Nigeria’s 62nd Independence Anniversary: Society Of Nigerian Archivists (SNA) Calls For Proper Record Keeping For Nation Building

Members of the Society Of Nigerian Archivists (SNA) have urged the Nigerian government to focus on proper record keeping as a tool for nation building as Nigeria marks her 62nd Independence Anniversary on Saturday October 1, 2022.

Some of the members of the SNA, who spoke during an online advocacy program organized by the association for the anniversary, stated that there is need for Nigeria to join the comity of nations that have attained and sustained development through proper record keeping.

It was agreed at the advocacy program that informed nation is a transformed nation with a call on Nigerians to join hands together in building a better Nigeria.

In their submission on “The Role Of Archives In Nation Building, with Focus on Record Preservation and proper record keeping for socio, economic and political uplifting, Chairman of the Caretaker Committee of SNA, Mrs. Yemisi Grace Oyebo, the Director of National Archives Mrs. Evelyn Odigboh, Dr. Mrs Atulumah, and Brig. Gen. Adisa Bossman (Rtd) stated that it was important to look at the role of archives in the past, presently and what the roles of archives would be in the future as regards nation building.

Yemisi Oyebo explained that archives keep records of evidences of transaction that are done in the economic, political, social, education, health, manufacturing, as well as in all business sectors-corporately, religiously and privately. Every record kept are for future purposes to meet operational, statutory, historical and as legal entities.

Oyebo said that records are needed for the government to make the right decisions, and to be seen as the pride of the nation. The records would be for planning, decision making and for building on what people are doing.
“According to some local and international laws, as well as strategic business policies, it is mandatory to keep records of transactions as regards that business to support operations, statutory and legal purposes.

“Therefore, for a nation to thrive and to grow, it is expedient for us to preserve our National records because these are information assets. It’s a must if we don’t want to lose these records.
“Preservation of records begins from looking at the four cardinal points of record keeping which boils down to policies, procedures, which go together as standards for governance,” she said.

Her words: “secondly, we should also look at processes, which are your day to day activities which cannot be done without reference to records of previous activities.

“There should be well defined processes in keeping the records from the time you create or receive the records to how you classify it, and how you catalogue.

“After that, how you store it, the type of equipment you use in storing your records and where you eventually let your records rest are important elements to consider in preserving your records.

“Another cardinal point of the record management framework is the infrastructure, which is where we keep our records; like the buildings, the environment, the racks, boxes and other equipment- like the IT technology, which are all parts of the infrastructure.

“These can be physical infrastructure or Information Technology (IT) Infrastructure. You need all these to preserve our business and heritage records for nation building.”

She posited that there should be professionals to manage records, who should be people that are well trained in the area of record keeping.

“We should come up to the international standard that we have globally. Nigeria should be able to compete with the United Kingdom, the United States of America, Australia and so on. We have record and archiving professionals that can do this.

“On this note, we want to call on our government as we mark our 62nd Independence anniversary to look into records keeping because this is the memory of the nation and we will continue to need it to grow,” she said.

Dr. Bola Christy Atulumah, another member of SNA spoke on the socio-economic perspective of archives.

Dr. Atulumah said that the ability to envision or predict the future is strongly influenced by people’s memories of the events that have taken place in the past.

She stated that an individual that is deprived of memory becomes disoriented, lost and would not know where he has been or where he is going.

“So, a nation that is deprived of a conception of it’s past would be disabled in dealing with its present and of course, its future and that is what is referred to as national amnesia.

“Therefore, records and archives form parts of our national patrimony. Our national patrimony is our source of wealth or accumulated reserves or our national economy.

“It also includes our national monuments, cultural, traditional and also artistic heritage. It is important therefore to preserve our heritage, tangible or intangible because it adds character and distinctiveness to us as a people and thus provides a sense of identity, which have a positive influence on many aspects of our socio-economic development,” she said.

She emphasised that good records and archives management serve as information resources that have legal values, historical values, evidential values, and financial values amongst others.

These, she said bring about transparency whereby in case of any litigation or whatever the records are there and open to scrutiny.

She stated that this also leads to accountability, adding that when there is transparency and accountability there is bound to be good governance.

“It is very important that as a nation we should make records and archives keeping an important thing to do so that our nation can develop and we will be amongst the developed nations of the world,” she said.

Mrs. Odigbo Evelyn, who lectured on “Socio-political/Governance Perspective,” stated that every society is made up of people of different ages and eras, and that it is generally believed that memory is short.

Odigbo noted that records, especially archived documents constitute unique and irreplaceable sources of reliable information without which human beings cannot develop to their fullest potentials.

“Archives is a vital factor in the preservation and presentation of the cultural heritage and national identity as well as a tool for administrative efficiency.

“Those who are involved in government process cannot effectively govern nor be held responsible for lapses unless their actions are made available through organised sources and easily accessible means.

“For this to be achieved, persistent provision of reliable documentary evidence in form of archives must be ensured.

“Archives are indispensable foundation of the governance process because without reliable and authentic documentary evidence guiding all essential governance processes, governance and accountability cannot be achieved.

“Archives as recorded information is the cornerstone of any entity’s ability to fulfill its responsibility for good management,” she said.

She emphasised that without reliable, verifiable and authentic records, decisions and official actions and transactions cannot be traced, and that rules would not be known and definitely cannot be enforced.

Her words: “We are talking about archives and it is archives that show direction, if you don’t know where you are coming from, you will definitely not know where you are going.

“So, the archives helps in administration, it shows the steps that have been taken in certain areas, on certain issues and all the steps that were taken, where the steps stopped, where to pick it up from, where the mistakes were noticed, where the lapses were found and the steps to take to avoid falling into the same ditch or mistake all over again.

“They are pointers, they point the way. Archives contains information and information is power. Anybody that does not have information is like someone groping in the dark.”

She explained that the connection between the archives, that is recorded and nationhood cannot be over-emphasised, adding that Nigeria did not start in 1914, but that it had been existing, but not in the form that we are in today.

“All the entities that we call Nigeria today had been in existence before 1914 and therefore it is expedient to know that all the records of that processes can be found in the National archives.

“The purpose of that amalgamation was essentially for the administrative convenience of the colonial masters.

“We have been existing as brothers in our different entities. We have been getting engaged in trading activities.

“We are one nation, we have been together and we need the archives and the records to continue to keep the records straight. An informed nation is a transformed nation,” she said.

Also contributing, Brig. Gen. Bossman Adisa (rtd), who spoke on Security Perspective of archives, said that the Nigerian military, the Nigerian Army, Navy and Air Force have there own archives, where all their appropriation, the training, the happenings in the military are referred to when there is need for them.

“So the same goes for a country or organisation. These documents have been selected and kept at the points where the events occur. The archives could be certificates, agreements, treaties, training manuals, they could be in digital form. They could be maps, and photographs that need to be kept for future use.

“In Nigeria, the archives have not been what it should be. We supposed to have passed the stage that we are in archival system in Nigeria.

“Nigerian Army Archives was established in 1983 as a directorate. When Gen. Wushishi was the then Chief of Army Staff, he felt that there was need for the Nigerian Army to establish Nigerian Army Archives. The idea came from Gen. Omojokun, the then Commandant of the Nigerian Army Education Corps.

“He said that it was time for the Nigerian Army to have archives. The Nigerian Army had expanded after the Civil War, so many battalions, brigades, divisions, and establishments of the Nigerian Army. So, there was need to harness all those important documents together in a safe place, well preserved,” he said.