When Will Britain, Others Return Nigeria’s Artefacts?

As countries across the global community, particularly those on the African continent, are making frantic efforts to redeem and revive their respective technically-oriented heritage as regards culture and history, Nigeria shouldn’t be an exception.

Three years back, the Benin Republic seemingly wore a cheering physiognomy in respect of the struggle. This assertion wasn’t unconnected with the approval cum pronouncement made by the young and vibrant French President, Mr. Emmanuel Macron in the aforesaid period.

On Friday, 23rd November 2018, Mr. Macron who apparently has enormous passion in issues pertaining to culture and tourism, reportedly indicated his government’s willingness to return all the ‘stolen’ cultural artefacts to Benin Republic, the original home of the ornaments.

The decision, which Mr. Macron said should not be seen as an “isolated or symbolic case”, was informed on the receipt of the findings of a study he commissioned on repatriating African treasures held by French museums.

He therefore agreed to return 26 works, mainly royal statues from the palaces of Abomey – formerly the capital of the Kingdom of Dahomey – taken by the French army during a war in 1892 and now in Paris’ Quai Branly museum.

The president, who hoped that all possible circulation of these works are duly considered and returned, additionally proposed gathering African and European partners in Paris the following year to define a framework for an “exchange policy” for African artworks.

It’s noteworthy that in recent times, calls have been growing in Africa for restitution of artworks to the continent, but it’s also worthy of note that the French law strictly forbids the government from ceding state property to any nation or entity even in well-documented cases of pillaging. Notwithstanding, it seems Macron had broken that jinx.

In 2016, the Benin Republic demanded that France return her items including statues, artworks, carving, sceptres and sacred doors. While that request was initially denied, in November same year, President Macron raised hopes in a speech he delivered in Burkina Faso, pledging to repatriate African heritage to the continent.

Following the speech, he asked the French art historian, Mr. Benedicte Savoy and the Senegalese writer, Mr. Felwine Sarr to painstakingly study the matter. Their report, thereafter, was welcomed by advocates of restitution of works that were bought, bartered, looted, or in some cases stolen.

The said report proposes that legislation should be developed to return thousands of African artefacts taken during the colonial period to the nations that requested them. There are conditions, however, including a proper request from the relevant country, precise information about the origin of the demanded works, as well as the proof of the existence of adequate facilities such as museums to house them back in their home country when eventually returned.

In his further speech, Macron stated that museums would be invited to identify African belongings and organize possible returns and ought to quickly establish an “online inventory of their African collections”. He also called for in-depth work with other European states that still retain collections of the same nature “acquired in comparable circumstances”.

It could be recalled that the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) convention against the export of illicit cultural goods adopted in 1970 called for the return of cultural property taken from a country but it didn’t address historic cases.

Nevertheless, with museums fearing they could be compelled to return artefacts, some former colonial powers had sluggishly ratified the resolution as made by UNESCO. France only did so in 1997, followed by Britain, Germany and Belgium in 2002, 2007 and 2009, respectively.

The aforementioned report, as was commissioned by Macron, opined that such collections were severely depriving Africans of their artistic and cultural heritage. It said “On a continent where 60 percent of the population is under the age of 20 years old, what is first and foremost of a great importance is for young people to have access to their own culture, creativity, and spirituality from other eras.”

As countries across the African continent are currently filled with the desire to see that their technically-oriented heritage are duly returned by their respective colonial masters, Nigeria shouldn’t place herself in abeyance.

Since Nigeria gained her independence in 1960, successive governments have sought from Britain the return of the country’s looted artefacts but such a quest had ostensibly failed on deaf ears.

Just recently, more than a century after the British soldiers ‘stole’ a collection of priceless artefacts from the Benin Kingdom in Edo State, a deal was struck between the Benin Dialogue Group (BDG) and the Britain towards ensuring that some of the most iconic pieces such as the Benin bronzes are returned on a “temporary basis” to form an exhibition at the new Benin Royal Museum “within three years”.

However, the troubling follow-up question thereof was, ‘why must Nigeria’s looted treasures be loaned to her?’ How could a country receive her assets or heritage in the form of a loan?

Aside from the bronzes, there are many other precious works like the Benin ivory mask that are equally yearning for repatriation. It’s noteworthy that Britain’s soldiers seized thousands of metal castings and sculptures from the Kingdom of Benin in 1897.

A few months back, precisely in March 2021, the University of Aberdeen in the United Kingdom (UK) disclosed it would return the Benin Bronze to Nigeria ‘within weeks’. It was one of the first public institutions to do so more than a century after Britain looted the sculptures and auctioned them to Western museums and collectors.

The University said in its press release that the sculpture of an Oba, or ruler, of the Kingdom of Benin, had left Nigeria in an “extremely immoral” fashion, thereby making the institution to reach out to the concerned authorities in 2019 to negotiate its return.

The University’s Head of Museums and Special Collections, Mr. Neil Curtis stated that the Bronzes, which were purportedly purchased in 1957, had been “blatantly looted 124 years ago by British soldiers, hence it became clear we had to do something.”

In the same vein, penultimate month, the Jesus College, part of Cambridge University in the UK handed over to Nigeria via her delegation an artefact known as Okukor, the sculpture of a cockerel, that was looted by the British troops in the aforementioned year. The college described the handover as “the first institutional return of its kind”, signifying that the move made the college the first institution to carry out such a rare gesture.

On its part, Germany was recently reportedly in talks to return 440 Benin Bronzes as early as the autumn, while the University of Cambridge’s Jesus College said it had finalized approvals in December 2020 to return one Bronze to Nigeria.

Hence, as the present Nigerian government led by President Muhammadu Buhari is ostensibly concerned to diversify the country’s economy, it must expedite action to see that the tourism industry is fully resuscitated and boosted by ensuring all the looted artefacts are wholly returned to the country by the various nations that stole them.

Similarly, as was stated by the French President, Mr. Macron in regard to creating an online inventory, the governments at all levels ought to acknowledge that it’s high time they fully embraced the Information Technology (IT) concerning tourism, therefore should ensure their respective tourist centres cum possessions could henceforth be assessed online to enable outsiders or foreigners appreciate their worth. The features of the digital age mustn’t be overlooked.

As countries across the African continent and beyond are currently making waves towards regaining their respective artefacts, Nigeria must follow suit headlong without much ado.