Tourism & Culture in Nigeria

• Literary Works
  • Wole Soyinka
  • Chinua Achebe
  • Ken SaroWiwa
• Arts & Culture
• International Fame
• Government Assistance
• National Council for Arts and Culture
• National Commission for Museum and Monuments
• Walls and Ancient Buildings
• Hotels and Facilities

Collectively, culture is a way of life in a given society. Tourism is the vehicle through which this way of life is appreciated. 

In Nigeria, culture is manifested in art, dance, language, literature, folklore, mores, music, governance, and even the environment. According to archaeological finds, Nigeria’s artifacts depicting the early life of the people date back to 2000 years. The Nok Culture, the earliest of the finds depicted the early life of the people of the Nok region North of the Benue River. The characteristic features of the Nok culture, which flourished from 500, BC to AD 200 is the terracotta figurines associated with it and the extensive use of iron. The source of the knowledge of an iron technology has been attributed to the civilization of ‘Meroe’ in what is today the Republic of Sudan, as well as to Carthage in North Africa.

Arts & Culture

Grass Weaving	Wood Carving
Ivory Carving	Glass and Metal Works
Leather and Calabash	Pottery
Clothe Weaving	Painting

Brass or Bronze
Casting is still made but there is nothing produced now to compare with the fabulous Ife and Benin Bronzes. These perfect example of portraiture and the "cire peerdue" method of casting, together with the equally perfect terracotta thought to be of the same period and possibly by the same craftsmen, have no equals anywhere.

Apart from the Benin and Ife bronzes, archaeological finds at Igbo-Ukwu, in Enugu State, have revealed advanced ancient works of art. The Igbo-Ukwu bronzes, which have elaborate intricate symmetrical designs, are as remarkable as the better-known Ife works.

Grass Weaving
Because grass is plentiful in the northern parts of Nigeria, northern craftsmen and women make grass baskets, fans, tables and floor mats. Some of the objects are beautifully colored and durable.

Wood Carving
Though places like Benin and Awka are acknowledged as center of wood-carving, wood carvers have flourished all over southern Nigeria since time immemorial, making figures for shrines, portraiture, masks, representations of the spirits of the field, forest stream, earth, sea, sky, water, fire and thunder. The works of old carvers remain in many villages where they provide the villages with their shrines, utensils and ornaments to this day. Many of the older examples of these products are preserved in the national and other museums.

Ivory Carving
Ivory carvings have for many years adorned ancestral altars in Benin and the palaces of Nigerian rulers. Ivory carvings are also available in homes and offices as paper knives, inlaid cigar boxes, cigarette holders, ladies earrings, hatpins, necklaces, bangles, and innumerable small pieces of décor.

Glass and Metal Works
The metal works, glass beads and bangles of Bida are familiar articles to visitors to Nigeria. The bead makers in particular preserve their ancient skills as a family tradition. The metal workers were originally the armored of the north. Their art is now applied to the production of skillfully fashioned and decorated trays, bowls and pots rings, bangles and the like.

Leather and Calabash
The skin popularly known as Morocco leather comes from goatskin from Sokoto. It was erroneously given the name "Morocco leather" because, until recently, it reached Europe through Moroccan traders who bought them from Nigerian caravan traders across the Sahara Desert. Excellent leatherwork and calabash carvings are produced in Kano and, Oyo.

Pottery
Excavations have shown that pottery attained a high level of development in Nigeria several hundred years ago. The tradition has been maintained and Nigerian pottery today ranks among the most artistic in the world. The best-known pottery center in the country is Suleja in Niger State. In 1963, a Nigerian pottery worker, the Late Dr. Ladi Kwali, toured Great Britain and Europe to demonstrate the art of pottery making in Nigeria. Products of the Pottery center at Okigwe in Imo State are widely distributed in Nigeria and abroad.

Clothe Weaving
Another outstanding craft of Nigeria is cloth weaving. The popular Akwete cloth woven in a town of that name in Abia State is fast changing the dress fashion of many women who live in, or come to the country. Produced on a broad loom, Akwete is usually about 1,200 millimeters wide. It is produced in attractive designs and rich colors.

There are also the "Aso-Oke" woven on narrow looms notably at Iseyin in Oyo State, the Ebira weaving at Okene, Kogi State.

Painting
Apart from such crafts as bronze-casting, wood carving, leather work, pottery and weaving, a form of artistic expression that has quietly gained a stronghold but has not been given its due recognition in Nigeria is painting. As a medium of artistic expression, painting is not completely new in the country. The two groups of rock paintings in Kano and Bauchi are the most important yet found in the country. The Birnin Kudu cattle paintings and symbolic drawings show affinity to some Saharan paintings.

The coloring of masks monochromatically or polychromatically is also a form of painting that has been in existence in Nigeria for as long as the festivals and ceremonies for which such objects were made. Body paintings and decoration for ceremonial rites and festivals are also a common practice in many parts 'of the country. The designs and decorations used in body painting possess esoteric connotations and the human body so painted at times in varied contours, visually becomes a really beautiful "living art piece".

Another form of artistic expression closely akin to painting that has been in practice in the country for a long time is the multicolored decoration of the inner and outer walls of houses with beautiful and elaborate symbols and designs. Some of such designs have their origin in the Islamic influence on Nigerian culture and are popular in the northern parts of the country.

International Fame
Those who have gained prominence at home and abroad in this field within a relatively short time include Ben Enwonwu, well known for his landscapes, Simon Okeke, E. O. Okebolu, Erhabor Emokpae, Bruce Onobrakpeya, Ayo Ajayi, Felix Idubor, Muraina Oyelami, Twin Seven-Seven and a host of others. A large number of the works of these Nigerian painters can be found in many galleries and private collections in Nigeria and abroad.

Though it is just a little over 80 years since the first acclaimed modern painter emerged in Nigeria, painting as an art form has become so popular that apart from regular one-man or joint exhibitions held abroad by individuals or groups, some artists have emerged to form a "school" or "movement". For instance, the Oshogbo Movement has gained global identification by breaking fresh grounds with fruitful experimentation.

While most Nigerian painters started their career with such traditional means as oil, charcoal, pencil, pen or watercolor, a number of innovators and experimentalists among them have widened the dimensions and horizons of fine arts in and out of the country.

Works in the new areas have been classified as bronzed Iino relief, into cut, deep etching, print, collage, bead-mach pointillism, etc. The scope for experimentation seems limitless and the future of fine arts looks very promising with the continued development of the country.

Government Assistance
The Federal and State governments of Nigeria have always shown keen interest in the development of arts and crafts as a source of employment and means of developing aptitude and have given every possible assistance to the industry. The governments encourage the formation of cooperative societies to advise on the best way of increasing production and sales, and help to arrange exhibitions both in Nigeria and abroad. As a further step towards the development of arts and crafts, governments have opened art schools and colleges, such as the College of Technology, Yaba and the School of Fine Arts at the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, where students can develop their talents under the guidance of qualified instructors, Many of the students are sponsored by the government or private organizations. Government has also established various agencies for the coordination promotion and preservation of the Arts. Below are some of them:

National Council for Arts and Culture
The National Council for Arts and Culture (NCAC) was established by Decree No. 3 of 1975 after the dissolution of the former Nigerian Arts Council. It started operations in and African Arts and Civilization (CBAAC), is the custodian of cultural materials for Black and African peoples all over the world. The institution is a vital Center for the study, propagation and promotion of understanding of Black and African ideals and civilization.

Its core collection consists of all the unique and rare archival, library, audio-visual and museum materials deposited for safe keeping with the Nigerian Government, by the 59 Black and African Governments which participated in the FESTAC '77. The materials, being preserved, utilized and augmented, represent the invaluable contributions made by the intellectuals, writers and artists who were the moving spirits behind the execution of FESTAC '77.

The Center was officially declared open on 22nd June 1978, and has been declared a depository for UNESCO books, documents, etc. All the materials in the Center are distributed into four components, namely Archives, Library, Audio Visual and Museum Divisions. Among the collections in its museum is an exhibition on "African and the Origin of Man", an invaluable discovery which provides material evidence that AFRICA IS THE CRADLE OF MAN.

National Commission for Museum and Monuments
The National Commission controls the registration and clearance for export of antiquities as well as arts and crafts (even newly made) for Museums and Monuments. There are severe penalties for attempting to export antiquities without a permit issued by the National Commission for Museum and Monuments. Export permits can be obtained at any of the National Museums in the country. The clearance permit serves as a conclusive part that an object is not an antiquity. Permits for export of antiquities should be directed, and with as much notice as possible, to the Director-General, National Commission for Museums and Monuments, National Museum, Lagos or to the Director-general, through the Curator and head of station of the National Museum in the state in which the applicant is located.

Walls and Ancient Buildings

City Wall and Moat, Benin City
These are the most impressive city walls and moats in southern Nigeria. At their highest point, the walls were nine metros high and the moat (ditch) nine metros deep, making a total incline of 18 metros. Unfortunately in the past few years, the walls and moats has been the victim of extensive soil excavation used as a source of building materials.

City Wall, Zaria
The Zaria City wall perhaps remains the best preserved among the cities of northern Nigeria. The need for defensive walls has disappeared since the occupation by the British of the Western Sudan at the beginning of this century. Moreover, the rains of over 50 wet seasons have battered down the tall mud walls rampant in this part of the country. The walls of Zaria, which circumnavigate the city, are between 14 and 16 kilometers long and are pierced by eight gates. 

Gobirau Minaret, Katsina
This imposing minaret, or tower which originally is said to be some 120 metros tall and which was built of mud and palm timbers, is all that remains of the mosque constructed in Habe times, before the holy wars of Sheik Unman Dan Fodio. Parts of the 15.25-meter tower are thought to be about 250 years old.

Chief Ogiamen's House, Benin City
This building is protected under the Antiquities Act of 1953 principally because of its architectural eminence as a fine example of Benin traditional architecture. It has an elaborate system of court yards and altars. It is a chief's house and was probably built before the 1897 British expedition against Benin. The big fire that gutted the city following the British invasion did not affect the building.

Foot Bridge, Kaduna
This is an interesting example of indigenous engineering before the advent of roads and railways in Nigeria. The bridge was originally erected by Lord Lugard at Zungeru in 1904 and re-erected in 1954 in the Kaduna Gardens.