From Aidoghie Paulinus, Abuja
The Federal Government has said it would leave no stone unturned in its quest to repatriate all artefacts taken out of the country.
Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyema, stated this during the reception of three artefacts repatriated from New York, United States.
He said repatriation of stolen artefacts was work in progress that required a lot of dedication, patience, rigour and diplomatic effort.
Onyeama recalled the statement by the Director General, National Commission for Museums and Monuments (NCMM), Prof. Abba Isa Tijani, that it wasn’t going to be easy getting the world, especially western countries, to accept that they have to return the artefacts.
“But, I can assure you that we will be absolutely unrelenting in the pursuit and in cooperation with the National Commission for Museums and Monuments, to ensure that every single one of these artefacts are returned to our country,” Onyeama said.
It was learnt that about 1,000 more artefacts are due to be repatriated to the country.
Onyeama said a number of foreign institutions have refused to return the artefacts for fear that they would be damaged or not well preserved in Nigeria.
He said such foreign institutions were assuming that Nigeria is incapable of maintaining and looking after its assets. He tasked those with the responsibility to maintain the returned artefacts to keep them in appropriate places as they were old and fragile. ,
Consul-General, Consulate General of Nigeria, New York, United States, Lot Egopija, said as part of efforts by the Federal Government to ensure that all missing artefacts from the country were recovered and put into better use in the country, the NCMM negotiated the release of the three works of arts from the Metropolitan Museum, New York, in November, 2021.
Egopija said the artefacts delivered were a plaque of the warrior chief in the 16th/17th century of the Benin Kingdom; a junior court official with sword of the 16th/17th century and bronze leading zinc brass head from Ife which was estimated to have been taken during the 14th/mid 15th century.
He said the the artefacts, if well used, would encourage tourism in Nigeria because they were on display at the Metropolitan Museum for years.