If you have been wondering what other things Nigeria’s Minister of Information and Culture does, this should settle that uncertainty in your mind.
Mr. Lai Mohammed says returning stolen items and antiquities to their rightful owners has been his greatest accomplishment since taking office.
On Tuesday in Abuja, the minister made this announcement during the 26th meeting of the President Muhammadu Buhari (PMB) Administration Scorecard Series (2015–2023).
“During the period under review, efforts to repatriate artifacts looted from Nigeria—which we launched on November 28, 2019, paid off handsomely, with a total of 1,130 Benin bronzes heading home from Germany alone.
“The legal transfer to Nigeria of all 1,130 Benin bronzes in all German public museums was signed on July 7, 2022.
“The physical return has since commenced, with the first batch accompanied to Nigeria in December 2022 by the Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Culture of Germany and an entourage of 80 top government and museum officials.
People Also Read: Naira Redesign: “Make A Scapegoat Out Of CBN” Falana Urge Supreme Court
“Nigeria is currently in the forefront of global efforts on repatriation of antiquities to their countries of origin.”
His Achievement
In October 2020, Mr.Lai Mohammed stated his ministry succeeded in repatriating a 600-years-old Ife terracotta from the Netherlands.
He continued by saying that the Metropolitan Museum in New York as well as the Universities of Aberdeen and Cambridge’s Jesus College have also returned Benin bronzes to their native country.
He added that the Horniman Museums and Gardens in London signed a formal transfer of 72 Benin bronzes in October 2022.
In order to secure the return of hundreds of artifacts from the Pitt Rivers Museum and Ashmolean Museum of the University of Oxford, Mohammed said that his government was well ahead in the process.
He says hundreds of treasures will also return from the National Museums of Scotland, Glasgow City Council in Scotland, and the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology at the University of Cambridge.
The minister revealed that the federal government had started expanding Benin City’s National Museum to make room for some of the treasures.
He continued by saying that the federal government was constructing a Royal Benin Museum.
