Calls Grow for Nigeria to Convert Surviving Civil War Landmarks Into Heritage Tourism Attractions
Calls are growing for Nigeria to preserve and develop surviving landmarks from the Nigerian Civil War into structured heritage tourism attractions, as advocates argue that the country’s largely underused wartime sites hold significant potential for education, cultural tourism, and national reconciliation.
The Nigerian Civil War, also known as the Nigeria-Biafra War, lasted approximately 30 months between 1967 and 1970 and remains one of the most consequential events in the country’s modern history. More than five decades on, several physical reminders of the conflict continue to exist across the country, including museums, underground bunkers, military relics, and other historic locations connected to the wartime period. Advocates argue that incorporating these surviving landmarks into a structured national tourism strategy would reflect a broader global trend in which difficult chapters of history are transformed into meaningful educational heritage experiences, allowing visitors to better understand the causes, consequences, and human experiences tied to the conflict while promoting unity and peace rather than division.
Among the most prominent existing sites is the National War Museum in Umuahia, Abia State, which serves as the country’s principal repository of official narratives and artefacts relating to the war, alongside materials from other conflicts including the Niger Delta crisis. Located nearby is the Ojukwu Bunker, a wartime underground facility associated with the leadership of the former Biafran state, which remains one of the more recognisable physical remnants of the era.
In a notable recent step toward realising this potential, the Abia State Government has announced plans to take over and transform civil war relics, including the National War Museum and the Ojukwu Bunker, alongside more than 50 other heritage sites identified across the state, as part of a broader tourism development drive. According to the state’s Commissioner for Information, the decision followed an extensive survey conducted by the state’s Ministry of Arts, Culture and Creative Economy, which uncovered over 55 viable heritage and memorial sites in various parts of Abia, including locations tied to the 1929 Aba Women’s Riots and other significant historical episodes. The state’s Commissioner for Arts, Culture and Creative Economy noted that if properly harnessed, such sites could meaningfully boost the state’s internally generated revenue while opening opportunities for private sector investment in tourism infrastructure.
Beyond the Abia State initiative, other civil war-linked locations across the country, including the Ogbunike Caves in Anambra State, which served as a hiding place for both civilians and soldiers during the conflict, continue to hold cultural and historical significance, further underlining the scattered nature of Nigeria’s civil war heritage assets and the need for a more coordinated national approach to their preservation.
Proponents of the heritage tourism push argue that a well-structured strategy could simultaneously preserve fragile historical memory, educate younger generations who did not live through the conflict, and create new economic opportunities for local communities through domestic and international visitor traffic, positioning Nigeria’s civil war history as a resource for reflection and growth rather than a subject left to fade from public memory.
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