arts, various forms of sculptures that includes the carved wooden house posts, and door panels, which are the traditional status symbol of wealth and royalty.
There are modern figures of lions and hunter made from mortal, while walls are decorated with mosaic and painted morals depicting scenes from life, as the decorated calabash and imaginary beings.
The traditional architectural designs are superb and second to none among ancient palaces in the country, according to experts from Brazil, Spain and Canada who visited the palace recently.
Investigation further revealed that the Alaafin’s palace is the
largest as it has in it over 200 buildings.
The palace surroundings also consist of residences of Alaafin’s functionaries, and the ancient Akesan Market, thus making it impossible for any external invasion.
There are over 400 aides working in the palace, while drummers and official praise singers are always in attendance daily to perform for his royal majesty and visitors.
There are also fountains in the court yard and garden.
Also in his book entitled “Topics in West African History”, Dr. Adu Boahen, an Associate Professor of History, University of Ghana, said: “In many ways, Oyo is perhaps the most interesting of the states and empires that emerged in the forest and coastal regions of West Africa. For one thing, not only was it the earliest or, at least among the earliest to emerge, but at the peak of its power, it was the largest in area and culturally the most advanced’.
Eminent personalities across the country, who had paid visits to the Alaafin, not only acknowledged its magnificence but acknowledged it as a National Monument.
Speaking exclusively in an interview, the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba
Lamidi Olayiwola Adeyemi III, said the old traditional architecture of the palace and its art treasures need preservation, adding that the palace should be declared a national monument with funds made available for its preservations.
“Palaces are living museums and places for cultural education and entertainment which must not be allowed to decay or ruin. They are part of our national heritage and pride. Indeed, many countries across the globe have the National Heritage Trust like Britain where stately homes and palaces are given yearly allocation to ensure their maintenance. The Trust is different and independent of the Commission
for Museums and National Galleries.”
Oba Adeyemi also called on the state government and the 33 local governments and other stakeholders to rally and support the palace project.
These, according to him, include the construction of a research library and archive to properly house Alaafin’s collection of Yoruba bibliography and other materials, reputed to be quite vast, and to be a centre that will promote knowledge of the Yoruba civilisation.
“The antiquities of any nation constitute a major repository of the peoples’ cultural heritage. In African traditional society, these cultural artifacts, particularly the work of arts, serve various functions. Sculptures also constitute the bulk of Nigeria’s resources in antiquities and they, no doubt, represent important landmarks in the artistic creations of the Nigerian peoples. These works of art, though precious and priceless to the cultures that created them, have witnessed series of theft, misconceptions, brutalisation and abuse true time in the hands of foreigners to Nigeria”.
While stressing the urgent need to redirect museum activities to serve the real interests of general public rather than a select few, the paramount ruler observed that presently, many museums in the country are not better than veritable graveyards of the ethnological objects.
He said: “They could, however, be made use of for tapping,
appropriately, natural and socio-cultural resources needed for
achieving nationhood and real development. Museums should also be well placed to present a comprehensive and integrated view of the past of the peoples who make up the national entity, and not through the presentation of isolated and spectacular aspects of arts history. They should also be engaging in the reconstitution of the sum of the ethno-historical and artistic characteristics within each state of the
federation. This would entail being alive to and recalling all major aspects of the peoples histories; presenting the story of the natural environment as it is now and how it evolved to this point”.

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