Nigeria receives 20 Benin bronzes from Germany

• Germany has returned 20 antique bronze sculptures to Nigeria.
• The move is taken to help overcome its dark colonial past.
• Annalena Baerbock, Germany’s foreign minister, returned the artifacts in Abuja.

Germany has returned 20 antique bronze sculptures to Nigeria to help overcome its “dark colonial past,” its foreign minister said Tuesday.

Annalena Baerbock, Germany’s foreign minister, returned the artifacts in Abuja. British troops looted Benin bronzes during colonial administration.

Theft was wrong. She argued during the event that keeping the bronzes was wrong and that they should be returned.

The brass and bronze sculptures were used in rituals to honor Benin ancestors and monarchs.

Nigerian authorities say England, the country’s colonizer, took more than 5,000 antique artifacts.

Most of the treasures were stolen from the royal palace of the Kingdom of Benin, now part of southern Nigeria.

Nigerian officials have increased attempts to return looted artifacts. Germany agreed to repatriate 1,000 of them this year.

By returning the objects, Germany intends to open a new chapter in bilateral relations with Nigeria, said Baerbock.

“This is just the beginning,” Baerbock stated many stolen bronzes will be returned.

This action is crucial because of our colonial background, she remarked.

Nigeria’s foreign ministry thanked Germany for returning the artifacts. He said they have cultural and spiritual worth to Nigerians. For moral reasons, he asked England and other countries to return artifacts.

Activists argue more accountability is needed beyond returning looted objects, such as compensation for African countries’ losses.

“We focus on actual stuff. What about digital properties? Who owns these? What’s next? Nigerian artist Victor Ehikhamenor supports reparations.

“What additional reparations and payments do they have to make?” he asked.

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