THE PROPOSED BILL BY LAGOS STATE HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY TO DEMOLISH HERITAGE SITES IN BADAGRY IS A THOUGHTLESS, UNINFORMED AND MISPLACED PRIORITY

“It is UNESCO’s concern that the present and future generation should be enlightened on the issues, problems and consequence associated with slavery to enable them fully understand the present and prepare them for a better future in the world free from all types of enslavement, injustices, discrimination and prejudice.”

Robert V. Daniels once said of History in the following words, “History is the memory of human group experience. If it is forgotten or ignored, we cease in that measure to be human. Without history we have no knowledge of which we are and how we came to be, like a victim of collective amnesia groping in the dark for identity.”

 

It is events recorded in history either tangible or intangible that have generated all the emotions, the value, the ideals that have made life meaningful, that have given humans something to live for, struggle over and die for. What is the fate of a people who forget their past? What future awaits a race that keeps its history in garbage heap? What quality of leadership lies ahead of a nation which fails to tutor its youth about their past. It is therefore suicidal for a nation or state to obliterate its history. Badagry, often referred to as “Slave Coast” is unarguably among the front line “states” that suffered the historical tragedy of slave trade. It was a major slave port along the West Coast of Africa for upward of four hundred (400) years.

Aside from this, one of the oldest slave markets in West Africa (Vlekete Market) was established in 1502.

Badagry was called Slave Coast because it accounted for at least three (3) out of ten (10) slaves that left the shores of West Africa.

Ghana was called Gold Coast while the area of Sierra Leone and Guinea were referred to as Grain Coast. Badagry signed the treaty abolishing slave trade with the British Government in 1852. Hence up till now, the ancient town still have within it confines those artifacts, relics and historical monuments like the ruin of the slave port, the slave market, shackles of slavery, slave Baraccoon (slave cell), the Cannon gun, the Slave Route and Point of No Return, among others. Because of the global importance of these cultural assets that Badagry became a popular Cultural Tourism destination in Nigeria and placed it in the world tourism map.
The name BADAGRY became much bigger than the town itself and its popularity transcends the shores of Africa.

Studies have shown that cultural heritage sites are unique because they cannot be transferred or reproduced in other locations. Consequently, there is doubt that destination endowed with natural landscape, historical sites, cultural attractions and heritage has a relative advantage when it comes to attracting tourists.

Considering the economic impact of cultural heritage tourism, according to Clarion Associates (2005) a state-wide survey of heritage tourism in Colorado in the USA reveals that it created USD 3.4 billion in direct and indirect economic impact and supported some 61,000 jobs through the state.

Coming back to crux of the matter, it was because of these heritage sites earmarked for demolition by Lagos State House of Assembly that Badagry and Calabar were listed in the Slave Route Project initiated by UNESCO in 1999. And for its recognition of the importance of History UNESCO declared every 22nd and 23rd of August as the International Day For the Remembrance of Slave Trade and its Abolition.

 

In the year 2000, UNESCO organized Aspnet (Associated Schools Network) project in Badagry where students from different parts of the world gathered in Badagry. The Aspnet project emphasizes the teaching of slave trade in school curricular.

“It is UNESCO’s concern that the present and future generation should be enlightened on the issues, problems and consequence associated with slavery to enable them fully understand the present and prepare them for a better future in the world free from all types of enslavements, injustices, discrimination and prejudice.”

This is with the view of promoting a culture of peace, tolerance and harmonious co-existence among all races of the world.

These heritage sites that qualified Badagry to be listed among the nine (9) destinations in Africa for the Collaborative Action for Sustainable Tourism
(COAST) project by World Tourism Organisation are the monuments of memories that the Lagos State House of Assembly seeks to obliterate.

Under COAST project48 local tour guides and 18 boat operators were trained in heritage interpretation and visitor management and safety. 136 youths were trained in local art and craft production. Seven thousand (7,000) copies of visitor guidebook was produced and distributed freely to tourists. Awareness was created in environmental management likewise responsible management of tourism assets.

These heritage sites that Lagos State House of Assembly is planning to destroy attracts nothing less than 200,000 (Two hundred thousand) local and international tourists to Badagry annually. The domestic market constitutes 70% while internal market completes the remaining 30%. Majority of the international tourists are Americans. Obviously, they came because of these heritage sites.

 

These sites have offered direct and indirect jobs to hundreds of youths within and outside Badagry. They are involved in the tourism supply chain as tour guides, tour operators, caterers, local transporter, souvenir vendors, and boat operators, bar attendants, craft sellers, ice-cream vendors, and cultural dancers, among others.

These sites have attracted international figures like Rev. Jesse Jackson, Evander Holyfield, Marlon Jackson, LL Cool J among others to Badagry.

The late King of Pop Music Michael Jackson died the year he was supposed to visit Badagry, for the Badagry Historical project spear headed by the late pop star.

The only comparable horror to slave was the Nazi Holocaust when over 6 million Jews were killed in most undignified manners during the Second World War.

Consequently, after the war, concentration camps were preserved to serve as places of memory and Holocaust museum sprang up in different countries in Asia, Europe, the Americas even in Africa (South Africa to be precise).

The essence of this action was not to spread hate or racism or seek revenge, because what manner of revenge could equate this horror, the whole idea was to say Never Again! After the genocide in Rwanda, Genocide Museum came alive, again the rationale was to say Never Again!

Calling for the demolition of these heritage sites in Badagry is like asking for the demolition of Holocaust Museums and concentration camps in Israel, Russia, Japan, France, Canada, Germany, Poland, United States, Argentina, South Africa, Greece among others.These sites serve as places of memory, and to prevent a reoccurrence. Legislation is being increasingly relied upon as a response to social problems as society becomes complex. Heritage management legislation is enacted to prevent social problems such as vandalism to heritage sites whether intentional or unintentional.

In an informed and organized society, in the heritage sector, the main objective of legislation is to protect, for enjoyment of future generations, the heritage resources from an unwarranted destruction.

Also, setting up criterion for determining the significance and the process of approving appropriate mitigation measures to be taken against those who violate legal principles that threaten the protected resources.

Hence, heritage legislation has the statutory role or responsibility to save heritage resources and not to destroy them.One would have expected the Lagos State House of Assembly to concern itself with legislation that would improve the standard of leaving, legislation that will support the establishment of tourism related MSMEs and community-based enterprises, legislation that will create special fund or agency for preservation and conservation of heritage sites, legislation relating to land tenure and community right, legislation that will facilitate tourism business security, access to credit and the operation of public-private partnership, legislation on the completion of abandoned tourism projects, legislation to make adoption of heritage sites possible etc.

According to UNWTO, three quarter of the poor work and live in rural areas and the vast majority of the very poor are found in medium and larger-sized countries, over sixty percent of the world’s poor live in just 5 countries: India, China, Ethiopia, Bangladesh and Nigeria. Badagry is a contributor to this poverty index as vast majority of the populace wallow in abject poverty leaving below the poverty line. In fact, Badagry is rated the poorest Local Government in Lagos State.

The fundamental role of any responsible Government is to alleviate poverty and not aggravate it. The Honourable members should note that these monuments and heritage sites earmarked for demolition have, over the years, become important products of attraction for Lagos Tourism, and for Badagry people, tourism has become our oil, source of pride and hope; it has become the candle light in the development and economic darkness that the system deliberately released to hover over Badagry. Pulling down these heritage sites is tantamount to act of terrorism against a community that has been grossly marginalized and abandoned to wallow perpetually in abject poverty.We want to make a passionate plea to Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, the Executive Governor of Lagos State, to distant himself from this bill, the backlash will be too much for the state to bear.

 

We can assure the Honourable members that the Badagry people will be ready to lay their lives to protect these heritage and monuments that have come to define their lives and experience for over 350 years! Such act will be condemned globally. History don’t forget, may you never go down in history as the Governor who ordered demolition of heritage sites in Badagry!

--CAOLITION OF BADAGRY TOURISM PRACTITIONERS.

Daniel Kahneman’s Thinking, Fast and Slow (2011) – a recapitulation of the decades of research that led to his winning the Nobel Prize – explains his contributions to our current understanding of psychology and behavioral economics. Over the years, Kahneman and his colleagues, whose work the book discusses at length, have significantly contributed to a new understanding of the human mind. We now have a better understanding of how decisions are made, why certain judgment errors are so common and how we can improve ourselves.