Germany is planning to repatriate an additional batch of Benin artifacts

January 19, (THEWILL) – Nigeria will receive at least 1,030 Benin artefacts from Germany this year, Director-General, National Commission for Museums and Monuments, Abba Tijani, has said. 

Tijani in a chat with newsmen said many artefacts had been received from the European nation, but the commission would receive at least an additional 1,030 in 2022. 

The Artefacts were forcefully taken during the punitive expedition of Benin in 1897. 

Tijani said the return of the Artefacts would give the commission the opportunity to build new museums and attract more tourists across the world. 

This, he said, would also give 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 however, disclosed that 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.