Nigeria and Germany have signed a joint agreement, to facilitate the return of 1,130 artifacts known as Benin bronzes to Nigeria.
This development is coming after a series of debates about ownership.
The accord, which has been tagged: “historic”, was signed in Berlin, over 120 years after the bronzes were taken away from the ancient Benin Kingdom during the Benin Expedition of 1897.
Two pieces held by the Berlin museum — a commemorative head of a king and a relief slab depicting a king with four attendants — were handed over as German and Nigerian officials signed their “joint political declaration” at the German foreign ministry in Berlin. The symbolic gesture signifies the impending return of the artifacts.
A statement issued by the Special Assistant (Media) to the minister, Segun Adeyemi, said the event was witnessed by top Nigerian and German government officials, including the Nigerian Ambassador to Germany, Yusuf Tuggar, and the Director-General of the National Commission for Museums and Monuments, Prof. Abba Tijani.
The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, and the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Zubairu Dada, signed for Nigeria, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Germany, Ms. Annalena Baerbock, and the Minister of State for Culture and the Media, Ms. Claudia Roth, signed for Germany.
The Nigerian government, which in recent years has stepped up its demands for the return of the Benin Bronzes, described it as the “single largest repatriation of artifacts anywhere in the world”.
While thanking the government and people of Germany, Mohammed said: “We also want to most sincerely thank the authorities of the various German regions, cities, museums, and institutions that have been working in concert to ensure the manifestation of the history-making event that we are witnessing today. By this singular action, Germany has taken the lead in correcting the wrongs of the past.”
