A British institution has delayed the return of more than a hundred Benin Bronzes to Nigeria after a presidential directive acknowledged a royal monarch as the owner and guardian of all returning antiques, the head of museums and monuments said on Wednesday.
British armies stormed the Kingdom of Benin in what is now southern Nigeria in 1897, stealing hundreds of magnificent bronze sculptures and castings that Nigeria is presently attempting to retrieve.
According to a decree signed by President Muhammadu Buhari on March 28, the Oba of Benin is the legal owner of all retrieved Benin Bronzes and is in control of all storage facilities.
Abba According to Isa Tijani, director general of the Nigerian National Commission for Museums and Monuments, the University of Cambridge’s Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology planned to return 116 artifacts this month, but those plans were halted when word of the decision spread last month.
Tijani said that the agreement to return the artifacts was postponed because “the gazette is not very clear on some issues” and “we wanted to clarify to find out which body is responsible for the signing of the agreement.”
The committee has already achieved deals to return stolen antiquities, such as those from Cambridge University and the German government.
Furthermore, Tijani claims that the commission was never officially notified of the gazette, leaving it unable to “properly answer any concerns that will be raised by our partners.”
Concerns have been expressed concerning Nigeria’s capacity to keep recovered cultural artifacts safe.
The palace has already said that it aims to build a museum to house the returning treasures.
