Conservation of traditional palaces of Zamfara State, Nigeria

Abstract

African countries are blessed with priceless heritage properties embedded with legacy and architectural values depicting a strong sense of heritage and cultural identity. These heritage properties deserve to be conserved for posterity. However, they are not given enough attention such that they eventually get destroyed due to natural and man-made risks. These risks are entropies ranging from natural causes such as climate change to man-made causes such as development in form of economic pressure, uncontrolled tourism, gaps in conservation policies, modernization trends, urban development, ethno-religious conflicts and wars. Additionally, these risks are not peculiar to heritage properties in a particular territory or continent but are general to heritage buildings all over the world. This study hence, aimed at investigating the conservation of the traditional palaces of Zamfara State, Nigeria. Through documents review, questionnaire surveys, interviews and direct observation. After the analysis of the findings, the results revealed that a remarkable portion of the respondents strongly agree that poor maintenance and development of contemporary architecture are the factors affecting the conservation of traditional palaces of Zamfara State. Correspondingly, the government is the only stakeholder responsible for the conservation of the traditional palaces of Zamfara State. The study therefore, recommends routine maintenance which could be carried out annually, after two years or after every five years, government should provide enabling environment for private public partnership for the conservation of these palaces. Furthermore, legislations mandating the conservation of the traditional palaces should be strengthened and reinforced by policy and decision makers; traditional institutions and community should be actively involved in the decision making processes, the traditional institutions should collaborate with the private sector for their conservation. The study further recommends that there should be a proper documentation of all conservation activities that takes place on the palaces by the professionals involved. Finally, the study suggests further research in the aspects of the indigenous building materials, construction techniques, public perceptions and innovative techniques on the conservation of the traditional palaces of Zamfara state, Nigeria.