National War Museum, Umuahia

The Museum Complex, which opens at 10am and closes at 6pm daily attracts tourists within and outside Abia State who pay N100 to access the building. For a first time visitor in Umuahia, locating the museum is quite easy as commercial cars and tricycles popularly known as keke napep are readily available to convey passengers to the museum at N150.
Touring the museum’s complex, a tourist will see the relics used during Nigeria’s Civil war. It has three main galleries namely the Traditional Warfare Gallery, Armed Forces Gallery and Civil War Gallery. The gallery on traditional warfare describes the great historical battles over time while allowing for comparison of the weapons development between Africa and Europe. Tourist at the museum would also have access to other war relics used during the civil war as some Cold War military hardware donated or lent from different countries of the world are equally showcased at the numerous galleries in the museum.
To many Nigerian tourists, the war museum in Umuahia is symbolic for various reasons. For those who were opportune to witness and participants of the civil war who are now public figures in the society, the relics remind them of the innovative prowess as well as the can-do-spirit of Nigerians, thus the technological possibilities in Nigerians in the face of necessity