The federal government has asked for a full and unconditional return of the 1,130 Benin bronzes that were looted in the 19th century and held in German museums.

The demands were made by the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, in Germany, the News Agency reports.

On the minister’s entourage were the Director-General of the National Commission for Museums and Monument (NCMM), Professor Abba Tijani, and the Benin crown prince, His Royal Highness, Ezelekhae Ewuare.

Mr Mohammed held separate meetings with the German Minister of State for Culture, Professor Monika Gruetters, and the German Foreign Minister, Heiko Maas.

The development was made known in a statement issued on Thursday by Segun Adeyemi, the spokesman to Mr Mohammed.

The statement said Mr Mohammed made his demand in reaction to comments by Ms Gruetters that Germany was ready to make a ‘substantial return’ of the 1,130 looted artefacts.

He demanded that the return of the looted artefacts should be whole rather than substantial and that the place of origin of the artefacts, which is a going concern, should not delay the return of the artefacts.

Mr Mohammed argued that the artefacts being known as Benin Bronzes confirms their source of origin.

Godwin Obaseki, Governor of Edo State, also a member of the Nigerian delegation, said a museum is being built in Benin city to house the artefacts upon their return.

Germany had announced that it would start returning Benin bronzes to Nigeria in 2022, as part of a growing trend to return cultural artefacts seized during the colonial era to their places of origin.

The Ethnologisches Museum in Berlin currently holds over 500 historical artefacts from the Kingdom of Benin in its collections, mostly bronzes. The “bronzes” mostly are made from copper and depict court figures.

These artefacts were obtained during auctions, after Britain’s soldiers had seized thousands of metal castings and sculptures in 1897 during a raid on the Kingdom of Benin.