Chude Jideonwo has warned that Nigeria’s cultural archives are under threat. The media entrepreneur and journalist spoke at the CANEX WKND 2026 Readers’ Corner panel in Lagos. The event held at the Wole Soyinka Centre for Culture and Creative Arts. He said poverty, poor governance and inadequate institutional support are undermining preservation. Economic hardship forces individuals and institutions to prioritise survival over history.
Nigeria has no comprehensive national archive of its cultural production. Nollywood’s early films were shot on VHS tapes that have degraded. Highlife and Afrobeat recordings have been lost. Newspapers and magazines have been discarded. The National Archives in Enugu and Ibadan hold some records, but funding is inadequate. In 2023, the National Theatre was renovated. In 2024, the government announced a creative economy fund. Preservation has not been a priority. Private collectors fill some gaps. They are few and under-resourced.
Jideonwo shared a personal loss. He had kept newspaper articles since he was 15. They were sold and discarded from his home in Ikorodu, Lagos. He had planned to digitise them. The loss, he said, reflected a broader problem. “Precious historical materials are often discarded because their importance is not recognised,” he said.
He cited television stations that reused recording tapes because they could not afford new ones. Each reuse erased history. He criticised successive governments for neglecting cultural preservation. He said the digitalisation of Nigeria’s collective memory is rarely prioritised. He called for stronger collaboration among cultural institutions to pool resources. He cited the role of private patrons in preserving the National Theatre and Freedom Park. He urged stakeholders to develop practical measures to address the crisis.
CANEX is an initiative of the African Export-Import Bank. It supports Africa’s creative and cultural industries through financing, capacity building, trade and investment promotion.
Winners: Jideonwo, who gained a platform. CANEX, which gained visibility. Private collectors, whose work is recognised. Losers: The lost archives. Future generations, who will not have access. Researchers, who face gaps. The creative economy, which loses its history. The government, whose neglect is exposed.
Bottom Line: Archives are not luxury. They are memory. Nigeria is losing its cultural record because it cannot afford to keep it. Poverty destroys more than livelihoods. It erases the past.