Borno State Government, Plans for a Boko Haram Museum

Yomi Kazeem's article for Quartz Africa reveals the plans for a BOKO HARAM museum in Nigeria, "the government of Borno state, the worst affected by the Boko Haram insurgency, says it wants to turn the home of Yusuf Mohammed, the late founder of the sect, into a museum".

Apparently Nigiria's cultural sophistication suffers as, "Nigeria generally does not have a great reputation for preserving its history". according to Kazeem's article, "century-old heritage buildings have been demolished by government and history is no longer taught in schools". An assumption made and highlighted by the fact that - The national museum in Lagos, remains in need of repairs.

However, this move to address the obvious evils and brutality of Boko Haram and where it evolved from, feels sophisticated and daring, It reminds one of the ambitions that developed the S-21 museum in Cambodia or Srebrenica's Genocide Memorial complex. An opportunity to inform and educate, a tool to dissolve the myths and stories behind the group. An opportunity to express the prosaic reality of movements relying on media manipulation, rumor, fear and miss-information.

The risk when developing this kind of cultural intervention is......(read more)