A United Kingdom University, University of Aberdeen, has disclosed it would be returning a Benin Bronze to Nigeria many years after it was looted by British authorities.
The University made the disclosure in a statement issued recently. Also, the school disclosed that the previously repatriated items remains Australia, Canada, and New Zealand.
The bronze sculpture depicting Oba of Benin was acquired by the University in 1957 during an auction and the British forces looted thousands of metal, carvings and ivory sculptures during the invasion of Benin City in 1897. The artifacts were sold to museums, given away as gift items to museums or offered for sale at auctions/art dealers.
It was further discovered that the University of Aberdeen began a move to return the stolen bronze through Professor Bankole Sodipo, Professor of Law in Babcock University, Nigeria with the National Commission for Museums and Monuments of Nigeria via its Legal Adviser, Babatunde Adebiyi, the Edo State Government through the then Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Professor Yinka Omorogbe and the Royal Court of the Oba of Benin through Prince Professor Gregory Akenzua in 2020.
A statement issued by the university read: The University of Aberdeen is to return a Benin bronze, the first-ever fully repatriated to Nigeria by a museum. The University announced it would return the sculpture more than 125 years after it was looted by British forces.
“An ongoing review of the collections identified the Head of an Oba as having been acquired in a way that we now consider to have been extremely immoral, so we took a proactive approach to identify the appropriate people to discuss what to do,” the school said as it became the first institution to agree to the full repatriation from a museum of a Benin bronze.
“It would not have been right to have retained an item of such great cultural importance that was acquired in such reprehensible circumstances.
“We, therefore, decided that an unconditional return is the most appropriate action we can take, and are grateful for the close collaboration with our partners.”
