Every kingdom is known, respected and recognised by its cultural heritage and how well the heritage is being managed and sustained. In this report, Mairo Muhammad Mudi went round the ancient city of Zaria and writes on the dwindling fortune of structures such as the city wall, cloth dyeing wells, residential buildings and many more For a first time visitor to Zaria city, the city wall would easily attract attention, the wall which was originally built with mountain of reddish sand seems to be an endless massive wall encircling the ancient city. The wall is amazingly big, more than ten times thicker than the regular walls or fences of contemporary buildings. Sighting the Zaria city wall will immediately leave you wondering about the amount of time, resources and man power that went into the erection of such strong structure, which has stood the test of time. The Galadiman Shantalin Zazzau, Alhaji Mohammed Sani Ladan, who spoke to LEADERSHIP WEEKEND at the Emir’s Palace in Zaria blamed the artists, who display their wares around the city for scraping the wall as they collect sand from the wall to build their houses. He also added that lack of proper maintenance by the state and Federal Government through the Tourism Ministries or relevant agencies is also another factor responsible for the present state of the wall. The Galadiman Santali who complained that the responsibility of maintaining and keeping watch over the City wall has been left completely to the Emirate council called on the Government to invest in the maintenance of the wall as it could boost the tourism potential of not only the Emirate but Nigeria in General. Alhaji Ladan expressed the fear that losing the wall which is an important cultural monument for the next generations is a crime that posterity would not forgive the authorities for, even as he urged the government to intervene accordingly. Another beautiful heritage of the Zazzau Emirate that is sadly no longer in existence is the famous cloth dyeing wells known as ‘gwadalo’, found in special areas referred to as ‘Karofi.’ LEADERSHIP WEEKEND’S check at ‘Karofi’ reveals total dearth of the wells as they are now filled with sand and all manners of refuse. A resident of the area, Malam Ibrahim Ahmadu, who claimed that his grandparents were traditional dyers, blamed government’s negligence in encouraging the once lucrative business when modern clothes were introduced for its dearth. He lamented that this generation and the upcoming ones have lost the opportunity of knowing their forefather’s art of cloth making which he believes was more beautiful and qualitative than what is obtainable these days. Malam Amadu led the crew to an old man who is believed to be about the only person alive, who has traded in traditional cloth dyeing evident from the dyeing well built in front of his house. The old man was visibly angry as he mistook the crew for representatives of the government and refused to allow interviews and pictures initally. His anger, he said was as a result of government’s laxity towards the dearth of their trade even as he sympathised with the present generation who has missed out in all the euphoria of the trade pointing out that apart from providing clothes to beautify the people, it also provides medicine for illnesses that cannot be treated with orthodox medicine. Even though traditional dyeing seems to be dead and buried in Zaria, in Mabuga, an area where clothes are beaten after dyeing is still very vibrant and in business. The street is lined up with shops selling brocade, threads and tailoring accessories. Mabuga now functions as a place where modern clothes such as brocades are tamed traditionally. Inside the rooms as Muhammadu Nura led the crew were young men hitting folded clothes with very heavy sticks placed on a well moulded tree partly buried in the room. It requires enormous energy to raise the heavy sticks as none of the LEADERSHIP WEEKEND crew members could lift the sticks comfortably yet the young men and even children in Mabuga see it as a simple task. When Malam Nura was asked of the secret behind the enormous energy he said, “You won’t understand as this has to do with our ancestral inheritance, unless you are married and have children for this family, you will never understand the mystery of our work. You see, no amount of beating of the clothes, will bring down our building, tear the clothes or disturb our ears like it is doing to you now. All I can tell you is that we have unseen people helping out.” On why the ancient building is still maintained in Zaria city despite the modern transformation going on everywhere, Mallam Nura adduced it to several factors including poverty and the love to maintain the architectural heritage of the Emirate. “Like our own building, we are maintaining them because it has stood the test of time as we also do not want to lose the secret of successful job we have buried in our houses. - See more at: leadership.ng/news/290613/how-structural-heritage-zaria-slowly-fades-away#sthash.rXcVReea.dpuf
Posted on: Sat, 29 Jun 2013 05:58:25 +0000
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