Murtala, Zik, Balewa Tombs To Become Heritage Sites

The tombs of the late Gen. Murtala Muhammed, Dr Nnamdi Azikwe, Alhaji Abubakar Tafawa Balewa and the historical site of  Oloibiri oil well will soon be declared as national heritage sites.

The Head of the Department of Monuments Heritage and Sites at the National Commission for Museum and Monument (NCMM), Mrs Adama Muhammed, disclosed this on Tuesday in Abuja.

Muhammed, a former Head of state was buried in Kano, former Prime Minister Balewa was interred in Bauchi while former President Azikwe has his final resting place in Onitsha.

Murtala Mohammed was killed on February 13, 1976 in an abortive coup and buried in Kano, while Nnamdi Azikiwe, who was the first Nigerian President, died on May 11, 1996 and buried in Onitsha.

The late Tafawa Balewa, the only prime minister of an independent Nigeria died on January 15, 1966 and was buried in Bauchi and his tomb had since become a tourist attraction.

Oloibiri is a small community in Ogbia Local Government Area in Bayelsa, Niger Delta region of Nigeria, where oil was first discovered in commercial quantity in January 15, 1956 by Shell Darcy.

Muhammed said that NCMM has about 24 heritage sites, which it had been working upon to be declared as national heritage sites in the country.

She said that the NCMM had succeeded in establishing 65 monuments.

“NCMM has the power to declare monuments because of their standing value in the areas in which they are found. “We maintain the monuments and artifacts; we give licenses and permit private and local governments that want to establish museums to do so,”  she said.

Muhammed said that two of the existing heritage sites in the country had been included in the world heritage sites category by the UN Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO).

According to her, the declared international heritage sites are the Sukur cultural landscape in Adamawa and Osun Osogbo Cultural Day, which celebration always attracted people from different walks of life.