The Vice Chancellor , Augustine University, AUI, Ilara-Epe,Lagos State, Prof. Chris Odetunde, has appealed to the federal government to fund monuments in the country.
Odetunde who spoke at the university’s Seminar on the Archaeology of Sungbo- Eredo in Lagos State .
He lamented that while Nigerian government shunned the natural resources, foreign experts from the United States of America and France showed serious interest in the monument.
Speaking on the historical monuments in Sugbo-Eredo, Ilara-Epe, the VC said the archeologists have excavated some war tools used in the past against attacks.
He said: “if you look at the history of Sugbo-Eredo, it seems that it was from the war time that the Yoruba people started building cave from Ife to Ijebu-Ode to here and all along .
“But, we don’t take care of that , Nigerians don’t care about them, but, this was found out and the experts wanted to know in those days how did they get the tools to make the tunnel, that is what they are studying here, so while excavating they can find all the tools old tools.
On the interest of the university in the archaeological research, Odekunle explained that it was to exposed the students to the study and teach them how best to go about investigation and research with good results .
He said: “our students will know about Sugbo-Eredo. Because this is Yorubaland, we need to know more about ourselves and what our great grand-parents did with no tools.
“The reason we brought the students here is to let them learn how to do research; to investigate things properly and report things properly .
“There are so many monuments all over the world, this is a typical example. If you have ever been to Kwara State , there is something called Esie natural museum, people are studying it now
“We don’t appreciate our own innovations but, the white people do . I will advise that we must continue to appreciate ours instead of selling them .
“I believe that if Federal government is interested, it is very important that they do it . Look at the people that are helping us they are French, the Americans are the ones interested in this . If they did not come , Nigeria will not care But, there are professors in archeology in Nigeria in Ife in Ibadan and all places.
“We need to encourage them to excavate some of resources that are buried under ground”, the don stated.
One of the researchers on the Sungbon-Eredo project, Mr. Tomos Evans from the United Kingdom has been doing a lot of archaeological excavations.
A Ph.D researcher, Evans during an interview said the purpose of the seminar is to discuss archaeological research into the past material culture and history of Sungbon-Eredo.
He described the Sungbon-Eredo as the largest earthworks system in the Southwest Nigeria.
“The Sungbon-Eredo community is where people of the past have dug their normal trenches and erected about 200 miles large walls about 600 years ago which now crosses parts of Lagos and Ogun states”.
“It has been argued that the Sungbon-Eredo community parades Africa’s largest single monument. It is an impressive archaeological site that needed to be explored and projected to the world at large”.
Evans, accompanied by other collaborators disclosed that the Sungbon-Eredo stretches across the AUI hence the seminar holding in the university.
Giving an insight into their findings, Evans said so far a lot of differrent things from different archaeological sites have been found.
“One of the things we have done was to have excavated very large moth where people dumped a lot of refuse in the past which had accumulated for a lot of artefacts, coins, imported glass bottles.
On the economic benefits of the project, Evans said: ” the more we bring the earthworks to national and international spotlight, the more Nigerians, Africans and people around the world know about it. It can also bring revenue to the immediate community of Eredo and in deed Nigeria as there are incredible works of heritage at these sites”, he concluded
Do you want to share a story with us? Do you want to advertise with us? Do you need publicity for a product, service, or event? Contact us on WhatsApp +2348183319097 Email: platformtimes@gmail.com
We are committed to impactful investigative journalism for human interest and social justice. Your donation will help us tell more stories. Kindly donate any amount HERE
