National Museum, Oron now abandoned property

National Museum, Oron (inset) old legal tender & status of Murray in the Museum

Etim Ekpimah, who visited the Oron Museum in Akwa Ibom State, reports that artifacts and carved images reflect the history of the people

The National Museum, Oron, located behind Oron estuary, was opened to the public in 1959 with 800 ancestral images of the Oron in Akwa Ibom State.

It was learnt that the ancestral figures known as ekpu among the Oron were given to the museum by the indigenes on trust that it would be preserved as part of their cultural heritage.

However, during the Nigerian Civil War, some of the images were destroyed while some were stolen and taken abroad.

 Due to the importance the people attached to their cultural heritage and the role of museums as crucial custodians of a people’s history, there was a quest by the Oron that the museum should be revived.

The Department of Antiquities in the state retrieved some of the stolen artifacts. Later on, some other important cultural, artistic relics and bunkers used during the Civil War were added to make the Oron Museum one of the major tourism attractions in the state.

One of the sections that attract visitors to the museum is where carvings are. The carvings are described as some of the oldest and finest wood sculptures in Africa. They were made from special hardwoods (coula edulis and pterocarpus soyauxii).

The woods are said to be resistant to the destructive effects of termite attack and weathering. History has it that some of the carvings have been kept for three centuries.

SUNDAY PUNCH learnt that when a man dies in the old Oron society, his carved wooden image would be made before his burial. The practice became so popular that such carvings were put in a special building called the ‘Obio.’

The people of Oron believe that the spirit of the dead man resides in the carving.

During planting and harvesting seasons, food and drinks are  offered as sacrifices to the carvings. The practice, SUNDAY PUNCH learnt, was routed in the people’s belief that the dead participate in the affairs of the living.

However, the significance of the Oron carvings was said to have been first recognised by a Briton, Kenneth Murray, who taught arts at the Teachers’ Training College, Uyo, in 1938.

It is learnt that when Murray finally established Nigerian Antiquities Service in 1943, he began to preserve the relics.

The museum manual signed by the then Director of Antiquities, Dr. Ekpo Eyo, stated, “At first, Murray attempted to repair some of the shrines where the ekpu figures were housed; he removed of some carvings for safekeeping.

“His task was extremely difficult. Although by this time, the ekpu cult had declined to the extent that the art of making them was virtually extinct and the shrines were neglected so that the contents were being ruined by insects and rain, the owners of the carvings were reluctant to part with them.

“Nevertheless, Murray was determined to succeed. In 1946 and 1947, he published articles which drew attention to the certain prospect of losing these unique artworks, if urgent practical measures were not taken immediately.

“With the help of the District Officer at Oron, and the Oron Clan Council, by 1948, Murray had collected over 300 specimens, which were stored in the old Rest House at Oron.”

The museum has now become significant in the state. According to the curator, Mrs. Ann Effiom, pupils learn basic skills in arts and bead-making in the museum.

Besides encouraging the pupils to use their local languages, officers in the museum also dress them up in different attire worn by different ethnic groups in the country.

Effiom said the preservation of those relics had enabled the younger generation to fully understand their culture.

She said, “At times people get amazed when they see these things. If these things were in people’s houses, they would not know what they are for.  They would have destroyed them.

“Through those artifacts, people are learning about their cultures, what their cultures stand for, what they meant to the people and why the society has changed today. Maybe at that time people used to worship these objects, but today we are just keeping them for people to see, but not as objects of veneration.

“We even organised a cooking competition for them. We made the children who came from different parts of Nigeria to speak their local languages. We also dressed them up in their traditional attire and made them dance to reflect their cultures.”

Effiom said Nigerians from all walks of life visit the museum regularly, adding that visitors pay the sum of N100 per person before they are allowed into the gallery.

However, the museum has started suffering neglect. The Amphitheatre, where wrestling contests used to take place, and the craft village are now a shadow of themselves.