The Deputy Governor of Delta State, Sir Monday Onyeme, has called on Africans to document their history for posterity.
He made the call on Wednesday when officials of the National Commission for Museums and Monuments, paid him a courtesy visit at Government House, Asaba.
According to him, “we don’t want to lose our history and cultural heritage, so, for us to do that, we must write our history ourselves to avoid it being told by others which may not be true or correct.
“One good thing about keeping our own history is that if Africans had written their history before the coming of Mungo Park that claimed to have discovered the River Niger, the Oyibo people would not come and tell us these stories that the River Niger was discovered by Mungo Park or the Landers Brothers because Africans took the River Niger as their source of drinking water and other economic activities before the coming of Mungo Park.
“Of course because the whites are the people that relies on documentation, we don’t document our history that is why they have that advantage.”
He commended the National Commission for Museums and Monuments, for documenting history, saying, “the idea of having a museum and making sure that our historical monuments are kept in order to tell the people about it is because, we don’t want to lose our history, and our culture.”
“Where we have lost in time past is enough, it is time that we begin to restore this knowledge so that generations that will come long after us will know about how we existed, how we lived and the contributions we made to our society.”
Onyeme, assured the officials of state government’s collaboration for them to succeed, especially in carrying out their activities in the State.
The Curator, National Commission for Museums and Monuments, Asaba, Elder Idika Kalu Uche, had told the deputy governor that they were in his office to intimate him of the activities of the commission and to invite him to their programmes.
Some dignitaries present at the meeting include the Commissioner for Culture and Tourism, Chief Darlington Ijeh, Deputy Chief of Staff Government House Sir, Christopher Osakwe and others.
