The Director General of the National Commission for Museums and Monuments (NCMM), Yusuf Abdallah Usman, says the commission has drafted a law that will lead to the introduction of inspectors in each local government to serve as watchdogs against antiquity theft, monument defacement and sundry offences that are regularly committed against heritage resources.

He disclosed this yesterday at the workshop on the ratification and adoption of the draft laws of the commission in Abuja.

He said that the draft will also empower ethnographers and other officers of the commission to record and preserve anthological materials across the nation.

"Provision for tax deduction to improve culture has been introduced and major earth moving companies will now observe Heritage Impact Assessment and Rescue Archaeology. The commission through this machinery of this proposed law intends to prosecute offenders against our heritage resources," he said.

Earlier, Tourism Minister Edem Duke promised to ensure that the draft is passed to the National Assembly to turn it into an Act.