Section 13: Steps towards declaration of antiquity as a national monument

(1) The Commission may if it considers that any antiquity is in need of protection or preservation and ought in the national interest to be protected or preserved publish notices to that effect in the Federal Gazette and cause a copy of the notice to be served on the owner of the antiquity concerned and every such notice shall-
(a) specify the antiquity and the place where it is or is believed to be;
(b) state that it is intended to make an application to the President to declare the antiquity to be a national monument; and
(c) state that any objection to such declaration shall be lodged with the Commission within two months from the date of publication of the notice.
(2) The Commission shall in any case in which it is reasonably practicable so to do, cause a copy of any notice published under subsection (1) of this section to be posted in a conspicuous place on or near the antiquity to which it relates and additional copies shall be sent to the local government in which the antiquity is located and the secretary to the local government concerned shall post a copy of such notice in a conspicuous place in the principal office of such local government.
(3) From the date of publication of a notice under subsection (1) of this section, until the publication of an order by the President under subsection (5) of this section or if no such order is published until the expiry of three months thereafter, it shall be an offence to destroy, deface, alter, remove or excavate or to transfer the possession of the antiquity to which the notice relates except with the permission in writing of the Commission:
Provided that nothing in this subsection shall be deemed to prohibit the doing by the holder of a mining title of any act in relation to any antiquity which is within the area to which the mining title relates if such act is authorised by the mining title and the holder has given the Commission at least one month's notice in writing of his intention to do such act.
(4) The Commission shall within one month after the publication of a notice under subsection (1) of this section, submit to the President in such manner as may be prescribed, its application for the declaration as a national monument of the antiquity to which the notice relates.
(5) An application submitted under subsection (4) of this section shall be considered by the President together with any objections furnished in relation thereto and the President may by order published in the Federal Gazette either declare the antiquity to which the application relates to be a national monument, or notify his refusal to do so:
Provided that no such declaration shall be made after the expiry of three months from the date of publication of the notice under subsection (1) of this section to which the application relates.
(6) An order made under subsection (5) of this section-
(a) may at any time be revoked by the President with the like consent whereupon the antiquity to which it relates shall cease to be a national monument; and
(b) shall, unless and until it is revoked, be conclusive evidence of the fact that the antiquity to which it relates is a national monument
(7) Any person who contravenes the provisions of subsection (3) of this section shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine of N200 or imprisonment for six months or to both such fine and imprisonment.