The United States government has offered a $1.5m grant to support a two-year project that aims to protect Sukur Cultural Landscape, a UNESCO World Heritage site in Adamawa State.
The Minister of Art, Culture and the Creative Economy, Hannatu Musa Musawa, and David Greene, the Chargé d’Affaires and Acting US Ambassador in Nigeria signed an agreement for the conservation of the tangible and intangible heritage of Sukur Cultural Landscape at the US Embassy Abuja on Thursday.
The project aims to, among other things, conserve the tangible and intangible heritage of Sukur, and enhance community capacity and resilience.
It is also targeted at strengthening local, national, and international networks for site conservation and aims to revitalise threatened traditional crafts and the Sakun language.
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Musawa commended the US government’s commitment to cultural preservation in Nigeria.
She said the project would help in protecting the Adamawa heritage site which is currently facing insurgency and climate change threats.
Responding, the US envoy, David Greene, highlighted the gains in the long-standing relationship between Nigeria and America and the desire to consolidate the achievements with the current minister.
“Building on twenty years of AFCP grants in 2021, the United States and Nigeria signed the bilateral Cultural Property Agreement. With that, we intensified joint efforts to identify, intercept, and repatriate looted, or other displaced cultural property and related heritage works.
“These efforts paved the way for the official transfer in October 2022 of twenty-two Benin Bronzes back to Nigeria. I am pleased to report that since 2022, the number has grown, and now a total of sixty-three Benin Bronzes have been successfully repatriated to Nigeria,” Greene said.
