Fire came with its fury last week, first, my sympathies to the laity and clergy at the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, France. The place is a catholic church, for me it’s even more importantly an edifice of French civilisation. Its architecture, style, engineering, religions, spirituality and their symbols are all captured in that building that sits in the middle of the ancient European city. On its pavements, walls, ceilings and statutes-you find a collection of centuries of artistic beauty; encapsulating the changing faces of worship and faith. That parish is more known for its tourist significance than a place of praise. A close gaze on some of the arts reveal idol worshipping centuries past that Christianity apparently came to displace. Simply put, the city found a way to recognise its past on one of its most glorious monuments.
In the past days, torrents of pledges have been made. Within two days, over a billion Euros were raised to reconstruct the imposing masterpiece. More will be raised in the coming days surpassing the budget for its reconstruction. Although as if on cue, a lot of the building’s most prized possessions were whisked away days before the inferno. Also, some of its standing pieces overcame the fire. In Nigeria, folks who are mesmerised by the awesome mystery of religion praised God for His mighty presence! Yet science reveals that woods and materials like that burn at a particular degree. At 600 degrees Celsius, wood and materials like them are completely burnt to ashes, whereas gold can melt at over 1000 degrees. This may explain why materials in the inferno not burnt are still shinning.
While this in no way is trying to downplay the awesomeness of God, but it is always important to eliminate all factors before we heap everything on God. Leaving everything to God has come to make Nigerians or Africans incapable of thinking to solve our own problems. Listen, it is important to equally note that several days after the fire, no one seems to know what caused it. This is apart from the fact that the incident happened in the centre of town but fire fighters had a hell of a time fighting it. Had this happened in Nigeria, all hell will be let loose. People will abuse everyone in government, tell how incompetent they are and boast of how Europeans would have done better. In fact, in this day of the social media, all manner of memes would have been out there mocking what we call government and wondering why they are paid. Every explanation will not cut it. Never mind, critics would not have lent any hand.
So like I was saying, the French and some of their overseas friends have within days gotten more than they need to fix the cathedral. Even some poor African countries contributed their “widow’s mite”, whatever that is for, I will never know. I also see some French people angry with folks who chose to donate to rebuild a house than contributing money to help slaving people, hungry people and war ravaged parts of the world. While people should give according to their own conviction, it is not unlikely that they must have given to people in need too. But that is the way of the world now. The attraction is more for what the media decides to play up than what may really help humanity. But even more important is the pre-eminence with which Europeans view cultural symbolism.
In Nigeria, we condemn our past, and refuse to inculcate the culture of preservation. Those totems of idol worship sculpted into the body of the church in Paris cannot happen here. While ours is of recent memory, it is intriguing that an edifice of over 850 years old still retained religious practices of the forbears of French people. In Nigeria, till date, Christianity abhors symbols of other faiths. The practices of our forefathers which are still observed in some communities are treated like sacrilege in the church. So you find comical young Pentecostals making a song and a dance of destruction of African shrines with their history which are kept in carvings, sculptures, insignias, emblems, songs and dances of the keepers of such shrines. These places are desecrated in the most violent form, all in the name of a Middle Eastern religion!
Government hasn’t helped either. It seems we are all slaves to mind imperialism. What is the ministry of culture here to do? What does our museums do- is it to keep record of coup d’états and shattered windscreens? Or is it to keep details of Mungo Park and the Lander brothers? Some of the written words are best explained in objects that have lived for more than 2, 000 years. This is the best way to show we have been here long before these adopted religions came to be. We should be proud of our heritage not hide behind modernisation to teach our children that our lives began with these Abrahamic religions or that colonialism brought light to our path. Benin City had streets lights long before the first Europeans- the Portuguese berthed in these parts.
Where do we keep our heritage, in the backwaters of forgotten museums? We should be proud to display these artifacts- stolen or not. We should make replicas and date them accordingly. We should go after our stolen heritage, retrieve them or re-enact them. We should keep, mould, preserve, draw, remake, our many relics. We are over 350 groups that make up Nigeria. That is a beauty already. That is history with plenty to learn and unlearn. We should tell our own stories, not those told by Europeans about us.
