CDD Partners French Institute To Preserve, Digitise Intellectual Legacies Of Pro-democracy Activism

Philip Daniel Yatai
Dec, Mon, 2023

Science & Tech

CDD partners French institute to preserve, digitise intellectual legacies of pro-democracy activism

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By Angela Atabo

The Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD) and the French Institute for Research in Nigeria (IFRA-Nigeria), have entered a partnership to preserve the intellectual legacies of prominent Nigerian pro-democracy activists.

Dr Sa’eed Hussaini, Research Fellow at CDD, said this at a conference with the theme “Archiving the Legacy of Nigerian Pro-Democracy Activism’’, organised by CDD on Monday in Abuja.

Hussaini said that archiving and digitising the intellectual legacies of pro-democracy activism was imperative in order not to lose the materials.

“There are two major ways in which this project will help Nigeria in terms of improving our democracy. One is in terms of citizens learning the history of how democracy was achieved.

“This will help us gain a better appreciation for democracy; remembering the struggles that it took will give us a new value for our democracy,’’ he said.

The official said they also plan to open some websites, so that citizens would be able to look at activities of pro-democracy activists, look at the intellectual production, listen to their interviews to learn about what inspired them to do what they did and achieved.

Hussaini said that CDD had also partnered with the Socialist Library and Archives Nigeria, an institution that had collected a lot of materials, books, letters, minutes of meetings and organisational materials.

He said the collated materials pertained to the struggle for democracy and the socialist movement more generally in Nigeria.

He said that one major benefit of the project was the fact that it would not only serve Nigerians currently alive but future generations.

Dr Barbara Morovich, the Director of the French Institute for Research in Africa, based in the University of Ibadan, said that the archiving initiative was a crucial element toward the Nigerian democratic state.

Morovich said that IFRA intended to use the project to show the complexity of the histories of the pro-democracy and freedom fighters for the younger generation to understand.

“The suggestions for CDD, SOLA, IFRA and all our partners are that we have to make it accessible for citizens to read and also its dissemination to the younger generation.

“Democracy is a matter of citizenship, unfortunately, in many countries, their democracy is just by name because in reality, people are kept in ignorance and people are not heard.

“So, for me, this initiative is to bring the history of democracy to the people and to let them express themselves about democracy,’’ she said.

Also speaking, Mr Joseph Ayodokun, the General Project Manager, IFRA-Nigeria, said that the project was being funded by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs through the Institute for French Research in Africa based in Ibadan.

“The project to archive the legacies of Nigerian pro-democracy activism is aimed at conserving the history to be in the hands of many.

“The concept of the project is to empower more people with the knowledge they need,’’ he said.

He said the project included digitisation and archiving the histories of Nigerian to rewrite another history and the digitization of records of ethnographic studies that has been done since 1901and recently.

He said others included the digitisation of religious architecture like mosques, churches, and shrines that are as old as 60 to 100 years old to create an image of it.

He added that there was also the digitisation of urban archaeology projects of the people of Ife aimed at preserving the remains of the mediaeval era dating to 10 to 11 centuries ago.

Ayodokun said that the fifth was a project aimed at digitising the intangible heritage of the Benin people which included their rituals, folklore stories, songs among others. (NAN)

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