AS the National Commission for Museums and Monuments (NCMM) recently joined other countries to celebrate the 2013 International Day of Museums, Director-General, Yusuf Usman Abdallah, called for understanding of private owners of museums across the country on modalities of museum establisment.

He said the call became necessary following arbitrary establishment of museums by private individuals, organisations, institutions and even state governments without necessary and statutory supervision, regulation and approval by the Commission. Abdallah therefore used the occasion of the celebration to invite all concerned groups to immediately regularise activities of their outfits or have them shutdown.

The celebration of the International Day of Museum was declared in 1977 by the International Council of Museums (ICOM). Since then, it is celebrated every May 18, to raise awareness on the importance of museums in the development of society. Every year, a new theme is designed by the council to reflect on the reality of the moment. This year, the theme is ‘Museums (Memory + Creativity) = Social Change’. This mathematical equation, the Abdallah said, captured several concepts that were essential in the definition of museums. Represented by the Director, Accounts and Finance, Mr. Bode Oke, the museum boss said: “We transmit knowledge, skills, history and memory of our heritage resources to our various audiences. We also encourage creativity and inventiveness through our programmes in art clubs and other outreach programmes to academic institutions and organised groups”.

The celebration in Abuja was low-keyed and attended mostly by secondary school students within the Federal Capital Territory, and entertained guests with cultural dances. Also at the event was the Director/Technical Partner, Travels Marketing Partners, Mr. Akin Laisu.

In his keynote address, which was based on the year’s theme, he stated that it was designed to arouse people’s curiosity, provoke loud thought and create engaging experience, adding, “The mathematical theme invokes a symbol and metaphor of the worth of museums in contemporary society when the evidences of the past, trusted and entrusted in their care are properly cared for and appropriately and creatively utilized”.

Liasu noted that it was the memory stored in form of heritage, activated by creativity of the guardians and other stakeholders in the museum environment that reverberated in the soceity and brought about social change in the rapidly changing world.

He said: “This is an affirmation that museums build their reputations and worth around their great collections, knowledge, impacts and experiences that these collections generate.

“Museums must, as a matter of fact, recognise communities to be able to tell a wholesome story and impact the communities meaningfully”.

The speaker said the interplay and concern for museums to contribute towards addressing contemporary challenges influenced the concept of such museums as integrated, community, neighbourhood, eco and social museums as well as museums without walls, noting, “The emergence of these museums, some of which assumed specialised status, is in full realization of the fact that the changes in the social domestic, political, religious, economic and cultural lives as against the past, especially in developing communities, do not only create challenges for museums but also put so much tasks that require concerted efforts to tackle”.

While appraising the year’s theme, Liasu said one fact that must be acknowledged was that it dynamically garnered several perceptions that define what museums are in the present day, revealing the outstanding universal nature and value of the institution and its positive impact on the society.

He further stated, “It also summarises the complex nature of museums and recalls that they are expected to contribute to community development and change”.

Although his paper did not seek to provide solutions to social ills brought about by changes in lifestyle, the presenter hoped it would stimulate debates around the subject and suggested a few possible frameworks and mechanisms with which museums and their relevant partners and actors in the field could be considered.