By Elizabeth ADENUGA
A descendant of a Badagry slave master, Mr Wasiu Ajibola-Abass, has called on the Federal Government to renovate the Seriki Faremi Williams Abass slave museum located in Badagry.
Ajibola-Abass made the appeal on the sideline of a media tour of Badagry on Thursday in preparation for the Tourism Innovation and Development Advantage (TIDA) conference scheduled for April, 24.
The theme of the upcoming event is: “Impact of Sustainable Tourism Development and Marketing of Tourism Destinations on Host Communities”.
TBI Africa said that theNews Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that Seriki Williams Abass was a renowned slave merchant during the 19th century who became the paramount ruler of Badagry for 24 years.
Then the colonial masters used Williams to source for slaves in Nigeria until his death in 1919.
Ajibola-Abass as the custodian of the museum said that the entire building had become dilapidated and was no longer attractive to woo local and international tourists.
“This museum has been abandoned for long, even though we kept disturbing government to renovate the museum, you can see the state of the museum now.
“The wall of the building is falling off gradually, we are only lucky that students still come in on tour, we use the money they pay to patch the museum up from time to time.
“This place is capable of generating huge revenue for the government if renovated and well maintained,” he said.
Ajibola-Abass disclosed that the 100-year commemoration of the death of Williams, which is slated for June, 11, would be a celebration of freedom from slave trade.
“We are planning to celebrate 100-years of freedom from slavery and you know this place will not be presentable enough for the event, if it is not renovated,” he said.
