Lagos State University (LASU) Vice-Chancellor Ibiyemi Olatunji-Bello says one of the goals of the institution is to become the best university in West Africa.

Ms Olatunji-Bello said this at an event organised by the university to mark International Museum Day (IMD) 2022, in Lagos. The day is celebrated globally each year on May 18.

Ms Olatunji-Bello said according to the American Alliance of Museums, in the U.S., about 80 per cent of the museums provided educational programmes for children.

“This is very critical towards attaining our set goal of becoming the best university in West Africa,” said the LASU vice-chancellor. “The museum has the power to reflect and shape our society.” 

Ms Olatunji-Bello explained that the importance of a museum to any society could not be underestimated and added that the university was determined to position the museum to showcase knowledge and address key social issues.

This, she said, would help transform how people see the future, learn from the past and enrich history.

“One of the ways to achieve that is to introduce technology in our service, with the rise in technology usage over the last two decades. Modern technology is transforming museums from spaces of looking and learning to modern centres of interaction, participation and engagement,” she noted. “We are determined as a team to initiate the necessary steps towards digitisation and innovation with the use of technology.”

The LASU museum is one of the research missions of the university and established to collect cultural artefacts for preservation, conservation, exhibition, display, research and documentation, according to the VC.

“Despite the setback of losing a portion of our museum land to the general interest of Lagos state, the LASU Museum is not discouraged in any way in the pursuit of her mandate,” she said.

Ms Olatunji-Bello promised that the management would provide modern facilities and state-of-the-art equipment for cutting edge scientific and technological researches, to make LASU museum more functional.

(NAN)