Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, says his biggest achievement since he was appointed was the repatriation of looted artefacts and antiquities.

Mr Mohammed disclosed this at the 26th edition of the President Muhammadu Buhari (PMB) Administration Scorecard Series (2015-2023) on Tuesday in Abuja. 

“During the period under review, efforts to repatriate artefacts looted from Nigeria – which we launched Nov. 28th 2019 – paid off handsomely, with a total of 1,130 Benin Bronzes heading home from Germany alone.

“The legal transfer of the Benin Bronzes to Nigeria of all the 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 museums officials.

“Nigeria is currently in the forefront of global efforts on repatriation of antiquities to their countries of origin.”

Mr Mohammed said his ministry also succeeded in repatriating a 600-year-old Ife Terracotta from the Netherlands in October 2020.

He added that Benin Bronzes were also repatriated from the University of Aberdeen and Jesus College of the University of Cambridge as well as the Metropolitan Museum, New York in the United States. 

He said the Horniman Museums and Gardens in London also in October, 2022, signed the legal transfer of 72 Benin Bronzes.

Mohammed said his ministry was at advanced stage of securing the repatriation of hundreds of antiquities from the Pitt Rivers Museum of the University of Oxford; the Ashmolean Museum of the University of Oxford.

He said hundreds of antiquities were also to be repatriated from the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology of the University of Cambridge; Glasgow City Council in Scotland and National Museums of Scotland.

The minister disclosed that the federal government had begun the expansion of the National Museum, Benin City, to house some of the antiquities.

He added that the federal government was working on developing a Royal Benin Museum.

(NAN)