Historical Treasures in Ruins: Salvaging Archives in Nigeria

Abstract

Records provide the link between the past and the future. It is the repository of communities‘ intellectual and creative independence. The creations of the human mind are open to loss from both natural and man-made forces if delay is allowed in caring for them in the appropriate manner. When historical records are destroyed, history is wiped out forever. Archival records hold information about who we are and where we come from. Records substantiate history and give cultural context to the lives of human beings. This article depicts the relationship between national archives and national identity in a bid to showcase the need for the Nigerian government to pay special attention to protecting the national archives from destruction, rot and decay.