The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed,
announced on Thursday that Poland has offered to support Nigeria in
preserving the nation’s cultural artifacts and monuments,
The Minister made the announcement in Abuja when he received the
Polish Ambassador to Nigeria, Joan Magdalene Tarnawska.
“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.
Alhaji Mohammed said many of the nation’s artifacts and monuments need
to be restored and preserved, just like many historical pictures.
He expressed delight at the Ambassador’s interest in Nigeria’s culture
and tourist sites which, he said, has 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.
He noted that Nigeria and Poland signed an agreement on Cultural and
Educational Cooperation and Exchanges in 1976, and both countries have
enjoyed active relations via various exchanges in music, dance,
literature as well as exhibition of arts and crafts.
“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, specializing 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.
