By Linus Aleke
A historical document reveals that “After the capture of Benin City, during the infamous British punitive expedition of Sunday, February 21, 1897, houses, sacred sites, ceremonial buildings and palaces of many high-ranking chiefs were looted and many buildings were burned down, including the Palace building itself”.
The document further revealed that “Most of the plunder from the city was retained by the expedition with an estimated 2,500 religious artefacts, Benin visual history, mnemonics and artworks being sent to Britain. They include over a thousand metal plaques and sculptures collectively known as the Benin Bronzes.
“The Admiralty confiscated and auctioned off the war booty to defray the costs of the expedition. About 40 per cent of the art was accessioned to the British Museum, while other works were given to individual members of the armed forces as spoils of war, and the remainder was sold at auction by the Admiralty to pay for the expedition as early as May 1897, (Stevens Auction Rooms, 38 King Street, London, May 25, 1897; followed by several sales by the ethnographic dealer William Downing Webster, Bicester, between 1898 and 1900).
“Most of the Benin Bronzes sold at auction were purchased by museums, mainly in Germany. The dispersal of Benin artworks to museums around the world catalysed the beginnings of a long and slow European reassessment of the value of West African art. The Benin art was copied and the style integrated into the art of many European artists and thus had a strong influence on the early formation of modernism in Europe.”
Regrettably, one century and almost three decades after the British forces killed, maimed, raped, and molested young virgins, as well as looted beautiful works of art in Benin, the successive British leaders, some of whom were not born during the infamous punitive expedition had come up with a legal instrument to consolidate the atrocities of their forebears.
An Act of the British Parliament, which aimed at preventing any effort to repatriate the stolen artefacts from Africa, accessioned and displayed in its Museum is not an only travesty of justice but repugnant to natural justice, equity, and good conscience, and therefore condemnable.
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Why should any sane society use a legal instrument to perpetually hold onto stolen items? The Parliament needs to initiate a process that will repeal such an obnoxious and evil act. This is so because it is at variance with the international legal instrument.
Nigeria is magnanimous enough not to ask for reparations for these looted works of art but just repatriation. What is wrong with asking for what is rightfully yours?
What that means is that the British authorities are now free to keep proceeds of royalties they had collected through fees from tourists to allow access to the Museum to catch a glimpse of the precious works of art from Africa, as well as pose for a picture, for this length of time.
It is, however, unfortunate, that other European countries including America that purchased these stolen artefacts from British Auction Rooms are grudgingly releasing these beautiful works of art to Nigerian authorities for repatriation. Painfully, those who not only looted these treasures of the Kingdom but rapped, killed, and maimed civilian citizens in the process are making a law to stall any effort to repatriate the ones in British Museum.
However, the Federal Government of Nigeria has decried the repulsive attitude of the British Government on the repatriation of the looted artefacts.
The Director-General, National Commission for Museums and Monuments, Prof Abba Isa Tijani, expressed this displeasure while receiving some repatriated artefacts from the Metropolitan Museum, United States of America.
He disclosed that out of the 39 artefacts the commission is currently tracking, 20 were ready for repatriation and that they would soon take possession of them.
According to him, “We are going to Germany where we have one of the highest collections, to finalize our agreement. In Germany, we are talking about batches of repatriation because we have about 1300. We want to repatriate them in batches. In Scotland, we are finalizing arrangements for the repatriation of 19 pieces.
“In Cambridge, our discussion is at an advanced stage, with about 50 objects there, and Oxford is also coming. So, every country, every museum is ready to give us back our work except the British Museum, which, I always say that I do not doubt that they will succumb one day. What they are saying is that it is an Act of Parliament.
“Of course, the global trend now is that these objects are going to be repatriated because the circumstance upon which they were taken out of the country was illegal. Therefore, for any object you take illegally, the UNESCO Convention of 1972 posits that they should be repatriated back to their country of origin.
“In Nigeria, we are working with Oba’s Palace to see that we agree. There is no disagreement as to who owns these artefacts, we are working in unison and we want these artefacts to come back to Nigeria.”
While, appreciating the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Geoffrey Onyeama, particularly for his interest and support in the repatriation of looted artefacts, the director-general also revealed other obstacles against seamless repatriation of these priced treasures.
He said, “You can imagine that when we go and negotiate and agree on repatriation, the most difficult part is how to get them back to Nigeria. Because these are artefacts that are highly valued and priced and transporting them through commercial flights will be very risky and for the minister to come in and support this cause is not a small thing.
“I must also say that apart from the security, we also saw the challenge of moving artefacts from one country to the other. It is an issue that you have to go through so much documentation, and so many protocols, which often complicate the movement of the artefacts back to Nigeria. Honestly, the Minister’s support in this line is highly appreciated. It is recognized by the commission, the Ministry of Information and Culture, and the entire country.”
Going down memory lane, Tijani averred, “As we know, the Benin punitive expedition of 1897 was a time when many of the Benin bronzes were looted and we are now talking about the repatriation of thousands of this artwork. We are making effort to ensure that these beautiful works of art are repatriated.
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“That is why we are going around the world to negotiate with different countries and governments, museums, private collectors, and other institutions to see that we get our artefacts back. In this case, as the Ambassador said, we were in New York last year, around November, to sign a transfer agreement and we took possession of these artefacts and the artefacts are now back in Nigeria.
“We want Nigerians to see the effort we are making to get our looted artefacts back. It is not a one-man show, it is not a one agency show or one ministry thing. It is a concerted effort and we are all doing it for Nigeria and Nigerians.
“We assure Nigerians that we are going to get our artefacts back. Also, in our efforts in doing this, we want to provide a conducive environment for these artefacts to be kept and displayed for the benefit of Nigerians who need to understand our culture and traditions and to be educated about our history.”
On how to preserve the repatriated precious works of art, the Director-General said, “We are making effort to see that befitting museums are constructed in Nigeria because these are highly valued artefacts of our heritage and history.
“We want to make sure that we use it judiciously to educate our people and also to attract tourists. The culture sector is our next target for our economic development. One of the things we have in mind is putting into circulation these artefacts to go around the world on travel exhibitions.
“So, that they can generate revenue for us in hard currency because this economic benefit will be driven by countries that had held these artefacts for a century. It is high time Nigeria benefits from this, and I can assure you that millions of dollars will accrue to Nigeria on this that is why we are going to be in some countries next week to discuss some of these things and also to continue our negotiations with different museums.”
Earlier, the Consul-General of Nigeria, New York, Ambassador Lot Egopija, disclosed that the repatriation is part of an effort by the Federal Government to ensure that all the missing artefacts from the country are recovered, and put into better use in Nigeria.
The Nigerian envoy further revealed that the Director-General, National Commission for Museum and Monument did negotiate the release of three works of art from the Metropolitan Museum, New York, in November 2021.
According to him, “After the negotiations, the mission with the DG took delivery of the artefacts and the artefacts taken were a plaque of the warrior chief, in the 16/17 a century of the Benin Kingdom, and a junior court official with a sword, it is also another plaque in the 16/17 century.
“And the third artefact was the headed sink brass head of the Ife prince, which was estimated to have been during the 14/mid-15 century. Having taken delivery of the artefacts from the Metropolitan Museum, we are here to officially present these works of art to the minister who will on behalf of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs ensure that the National Commission for Museum and Monument takes delivery and also use it for the glory of our fatherland.
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“We believe that these artefacts, if well used, will encourage tourism because they were on display at the Metropolitan Museum and when we begin to display our stolen artefacts in Nigeria it will also encourage tourism. People will now know the importance and Nigerians will also learn and get acquainted with the story of these works of art that were stolen at some point in our national history”.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Geoffrey Onyeama bemoaned the non-cooperative posture of the British Government to take back what rightly belongs to us, which was forcefully looted in the past.
He however agreed with the position of Prof. Tijani on the issue, saying, “The British Museum, there again I think you are right, some of these things, we have to be persistent about them and eventually, we are confident that the pressure will be too much and they will give in.”
Addressing the audience after handing over the repatriated artefacts to DG National Commission for Museum and Monument, the Minister said, “This is a very happy day, it is maintaining a trend and a very positive trend that we have been witnessing over the past few years, under the watch of the Director-General of National Commission for Museum and Monument.
“As you have clearly stated, it has not been easy to get the world and especially, the Western world to come round to accepting that they have to return these artefacts, and the fact that we have reached this stage owes a lot to personalities and great patriots like you, Director General, and our diplomats and ambassadors in various countries. You will recall that some years back, I identified two categories of these artefacts.
“We have the category of these artefacts that were stolen in the late 19th century when a lot of our countries, Nigeria in particular, was not yet independent country and we had foreign powers using their power to expropriate artefacts from various countries, with particular emphasis on Nigeria.
“Then we had an underground system of pillaging and stealing of our artefacts from various communities and the illegal trade has grown up in this and there are so clandestinely collectors across the world.
“You would recall that there was one instance, where again, with the cooperation of our embassies, the National Commission for Museum and Monument was able to track some artefacts that had been stolen and sold and it took the involvement of UNESCO, the German Government, and the British Government and ultimately we were able to have that particular piece returned to the country.
“We had a case where the former Nigerian Ambassador to Mexico was able to, through his initiative identify some stolen artefacts at the airport in Mexico and was able to get them back. More recently, you recall that in Germany again artefacts were also returned and now these from the United States of America.
“It was on display at the Metropolitan Museum and we have been very happy and privileged to receive them here today. As DG has mentioned, there are hundreds if not thousands more out there, so this is a work in progress that requires a lot of work, a lot of dedication, a lot of patience, a lot of rigor, and a lot of diplomatic effort.
“As a ministry, I assure you that we will be unrelenting in pursuit and in cooperation with the National Commission for Museum and Monument to ensure that every single one of these our artefacts are returned to our country.”
He added, “You have mentioned a very important point and it was one of the excuses that several foreign institutions were using not to return these artefacts. Their excuses are that the artefacts may damage, may not be well preserved, the world would not have access to them and of course, some countries have gone as far as even proposing that, they would return them but why don’t we keep them with them so that everybody would have access to them, even we the owners will also have access to them.
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“But the point there of course is a sought of assuming that we are incapable of properly maintaining these national assets that belong to us.”
The Minister also supported the idea of building a world-class museum that will house the repatriated artefacts.
“On our side, not because the foreigners are saying that, but even for our population, we have to make more of an effort to ensure that there are appropriate places to keep them. These are artefacts that date a century old and are fragile and need to be kept in certain conditions so that our people shall have the benefits of seeing them and our children learning about our history and culture.
“There is also a need for the National Commission for Museum and Monument to sensitize our security agencies especially, border enforcement agencies to be able to identify a lot of these artefacts, in cases where they are being smuggled out of the country. We must put mechanism that will minimise, if not eliminate the possibility of smuggling out these artefacts because it is a lucrative business. There is a market out there for this and people will cash in if they are given the opportunity.
“We have an added responsibility to invest in human resources, capacity building, and awareness-raising, we need to work toward that. We, on the diplomatic side, will continue to push the international community to have a zero-tolerance for accepting these smuggled goods and also to make effort to recover them wherever they are stolen and work for their repatriation,” he stated.
The Minister stressed that repatriating these stolen artefacts was not always an easy task, but with the cooperation of all the stakeholders involved, the country will succeed in its concerted effort to bring these precious works of art back.
