The Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) has tasked the Legacy Museum to ensure that tourists visit railway artifacts scattered across in the country.
Legacy Museum is the custodian and preserver of the nation’s rail relics.
The Managing Director, NRC, Dr Kayode Opeifa, said this, while hosting the Board of Trustees and Management of Legacy Museum of the Nigerian Railway Corporation, led by the President, Mr Taiwo Olaniyi.
Opeifa said the museum could deploy a tourist bus that would be dedicated to take tourists round the railway headquarters compound, and some of the stations within Lagos State.
“The museum should consider the production of a comprehensive documentary detailing the rail monuments, especially residential buildings and railway station buildings.
“This is the only way to draw the Federal Government’s attention towards Legacy Museum,” he said.
Opeifa expressed readiness of the corporation to collaborate with the museum, especially through the expansion of their programmes.
According to him, expanding their programmes will attract more tourists and boost revenue for the sustenance and maintenance of their service.
Commenting, Olaniyi welcomed Opeifa onboard, as the managing director of the corporation.
He said the visit was to inform the NRC managing director that the museum, otherwise known as the Jakeal House, Lagos, had been in the business of preserving railway artifacts and relics for over 30 years.
Olaniyi described the museum as a hub for the pursuit of knowledge, especially in architectural designs.
“Many students from the University of Lagos and other institutions of higher learning within the state, have been coming to the museum to learn about the architectural designs, many of which are still preserved in their colonial state,” he said.
Olaniyi said the museum occasionally interact with the Goethe Institute of Germany and the British High Commission, and partnered with Oxford University, England, in the preservation of the nation’s railway relics.
He appealed to the NRC management to preserve most of the old structures that were located in the various railway compounds across the country, from being either demolished or outrightly remodelled.