Poland has offered to support Nigeria in preserving the nation’s cultural artifacts and monuments, Information and Culture Minister, Lai Mohammed disclosed on Thursday.
A statement by Special Assistant To The President (Media) Office of The Minister of Information and Culture, Segun Adeyemi, said the Minister said this when he received the Polish Ambassador to Nigeria, Joan Magdalene Tarnawska, in Abuja
The move is in fulfilment of the agreement on Cultural and Educational Cooperation and Exchanges signed by Nigeria and Poland in 1976, under which both countries have enjoyed active relations via various exchanges in music, dance, literature as well as the exhibition of arts and crafts.
The Minister noted that the nation’s artifacts and monuments need to be restored and preserved, just like many historical pictures.
“The highlight of our discussion this morning is Her Excellency’s offer that Poland is willing to assist Nigeria in giving us the technology to preserve some of our artifacts and our monuments and we are looking forward to the formal proposal from Poland because this is one area where I think there can be mutually-beneficial relationship,” he said.
He expressed delight at the Ambassador’s interest in Nigeria’s culture and tourist sites which, he said, had motivated her to embark on a tour of such sites.
“Her Excellency is quite passionate about Nigeria’s culture and she is looking forward to visiting many of our tourist sites. She knows many of them by name but she’s not been there,” the Minister said.
“Before then, Poland and Nigeria shared a very long history as can be evidenced in the number of Nigerians who have studied in Poland and, as a matter of fact, the Ambassador just informed me that a Nigerian even became a member of Parliament in Poland. That shows the level of relationship between Nigeria and Poland,” he said.
In her remarks, Ambassador Tarnawska paid tribute to some Nigerian literary icons, having studied African Culture at the University of Warsaw, specialising in Africa literature.
“I am honoured to be here in Nigeria, the home of Chinua Achebe, Wole Soyinka and of course Chimamanda and many other great literary figures,” she said.
The Ambassador said Poland has a thriving tourism industry and expressed the hope that both nations will collaborate to deepen the cultural ties between them.
