Cultural property in Nigeria  have often times, been subjected to threats of pillage, destruction, and loss due to excavation, criminal activity, natural disasters, and subsistence digging.
Moved by the need to protect these artifacts of identification,  the United States and Nigeria signed a Memorandum of Understanding, MoU, that would launch a Cultural Property Agreement between both nations and facilitate continued cooperation with Nigerian law enforcement agencies and support efforts to identify, intercept, repatriate, and protect cultural property and related heritage.
The agreement will also promote the exchange of archaeological materials for scientific, cultural, and educational purposes with the aim of increasing public awareness for Nigerian cultural heritage.
Ambassador Mary Beth Leonard and Minister of Information and Culture Lai Mohammed signed the agreement at a ceremony attended by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, and U.S. Embassy representatives.
In her speech, Ambassador Leonard,  said the agreement will enhance already existing strong cooperation to preserve and maintain Nigerian cultural landmarks and sites through the Ambassador’s Fund for Cultural Preservation, AFCP, adding that the United States has partnered with the Nigerian government and state institutions to fund projects totaling over one million dollars including the one hundred and twenty five thousand dollars AFCP grant awarded in November 2021 to digitally survey and document the Busanyin Shrine located within the Osun Osogbo Sacred Grove.
According to her, another major investment include the four hundred thousand dollars AFCP grant for the conservation of the late 14th-Century Sungbo’s Eredo monument, which will use three-dimensional laser scanning technology to generate a precise topographic map covering a thousand square kilometers of the area occupied by the monument.
She said Cultural Property Agreements are administered worldwide by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs in partnership with other governments desiring enhanced cooperation in that field as the bilateral agreements support U.S. government efforts across different agencies and organizations to protect and preserve cultural heritage in host countries.
The US Ambassador counted some of such efforts to include denying critical financing to organizations that engage in illicit trade of artifacts and other cultural objects of value saying that the U.S. has signed Cultural Property Agreements with several countries in Africa including Egypt, Libya, Mali, and Morocco.
She described the agreement with Nigeria as a means of learning from the past and recording through it through the partnership to preserve, restore, and protect Nigeria’s diverse cultural heritage.

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