Nigeria : US Returns Twenty Three Stolen Bronze

The United States has returned 23 looted artefacts to Nigeria. The Benin Bronzes were handed over to a Nigerian delegation at a ceremony on Tuesday, October 11, 2022 in Washington. Nigeria’s Minister of Information and Culture Lai Mohammed, who received the artefacts, hailed the US and its institutions for the repatriation of the “highly-cherished” cultural artworks. “These artefacts are intrinsic to the culture that produced them. A people ought not be denied the works of their forebears. It is in the light of this that we are delighted with today’s repatriation,” he said. One of the facilitators of the event, Lonnie G. Bunch III, Secretary of the Smithsonian, said the institution was “humbled and honoured to play a small role in transferring ownership of the art works to Nigeria”, based on ethical consideration.
The returned artefacts comprised 21 from the Smithsonian and one each from the National Gallery of Arts and the Rhode Island School of Design. The repatriation is part of a bilateral cultural property agreement to prevent illegal imports into the US of some categories of Nigerian artefacts. Since the stolen of the artworks from Nigeria then Benin Kingdom, the items have been distributed to various museums and institutions across Europe and the US. In the days ahead, Nigeria would receive more such artefacts from The Netherlands, the UK and Germany. 
The Benin Bronzes were stolen in 1897 when British colonial forces ransacked and looted the kingdom of Benin, which is now in modern-day Nigeria. The pieces that were stolen in the late 19th century included 29 that the Smithsonian Institution’s Board of Regents voted in June to return to Nigeria and one object from the Nationa...