Nigerian Newsday

The Osun Osogbo Sacred Groove has been recognised and inscribed into the United Nations Education and Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) World Heritage List as one of the world's heritage monuments.

This inscription was done at the 29th session of the World Heritage Committee (WHC) meeting held recently in Durban South Africa.

With the inscription of the Osogbo Sacred Groove, Nigeria now has two cultural sites in the World Heritage List.

Speaking while making his acceptance speech at the 29th session of the UNESCO WHC, the minister of Culture and Tourism, Ambassador Frank Nchita Ogbuewu remarked that Nigeria has lost a number of its sites in the World Heritage List.

The minister pointed out that Nigeria is the most populous and culturally diverse black nation in the world with over 150 million people and 450 ethno-linguistic groups.

He described the session and the inscription of the Osun Osogbo Sacred Groove as historic and significant for Africa.

He stressed that the federal government has remained committed to the promotion of culture as a vector of development.

He then thanked the World Heritage Committee, the International Council for Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Culture Property (ICCROM) and the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) for their input in the nomination of Osun Osogbo Cultural Landscape, assuring that his ministry was committed to ensuring that the cultural landscape was properly preserved as a sustainable economic asset.

In his contribution, the South African minister of Culture and Tourism, Mr. Thiery Joffroy said that Nigeria and South Africa have the unique task of ensuring that African potentials were harnessed to further consolidate the emerging strength of the African continent.

He then enjoined Nigeria to renew and strengthen bilateral relations between the two nations in the area of culture and tourism.