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The Netherlands repatriates 600-year-old Ife Terracotta

By Omiko Awa
29 November 2020   |   3:06 am
The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has formally received the repatriated Ife Terracotta from his Foreign Affairs counterpart, Mr. Geoffrey Onyeama, in company of the Ambassador of the Kingdom of The Netherlands to Nigeria, Mr. Harry van Dijk. Receiving the artifact in his office in Abuja on Thursday, Alhaji Mohammed said the…

Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Geoffrey Onyeama (left); Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed; and the Ambassador, Kingdom of the Netherlands to Nigeria, Mr. Harry van Dijk, at the handover of the repatriated Ife Terracotta to the Minister of Foreign Affairs to the Minister of Information and Culture in Abuja.

The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has formally received the repatriated Ife Terracotta from his Foreign Affairs counterpart, Mr. Geoffrey Onyeama, in company of the Ambassador of the Kingdom of The Netherlands to Nigeria, Mr. Harry van Dijk.

Receiving the artifact in his office in Abuja on Thursday, Alhaji Mohammed said the return of the stolen Ife Terracotta marks a milestone in Nigeria’s efforts at pursuing the return of the country’s antiquities.

He said: “It gives me profound joy to receive this very important antiquity, an Ife Terracotta, which is dated to be at least 600 years old. I am even more delighted that our efforts at pursuing the return of Nigerian antiquities, which we launched last November, have started yielding fruits.”

The Minister of Information and Culture said the government’s resolve to seek the repatriation of the nation’s timeless and priceless artifacts was strengthened by President Muhammadu Buhari’s marching order for Nigeria to tap into tourism and other fields, where Nigeria has comparative advantages to generate income for the nation and create jobs for the youths.

“One way of generating income for the country is if our cultural properties are exhibited around the world to a fee-paying audience, on the basis of proper agreement that acknowledges us as owners and confers the right benefits on us. But this will not be possible if these antiquities continue to adorn foreign museums or remain with private collectors, who describe them as their properties,” he said.

Mohammed noted that apart from the pecuniary benefits, the priceless objects wrought by the nation’s forebears are unifying factors among the diverse cultures in the country.

He disclosed that the Ife Terracotta was smuggled from Nigeria with a forged document via Ghana to The Netherlands in 2019, adding following the interception of the artifact by the Dutch Customs at Schiphol Airport in The Netherlands, Nigeria was invited to prove its’ case against the suspected smuggler, which the country did successfully, hence the return of the artifact.

“Nigeria believes in joint international efforts to put a stop to illicit export and import of cultural goods. The issue of cultural property should not be a ground of rancour and discord among nations. That is if nations choose to tow the path, which the Kingdom of The Netherlands has chosen by insisting on justice, fairness and amity,” he said.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs commended The Netherlands for the efficient and expeditious manner it deployed resources to identify, retrieve and repatriate the Ife Terracotta to Nigeria.

Also speaking, the Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to Nigeria said the return of the artifact is a fitting gift to mark the 50th anniversary of the UNESCO Convention on the prevention of illicit trafficking of cultural heritage, of which Nigeria and The Netherlands are signatories.

The Director-General of the National Commission for Museums and Monuments, Prof. Abba Isa-Tijjani, has taken custody of the artifact for cleaning and treatment at the Conversation Laboratory before its eventual display for the public to see.

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