Legacy
About Us
Legacy
Our History
Railway Crossing
It all started after a conversation between Colonel Ian Nason, a former Defence Attaché at the British High Commission, and Kofo Adeleke in the 1990s, in which she expressed an interest in old buildings. He then arranged for a meeting of like-minded people to see how an organisation to focus on Nigeria’s built heritage could be formed.
A meeting took place on 11 April 1991 in the Colonel’s Ikoyi residence, which he incidentally was very keen to see preserved, with architect John Godwin in attendance. Rather than setting up a new organisation it was decided to form a ‘Preservation Committee’ under an existing organisation called The Lagos Heritage.
After this three years of ground breaking activities were led by this committee. They included Lagos Walkabouts; visits to the Iga Idunganran, Badagry; an Agia Tree planting ceremony where Christianity was first preached‘ a visit to Bahia, Brazil and documentation of important sites, including the First Storey Building and the Shitta Mosque. Then a need was felt to widen the scope.
There was however some restriction put on how the ‘Preservation Committee’ wanted to operate. A group of ‘rebels’ took the decision in September 1993 to break away and form a new group called ‘Legacy’. This group carried on working on lots of interesting activities such examining railway artefacts and archives, and establishing branches in Ibadan and Ife. The formal incorporation of Legacy as a legal entity was eventually effected on December 14 1995.
Countless walkabouts, excursions, presentations, publications, papers on Brazilian and colonial architecture and comprehensive newsletters have been done over the years. Legacy’s heritage documentation includes the Historical Sites of Nigeria Map, produced and published to educate especially the younger generation, and stimulate interest and concern about historical sites. Legacy was later given custody of Jaekel House on the Railway Compound, and finished its restoration in 2010. This building has now become a beautiful landmark in Lagos and an inspiration to others who want to save architectural heritage.
Thirty years later Legacy is still strong, with lots of work to do. Legacy meetings are vibrant, thanks to so many young committed people who have taken Legacy in various new directions.
School children at the Museum
In May 2018 Legacy in collaboration with the Goethe Institute organised a very successful two-day workshop Heritage Management – Which Way Forward, over 100 people attended. Another more recent event has been the highly successful ‘Nigerian Rail Heritage, Past, Present and Future’ exhibition was held at Jaekel House on 15th February 2020. And during the pandemic Legacy organised several widely attended webinars that attracted a worldwide audience, including The Brazilian connection: Reviving Nigeria’s links across the Atlantic and Restitution? Time for preparation!’: What happens after Nigeria’s looted artefacts return?
Future planned activities include the renovation of the mini-museum, restoration of other buildings in Legacy’s custody and the preservation of historic documents, new trips and activities and webinars on topical subjects.
Nigerian Railways heritage: past, present, future
In 2018, Oxford University’s African Studies Centre and Oxford Martin School began a collaboration with Legacy to visually document the history of Nigeria’s Railways. this project linked the documentation and conservation of Nigeria’s railway heritage infrastructure with themes of history and identity, personal and official memory, colonialism and independence, ruination and reconstruction, and ways of thinking about and rethinking modernity and imagining pasts and futures.
Ilojo Bar, an important example of Brazilian architecture in Lagos and a National Monument, was illegally demolished in 2016. Over the years, Legacy has made many efforts to help preserve and renovate this iconic building on Lagos Island. The building might be lost, but Legacy is working to create an online monument to Ilojo Bar or Casa do Fernandez as it used to be known, based on the research by Research Secretary Femke van Zeijl and created by the students of the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences. It will compile visual material, photo’s, text and more that tells the story of the historic building.
The Angel on top of Ilojo Bar returned
Heritage after School Project
How do you involve kids from an early age in their history and heritage? Legacy aims to help school implement an after school program to sensitise children and ignite their enthusiasm about their past and the remnants of it today. Legacy is working with the International National Trusts Organisation and the CCFU, to implement the Heritage Education Programme across schools in Africa. The Heritage Education Programme is an after-school club such as Brownies or Boys’ Scouts, with a focus on Heritage Education. With the continuous erosion of our culture, such programmes will make great impact to our society and the children.