The Federal University Lokoja has taken a major step in preserving and promoting African culture with the establishment of the Institute of African Heritage and Museum Studies, to be named after legendary batik artist Nike Okundaye.
The institute will serve as a research hub and award diplomas and postgraduate certificates in African Heritage and Museum Studies.
The Project Coordinator, Rev Father (Dr) Kolade-Paul Tubi said Okundaye was being accorded the honour because of her commitment and the pivotal role she has played towards the realisation of the project.
The iconic artist, who hails from Ogidi in the Ijumu Local Government Area of Kogi State, has, through her works, popularised the batik art form worldwide.
She is the proprietor of the famous Nike Art Gallery chain in Lagos, Abuja, Osogbo and Ogidi.
Kogi State Governor, Ahmed Usman Ododo will on Monday, February 9, 2026, inaugurate the Nike University Gallery at FUL’s Felele Campus in Lokoja as part of the legacy projects of the outgoing Vice Chancellor of the institution, Professor Olayemi Akinwumi whose tenure ends on Friday, February 13, 2026.
Also at the event, Ododo will flag off the establishment of the Nike Institute of African Heritage and Museum Studies as well as
perform the groundbreaking of the university’s museum of archaeology and anthropology.
The Kogi State Chief Executive would, in addition, lay the foundation stone of the university’s ethnographic workshop.
The outgoing Vice Chancellor said the institution decided to establish the Nike Institute as a way of drawing new attention to heritage matters among Nigerians.
He said at a time when the more advanced nations of the world were focusing on their heritage and history, many Nigerians consider it unimportant to delve into the nation’s past.
The institute, he said, was meant to redirect national attention to the past and thereby activate the long-overdue Nigerian renaissance.
Akinwumi also said the decision to name the institute after Okundaye was an easy one for the university’s management, as she funded the construction of the physical structures of the centre and had furnished it with expensive and important art works.
Naming the institute after Nike Okundaye, he added, was the least the university could do to demonstrate its appreciation of her commitment.