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. Head of the Department of Monuments
Heritage and Sites at the National
Commission for Museum and
Monument, Mrs. Adama Muhammed,
made this known to the News Agency
of Nigeria on Tuesday in Abuja. Murtala Mohammed was killed on
February 13, 1976 in an abortive coup
and buried in Kano, while Nnamdi
Azikwe, who was the first Nigerian
President, died on May 11, 1996 and
was buried in Onitsha. The late 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 on January 15, 1956 by Shell
Darcy. Muhammed said NCMM had been
working on about 24 heritage sites in
the country, to make them fit to be
declared national heritage sites. She said 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.

Punch newspaper.