By JAPHET ALAKAM

The National Commission for Museums and Monuments Lagos last week held  its first exhibition of the year tagged  Cross River Valley: Eden of Art and Culture at the Commissions complex in Onikan.

This exhibition  which was the first to focus exclusively on the traditional Art of the ethnic groups dwelling along the Cross River basin which stretches from the Cameroon Mountains was declared open by the Director General of NCMM, Yusuf Abdallah Usman. On display were objects associated with the culture of the people living in the villages, towns and cities, along the course of the cross river.

They include a number of stimulating aspects of the traditional arts and practices of the groups dwelling along the Cross Valley such as masks, currencies, ancestral figures, terracotta works, royal paraphernalia, body ornaments, household utensils, traditional rulers, yam barn and fire place and body adornments from the commission’s collection and from the following states; Cross River, Akwa Ibom, Ebonyi, Benue and part of Cameroon Republic.

The exhibition according to the DG was intended to achieve two things, first to highlight and showcase a section of the large collections of National Museum Lagos that have hitherto not been exhibited in previous outings and secondly to demonstrate the creativity, ingenuity, skills, aesthetic qualities and technological know- how of the people of this area dating back to several decades. These two objectives it actually achieved judging from the calibre of works displayed.

In his remarks the DG  who commended the members of National Museum Lagos said that Nigeria is a country rich in cultural objects which have been exhibited in many countries of the world. These include the works of Igbo Ukwu, Nok, Owo, tfeand Benin etc. and the works found along the Cross river basin are also among the rich culture heritage collection of Nigeria.

He noted, that “our valuable collections are our pride as a nation and as a people not only to those that visit the museum on daily basis, but most importantly to the outside world as a boost to our reputation, integrity, creativity, and ingenuity as a people with a very rich and robust historical past.” Pointing out that the act of sectionalizing exhibitions is an attempt by the museum to systematically display the collection from time to time.