Nigeria has become the first African country to deposit data in the Arctic World Archive (AWA), a storage facility designed to preserve records for up to 2,000 years. The archives were placed 300 metres beneath a mountain in Svalbard, Norway, where cold, dark, and dry conditions ensure long-term preservation.
The AWA, established in 2017 by Norwegian technology company Piql, holds historical and creative records from 37 countries, including the Vatican Library and the European Space Agency. The Nigerian collection includes social and cultural history, as well as archives from its creative industries, drawn from 12 organisations such as the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library, Bloom Art gallery, and the Asaba Monument Trust.
Historian Nze Ed Emeka Keazor initiated the project after being appointed chair of Piql's first Africa office in Lagos in 2022. He spent 18 months encouraging cultural organisations to preserve their records. Keazor and colleague Esona Onuoha travelled to Svalbard in February to hand over the archives.
The deposit includes manuscripts of the history of the Umuchieze community in Imo State, as well as records of cultural practices and precolonial Nigeria. Dr Chima Korieh, an expert in West African social and economic history, led the project to help the community preserve their stories, noting that public records in Nigeria are often poorly preserved or lost.
Ugoma Ebilah, founder of Bloom Art, said: 'It is important to me that Nigeria is remembered, because my work is about building cultural infrastructure. Nigeria has produced some of the world’s brightest and most creative people.' The deposit comes during a significant period for Nigeria's creative community, with British-Nigerian director Akinola Davies Jr winning a Bafta for his film My Father's Shadow.
