MUSEUMS IN OXFORD COULD RETURN STOLEN NIGERIAN ARTIFACTS

Sun 31 July 2022:

The Oxford University has now taken a step that will surely be welcomed by people all over the world in response to the growing call for Britain to return valuables that their colonial forces looted.

Following a formal request from Nigeria, the University is seeking to return about 100 artifacts to that country. The bronze artifacts that were taken from Benin by British forces during their occupation are the most significant ones in the collection.

The artifacts were previously housed in the Ashmolean and Pitt Rivers museums in Oxford, but the university wants to return them all to Nigeria’s National Commission for Museums and Monuments.

“On 7 January 2022, the Pitt Rivers Museum received a claim from the National Commission for Museums and Monuments, Nigeria, for the return of 97 objects in the Pitt Rivers and Ashmolean Museum collections that were taken from Benin City by British armed forces in 1897,” the university said.

The drawn and written record of a Benin Bronze head looted in 1897 once displayed at the now dispersed “second” Pitt-Rivers museum in Dorset, which closed in the 1970s.

“The claim is now being processed by the university following its procedures for claims for the return of cultural objects. On 20 June 2022, the council of the University of Oxford considered and supported the claim for the return of the 97 objects to Nigeria,” the official statement read.

The Oxford University has already forwarded their support to the Charity Commission that will be taking the final decision. According to The Guardian, the return should take place by autumn.

“As one of several UK museums that hold significant materials taken from Benin in 1897, the Pitt Rivers has been involved in long-term research and engagement projects in partnership with Nigerian stakeholders and representatives from the royal court of the Benin kingdom.”

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

FOLLOW INDEPENDENT PRESS:

TWITTER (CLICK HERE)
https://twitter.com/IpIndependent