From Aidoghie Paulinus, Abuja
The Federal Government, has said it will leave no stone unturned to ensure the repatriation of artefacts taken out of the country.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyema, while speaking during the reception of three artefacts repatriated from New York, United States, said the repatriation meant maintaining a very positive trend that the country has been witnessing over the last few years.
Onyeama recalled the statement by the Director General of the National Commission for Museums and Monuments (NCMM), Professor Abba Isa Tijani, that it has not been easy to get the world, especially the western world to come round to accepting that they have to return the artefacts.
Onyeama also said the repatriation was a work in progress that required a lot of dedication, patience, rigour and a lot of diplomatic effort.
He assured that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will be absolutely unrelenting in the pursuit and in cooperation with the National Commission for Museums and Monuments to ensure that every single artefact is returned to the country.
“But we as certainly as a ministry, 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.
Onyeama recalled the excuses that a number of foreign institutions are using not to return the artefacts, particularly that they will be damaged and will not be well preserved and that the world will not have access to them.
He noted that some countries have even gone as far as proposing that they will return the artefacts, but that the artefacts should be kept with them so that everybody, including the owners, will have access to them.
Onyeama said by so doing, those institutions were assuming that Nigeria is incapable of maintaining and looking after the assets, national assets that belong to the country.
He said on the part of the Nigerian population, there must be an effort to ensure that there are appropriate places to keep the artefacts as very often, the artefacts that dates centuries, old and fragile, needed to be kept in certain conditions so that Nigerians can have the benefit of seeing them and Nigerian children can learn about the history and culture of the country.
Onyeama stated that on the diplomatic side, they will continue to push the international community to have a zero tolerance for accepting the smuggled goods and also to make an effort to recover them where they are stolen and to work for their repatriation.
Earlier, the 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, Tijani negotiated the release of three works of arts from the Metropolitan Museum, New York, in November, 2021.
Egopija also 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 bronz leading zinc brass head from Ife which was estimated to have been during the 14th/mid 15th century.
He added that the consulate believed that the artefacts, if well used, will encourage tourism in the country because they were on display at the Metropolitan Museum.
“And when we begin to display our missing artefacts in Nigeria, it will also encourage tourism. People will now know the importance and Nigerians also will learn and get acquainted with some of these artefacts that were taken away at some points in our national history,” Egopija said.
On his part, Tijani said the most difficult part after negotiating for the return of the artefacts was how to get them back to the country because they are artefacts that are highly valued and priced and it is very risky bringing them home through commercial flights.
Tijani also said apart from the security of the artefacts, the challenge of moving them from one country to another was an issue as the process required a lot of documentation and protocol that complicate the movement of the artefacts to the country.
He explained that it was during the Benin punitive expedition of 1897 that many of the Benin bronzes which amounted to over 5000 scattered across the world were looted.
He said the commission is making efforts to ensure that all the artefacts were repatriated to the country, even as he assured Nigerians that the target will be met.
Tijani disclosed that in Germany, Nigeria has about 1030 or 1300 artefacts to be repatriated to the country; in Glasgow, Scotland, there are final plans for the repatriation of 19 pieces and in Cambridge, about 50 artefacts and Oxford is underway.
“So, every country, every museum is ready to give us back, except the British museum,” Tijani disclosed.