Lai Mohammed, minister of information and culture, has touted the recovery of Nigeria’s looted artefacts and antiquities from the western countries as his biggest achievement.
The minister said this at the 26th edition of the President Muhammadu Buhari Administration Scorecard Series (2015-2023) organised by the ministry of information and culture on Tuesday in Abuja.
Mohammed said that during the period, efforts to repatriate artefacts looted from Nigeria – which was launched November 2019, paid off, with a total of 1,130 Benin Bronzes heading home from Germany alone.
“The legal transfer of the Benin Bronzes to Nigeria of all the 1,130 Benin Bronzes in all German public museums was signed on July 7, 2022.The physical return has since commenced with the first batch accompanied to Nigeria in December, 2022 by the ministers of foreign affairs and culture of Germany and an entourage of 80 top government and museums officials,” he said.
“Nigeria is currently in the forefront of global efforts on repatriation of antiquities to their countries of origin”, he added.
Mohammed said his ministry also succeeded in repatriating a 600-year-old Ife Terracotta from the Netherlands in October 2020. He added that Benin Bronzes were also repatriated from the University of Aberdeen and Jesus College of the University of Cambridge as well as the Metropolitan Museum, New York in the repatriation of hundreds of antiquities from the Pitt Rivers Museum.
He said hundreds of antiquities were also to be repatriated from the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology of the University of Cambridge; Glasgow City Council in Scotland and National Museums of Scotland.
Speaking further, the minister said the Federal Government has started the process of declaring 111 historical sites in the country as National Monuments. He said the process of declaring the sites as national monuments had reached an advanced stage and awaiting presidential assent.
The minister informed that the 111 national monuments would be added to the existing 65.
