HOLDINGS AND CHALLENGES OF ARCHIVES IN AFRICA: THE CASE OF THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF NIGERIA, 1954 - 2015
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Date
2016
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Publisher
University of Cape Coast Press, Cape Coast, Ghana.
Abstract
Stake holders, particularly researchers, are concerned about the current deplorable state of records in the National Archives of Nigeria. Established in 1954, the organization’s policies have attracted challenges that remain unresolved decades after inauguration. Adopting historical method, the paper argues that records in the Archives repositories would remain threatened for as long as the organization remains subsumed under the federal ministry arrangement. Implementing Records Management programmes with a view to enhancing storage, preservation and retrieval would continue to fail as a result of opportunism, insincerity and ineptitude on the part major stake-holders. The paper advocates that retaining the National Archives of Nigeria under the federal ministry arrangement should be jettisoned without further delay while the passage of the National Archives Bill should be revived and fast tracked. It concludes that patronage of National Archives documents by scholars will drop if the issue of irregularities associated with using the archives remains unaddressed.
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Keywords
Deplorable, Archives Bill, Nigeria, Records
Citation
Afolabi, A. S. (2016): Holdings and Challenges of Archives in Africa: The Case of the National Archives of Nigeria. In Africa and other Continents Since the Nineteenth Century, Ibrahim A Jawondo and Victor Ojakorotu, (eds.) 339 - 367, University of Cape Coast Press, Cape Coast: Ghana.