Another batch of 1,030 Benin artefacts for repatriation from Germany

Nigeria will receive no fewer than 1,030 Benin artefacts from Germany this year, Director-General, National Commission for Museums and Monuments, Abba Tijani, has said.

Tijani told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Ibadan yesterday that many artefacts had been received from the European nation, but the commission would receive at least an additional 1,030 in 2022.

The objects were taken from the country during the punitive expedition of Benin in 1897.

According to him, when the artefacts would be received, it would give the commission the opportunity to build new museums and attract more tourists across the world.

Tijani said this would also give them opportunities to view the cultural objects from the Nigerian context.

“It will make the foreigners understand the significance of the artefacts better and give them an added advantage which they might not get when they visit museums in Europe,” he said.

Tijani said the commission had called for the expansion of the National Museum in Abuja and that of Benin so that the objects could be displayed.

He said the commission had partnered with corporate organisations to fund museum activities, adding that it had renovated many museums across the country.