FG to take possession of repatriated Benin artifacts

18 Jul FG to take possession of repatriated Benin artifacts

Nigeria’s information minister, Lai Mohammed, says the Federal Government would take possession of the about-to-be-repatriated looted artifacts from the Benin Kingdom.

Mohammed told journalists in Lagos Saturday that the tenets of international law, as well as the UNESCO Convention, confers on the federal government the sole authority to the artifacts.

“Let me state clearly here that, in line with international best practice and the operative conventions and laws, the return of the artifacts is being negotiated bilaterally between the national governments of Nigeria and Germany,” said Mr Mohammed.

“Nigeria is the entity recognised by international law as the authority in control of antiquities originating from Nigeria. The relevant international Conventions treat heritage properties as properties belonging to the nation and not to individuals or subnational groups.

“For example, the 1970 UNESCO Convention, in its Article 1, defines cultural property as property specifically designated by that nation. This allows individual nations to determine what it regards as its cultural property. Nevertheless, the Nigerian state – through the Federal Ministry of Information and Culture and the National Commission for Museums and Monuments – has in working assiduously over the past years to repatriate our looted artifacts carried along our important traditional institutions and state governments.”

Over the past few years, the Nigerian government had engaged their foreign counterparts over the return of cultural artifacts, most of them stolen during the colonial era.

About five countries – The Netherlands, Mexico, Scotland, The UK, and Germany – have returned or agreed to return the artworks domiciled in their country, according to Mr Mohammed.

The impending arrival of the Benin artifacts, looted by the British during their invasion of the kingdom in 1897, had generated disagreement between Governor Godwin Obaseki and Oba Ewuare II of Benin.

While the governor wants the collections housed in the proposed Edo Museum of West African Arts, the palace insists they be kept in the Benin Royal Museum.

On Saturday, Mr Mohammed said it is the duty of the federal government to take possession of the antiquities “in line with the extant laws.”

“But we have always exercised this right in cognisance of that culture that produced the artworks,” he said.