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AREWA HOUSE

CENTER FOR HISTORICAL DOCUMENTATION AND RESEACH

(AREWA HOUSE)

House Archives

The uniqueness of the Arewa House Archives lies in the fact that it serves as the custodian of the Premier’s office Records, a source material uniquely indispensable to the study of contemporary Nigeria.

Objectives

To promote the growth of Arewa House Archives as an institution for the study of history, arts and cultures of the people of the Northern Nigerian and the nation at large.
To create the necessary infrastructure-building and equipment- for the running of the Archives
To acquire relevant records for preservation, dissemination and to computerize these records for easy public access
To recruit and train personnel to manage effectively the functioning of the unit and to meet the yearnings of researchers.

Collections
Arewa House Archives holds numerous records of the Premiers office and the Secretariat Northern Provinces, (SNP). These include: Correspondences, Treaties, Intelligence reports, confidential reports, Assessment reports, Political, Educational, Economic development, Agricultural, Chieftaincy and Religious matters, Boundaries and land matters, Personal files, reports of Constitutional conferences, Laws and Administrative records.

Government Publications are also housed in the archives. These include; Hansards (Legislative debates of the defunct National, Northern, Eastern and Western House of Assemblies/House of Chiefs); Legislative proceedings, policy papers, General orders, rules and regulations, Memoranda, Minutes and Notes, Gazettes of Federal and Regional Governments, Reports of the Committees of enquiry, Special reports, Annual reports, Government white papers, Audit and financial reports, Speeches and Addresses, Economic and Commercial developments, Agricultural, Administrative, Industrial development, Public lectures, Constitutions and Laws.

Arabic manuscripts in form of Correspondences, Jurisprudences, History and Poetry are also kept. Other documents include: Transcripts of news broadcast, of the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation. Local daily newspapers, magazines, journals and bulletins of the past are also amongst the records available in the Arewa House Archives.

Arewa House Archives is a public trust that safeguards records vital for the government, the citizens and the general researchers. For the government it’s a major source of information, which enables government officials to base their actions on precedent policies and administration. For the general public, records formed the basis of their rights and privileges. And for the researchers it is useful for interpretation of the past for the benefit of the present and future.