Gazing at two large engraved 16th-century elephant tusks on display at Nigeria’s National Museum in Lagos, a guide surprised visitors by telling them, “You can touch them gently.”

One of the three galleries at the museum in Nigeria’s cultural and entertainment hub has been remodelled to allow visitors to interact with some artefacts, reversing the typical ban on touching exhibits, and to take unrestricted photographs in an effort to engage younger audiences, curator Nkechi Adedeji told AFP.

As the group felt the texture of the elephant tusks to the tune of Afrobeats softly playing on overhead speakers, a young photographer was busy snapping away, likely for a social media post.

According to Tinuke Odunfa, the interior designer of the gallery, the plan was to modernise the space and present Nigerian history in an “intentional” and “immersive” environment.

“Everything was intentional in terms of how the space should be experienced, in terms of the colours, how the space leads you,” Odunfa told AFP.

The gallery holds one of the country’s most extensive collections, including major archaeological and ethnographic artefacts such as 5th-century terracotta by the indigenous Nok people.

Its white walls are lined with artefacts encased in glass, arranged chronologically from the oldest to the newest, each accompanied by brief notes.

A few other items of the permanent exhibition, “Echoes of the Past”, especially those made of wood and metal, are laid out in such a way that visitors can touch and “feel them”, the museum’s head of exhibition, Olusegun Adeleye, 51, said.

Low ambient lighting casts a soft glow across the gallery, giving the space a quiet, reflective atmosphere.

Lagos, the vibrant megacity of more than 20 million people and often described as Nigeria’s melting pot, inspired Odunfa’s design.

‘Coming in droves’

Since the renovated gallery opened to the public in April, it has been drawing more visitors than before, Adedeji said, without giving figures.

Its Instagram-ready spaces are drawing more schoolchildren and young adults, with pictures and videos increasingly shared online, making it a popular destination among “content creators”.

“They come here, do content, and before you know it, it is all over the place,” Adedeji said. “Youths are coming in droves now.”

“I love the way the artefacts are displayed,” Oyin Isioye, a 25-year-old photographer visiting the museum for the first time, told AFP. “I learned a lot of things… where the artefacts are from, what they represent.”

Repatriation calls

In one corner of the gallery, three empty cases contain a sheet of paper bearing the inscription “British Museum, how far??” (meaning “what’s up?” in Nigerian Pidgin).

The installation sends a”message to foreign museums that Nigeria is ready to pursue the repatriation of its looted artefacts.

Western museums, including those in Britain, the Netherlands, and Germany, have in recent years returned several hundred artefacts, but countless more remain in galleries in Europe and America.

“This renovation shows that we can protect and preserve our objects ourselves; we do not need any other country to do it for us,” said Adedeji.

The remodelling, funded by a private entity, also aimed at creating more display areas for the collection, the bulk of which is kept in storage.

More projects are in the works. Another gallery at the Lagos museum has been shut for renovation, along with other sites nationwide.

And Nigerian authorities are seeking partners to support future upgrades in preparation for more repatriated artefacts. (AFP)

•A visitor looks at an elephant tusk from the Benin Kingdom inside the National Museum in Lagos on April 23, 2026. (Photo by OLYMPIA DE MAISMONT / AFP)

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