Oduduwa Mobile Museum Project Takes Off

Oduduwa Mobile Museum Project Takes Off

Yinka Olatunbosun reports that a museum project that will redefine the World’s cultural landscape and preserve Yoruba civilization will be unveiled at the Brazilian Embassy in Lagos, tomorrow

In the western understanding of the term, Yoruba, it is not just a word that describes an ethnic group in Western Nigeria or Africa alone but a race that is spread across other countries of the world. Due to Atlantic Slave Trade, Yorubas have been found in communities in Cuba, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Jamaica, Brazil, Trinidad and Tobago, Saint Lucia and Grenada.

To restore and promote Yoruba civilisation worldwide, The House of Oduduwa led by His Imperial Majesty Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi, the Ooni of Ife has partnered with the governments of Brazil, Cuba and over 20 other countries to start Oduduwa Mobile Museum. The project, loaded with a lot of economic, political and socio-cultural benefits will draw attention to the rich Oduduwa culture and stimulate global conversations.

The project will be unveiled tomorrow, September 7 at the Brazilian Embassy in Lagos. Scheduled to last 60 days, the project will parade about 1000 African cultural materials as they are moved from place to place. In a statement issued by the House of Oduduwa, the unveiling ceremony will be followed by a four-day exhibition of antiquities, art recreations of divinities and treasures of ancestors of the Oduduwa people.

“The cultural items slated for the exhibition will recall the earliest and superb civilisation of the Oduduwa people spread across the world and the place of pre-eminence of the Oduduwa people in the history of mankind. The cultural items combine to reinforce the belief that indeed humanity originated from Ile-Ife, the acclaimed origin of the Oduduwa people located in South Western part of Nigeria,’’ it stated.

Oduduwa Mobile Museum is aimed at attracting and coordinating various interests and groups across the globe for sustainable global peace and development. The museum will function as a hub of diverse African cultural productions and knowledge-retrieval, knowledge-renewal and knowledge-production centre for ancient African material and intellectual cultures. The museum is committed to reconstructing the image of the black man who is arguably the oldest specie of humanity.

Being a first of its kind in Nigeria, the museum is designed to reinforce the historic ties of Brazil with Africa as recognized by UNESCO; valorize the memory and the cultural diversity of Africa. The museum will celebrate persons of Oduduwa ancestry who have performed great feats. This unveiling ceremony coincides with Brazil’s 197th Independence Anniversary. Brazil is the only country in the world with over 80million Oduduwa descendants as part of her population. Brazil has adopted Yoruba as its official language.

“It is therefore appropriate that the museum project has been designed to have Ile-Ife and Brazil as its split base. It cannot be any other time other than now or the world to hear from and through Ile-Ife, where it all started, the narrative of a continuum of the past, the present and the future,’’ House of Oduduwa stated.

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