Headline

Germany Hands Over Stolen Benin Bronzes To Nigeria

Published

3 years ago

December 20, 2022

The German Government on Tuesday commenced the official repatriation of 1,130 looted Benin bronzes to Nigeria.

At a historic repatriation ceremony held in Abuja, German Minister of Foreign Affairs, Annalena Baerbock symbolically handed over 22 of the 1,130 looted artefacts to his Nigeria counterpart, Mr Geoffrey Onyeama and the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the event was witnessed by the German Minister of State for Culture, Claudia Roth, the German Ambassador to Nigeria Anneth Gunter and over 50 top officials from Germany.

Mohammed said the event would remain indelible in the history of mankind when Germany trail the blaze in doing right to return the looted artefacts.

“Twenty years ago, even ten years ago, nobody could have anticipated these bronzes returning to Nigeria, because the obstacles to achieving repatriation were seemingly insurmountable.

“But today, with the pioneering gesture of a friendly nation, Germany, the story has changed.

“The negotiations were not as easy as things look today. They were stormy at times. But the sincerity of the Germans played a big role in resolving knotty issues.

“Because of what Germany has done, negotiations with other nations, institutions and museums for repatriation of the Benin Bronzes in their possession became swifter,’’ he said

Mohammed said contrary to views in certain corners, Nigeria has the infrastructure to keep the bronzes as they were being returned.

He said that the Federal Government was embarking on infrastructural development around the National Museum in Benin City.

“This will be in addition to the infrastructural development that is being initiated by other stakeholders in Nigeria and the immense support of foreign partners, particularly Germany.

“Easily, Benin City will become a cultural hub for Africa,’’ he said.

Mohammed called on other nations, institutions, museums and private collectors still holding on to Nigerian antiquities to release them.

He particularly called on the British Museum to release the more than 900 Benin Bronzes in its hold.

“A year has rolled by since Nigeria submitted an official letter to the British Museum demanding the return of Nigerian antiquities in this museum. Yet there has been no reply of any kind.

“I visited in July this year hoping that the success recorded with the Germans will nudge the British Museum to do what is right. But I met a brick wall.

“The British Museum and all those holding on to our artefacts must understand that repatriation is a cause which time has come,’’ he said.

Speaking in the same vein, Onyema said Germany and Nigeria had set a standard for the rest of the world to follow.

To underscore the importance of the ceremony, the minister recalled when Nigeria hosted the Festival of Art and Culture in 1977 and Britain denied the country the mask it intended to use as the face of the event.

“When we wanted to host the global historical event, we could not use its original mask that we intended for the festival.

“This is because it is in a museum in the United Kingdom in Britain and we asked that at least they should lend it to us even though it belongs to us.

“Guess what, the answer from Britain was No. So we had to have a replica made of the mask that we used,’’ he said

On her part, the German foreign affairs minister said they found it imperative to return the bronzes to where they belonged after over 120 years it was looted by the British.

“What we are returning today are not mere objects to you and to the Nigerian people. What we are returning is a part of your history and a part of who you are.

“I think as Germans and Europeans we should really pause for a moment and reflect on what this actually means. What it means not to have crucial part of your history with you, but you have it taken from you.

“Today, we are here to return the Benin Bronzes to where they belong, to the people of Nigeria.

“We are here to right a wrong because officials from my country once bought the Bronzes knowing that they had been robbed and stolen,’’ she said.

The minister continued: “We ignored Nigeria’s plea to return looted bronzes for a very long time. It was wrong to take them but it was also wrong to keep them.

“This is the story of European colonialism. It is a story in which our country plays a part, but we are correcting the wrongdoings today.’’.

Baerbock underscored the need to make the artefacts accessible to every person in society.

To that effect, she said they would be funding the construction of an art pavilion in Edo state which would be used to display the bronzes.

She said they have also agreed that some of the bronzes would go on travel expositions around the world.

The minister added that some of the bronzes would remain as loan in German museums so that they could tell the stories and history of their origin.

“What is crucial is that we know where they are from, we know they belong to Nigeria and you can always come and they can also always come back to their home,’’ she said.

Similarly, Roth, the German minister of state for culture said they had closed their eyes for too long refusing to recognise the injustice surrounding the bronzes on display in their museums and keeping them in storage for so many years.

She said by returning them, they have made a statement that everyone has the right to experience the cultural heritage where it originated in its homeland.

Present at the event were Nigeria Minister of Sports and Youth Development, Sunday Dare, Nigeria Ambassador to Germany Yusuf Tuggar, and Director-General of the National Commission for Museum, Prof. Abba Tijani, among others

Headline

Meta Suspends Activists For Showing Election Killings

Published

11 hours ago

December 5, 2025

Editor

Meta suspended the Instagram accounts of two Tanzanian activists on Thursday after they posted images of the violent crackdown by security forces on election protests, which authorities have tried to suppress.

Tanzania descended into violence on October 29, the day of elections deemed fraudulent by international observers.

More than 1,000 people were shot dead by security forces over several days of unrest, according to the opposition and rights groups, though the government has yet to give a final toll.

Mange Kimambi, who has more than 2.5 million Instagram followers, had been posting hundreds of photos of the dead and wounded since early November, sent to her by Tanzanians via WhatsApp, she told AFP last month from the United States.

Not all the images have been verified, but AFP fact checkers and other media and investigative sites have found many are real.

On Thursday, Kimambi, in a letter to US President Donald Trump published on X, complained that her Instagram accounts and WhatsApp number had been “deactivated after I raised awareness about a series of severe abuses and horrific events occurring in Tanzania”, including “kidnappings, killings and imprisonment of opposition leaders on fabricated treason charges”.

Another prominent Tanzanian activist, Maria Sarungi Tsehai, who lives in exile, also had her Instagram account suspended, though only within Tanzania.

“Check out @Meta @instagram and their role in enabling the cover up of #TanzaniaMassacre by restricting and deleting our Instagram and Whatsapp accounts,” Tsehai posted on X.

“This is a direct attack on human rights defenders! We work to save lives by whistleblowing about abductions, corruption and killings,” she added.

Contacted by AFP, a spokesperson for Meta justified the action against Kimambi in the name of its “policy against recidivism”, implying she had created new accounts after others were suspended.

The action against Tsehai was a response to “a legal order from Tanzanian regulators”, the spokesperson said.

“If we are unable to provide our services there, millions of people will be deprived of connecting with family and friends,” Meta added.

In early November, Tanzania’s attorney general, Hamza Johari, called for Kimambi to be arrested and threatened to try to have her extradited from the United States, where she lives.

Headline

Why Europe Is Blocking More Nigerian Goods At Its Borders

Published

1 day ago

December 3, 2025

Editor

Nigeria’s exports continue to face repeated rejection in European Union markets, a challenge caused by consistent quality failures, weak regulatory enforcement, and heavy dependence on raw commodities.

New trade figures further show that while export values expressed in naira have risen sharply, dollar earnings have continued to decline, undermining Nigeria’s competitiveness abroad.

Meanwhile, South Africa remains one of the African countries with the highest rate of export acceptance in Nigeria and the EU, highlighting the gaps between both economies’ standards and certification systems.

According to data from International Trade Centre (ITC) , Nigeria’s export earnings fell for a second consecutive year in 2024, dropping by 8.5% to $57.9 billion.

The figure had already declined from $63.3 billion in 2022 to $60.65 billion in 2023. In naira terms, however, total exports rose from ₦26.8 trillion in 2022 to ₦36 trillion in 2023 and surged to ₦77.4 trillion in 2024.

These increases reflect the naira’s steep depreciation, not an improvement in the volume or acceptance of Nigerian goods overseas.

Intelpoint data show that the naira weakened from ₦645.2 to the dollar at the end of 2023 to ₦1,478.9 in 2024, marking the sharpest yearly decline in a decade.

EU border agencies have repeatedly rejected Nigerian agricultural and manufactured goods for failing to meet essential sanitary and phytosanitary requirements.

Frequent violations include excessive pesticide residue, poor traceability, contamination detected during inspection, and inconsistencies in certification documentation issued in Nigeria.

These failures stem largely from fragmented supply chains, weak monitoring capacity and a lack of internationally accredited laboratories.

South Africa, Morocco and Kenya maintain far stronger conformity systems, and South Africa in particular consistently delivers some of the highest acceptance rates across EU ports.

The ITC figures show that oil remains the backbone of Nigeria’s exports, contributing nearly 90 per cent of total earnings between 2022 and 2024. Over that period, the country earned $163.2 billion from crude oil out of total export revenues of $181.8 billion.

Despite this dominance, oil earnings have continued to fall, declining from $57.4 billion in 2022 to $55.6 billion in 2023 and then to $50.3 billion in 2024.

Because crude prices are determined externally and the product is exported with limited value addition, Nigeria gains little competitive advantage from currency depreciation.

Non-oil exports recorded mixed fortunes. Cocoa earnings rose from $679 million in 2022 to $759 million in 2023 and climbed sharply to $2.6 billion in 2024.

Fertiliser exports fell from $1.9 billion in 2022 to $935.4 million in 2024. Ores and residues, however, increased from $158.6 million in 2023 to $824.4 million in 2024.

Despite positive growth in some sectors, quality problems have continued to undermine acceptance in Europe, particularly for foods such as beans, palm oil and processed crops.

Nigeria recorded stronger performance in African markets in 2024 due to the relative strength of the West African CFA franc.

Companies such as Unilever Nigeria, Cadbury Nigeria and Guinness Nigeria reported export sales of ₦22.8 billion in 2024, up from ₦9.92 billion in the preceding year. EU markets, however, maintain stricter inspection standards, and Nigeria’s structural weaknesses continue to limit penetration.

The country’s export structure remains heavily constrained by outdated processing technology, weak inspection capacity, irregular regulatory monitoring, and an overreliance on raw commodities.

Also, pipeline vandalism and crude theft also prevent Nigeria from meeting its production benchmark of 1.7 million barrels per day, despite a rise to 1.5 million barrels per day in 2024.

In December 2023, the Federal Government introduced the Trade Policy of Nigeria (2023–2027), aimed at aligning export regulations with World Trade Organisation rules and boosting global competitiveness.

The policy forms part of a wider reform agenda tied to the Medium-Term National Development Plan (2021–2025) and Agenda 2050.

Despite these initiatives, limited investment in quality assurance, industrial processing and standards enforcement continues to weaken Nigeria’s acceptance in high-value markets such as the EU.

Headline

US Imposes Visa Restrictions On Nigerians Linked To Religious Freedom Violations

Published

2 days ago

December 3, 2025

Editor

The United States government on Wednesday announced visa restrictions targeting individuals involved in violations of religious freedom in Nigeria. The measures may also extend to immediate family members of the affected persons.

In a statement titled “Combating Egregious Anti-Christian Violence in Nigeria and Globally”, the Department of State said the restrictions were being implemented in response to mass killings and attacks on Christians by radical Islamic terrorists, Fulani militias, and other violent actors in Nigeria and elsewhere.

The statement explained that under Section 212(a)(3)(C) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, the State Department would now have the authority to deny visas to those who have “directed, authorised, significantly supported, participated in, or carried out violations of religious freedom,” with the policy potentially extending to their immediate family members.

It further cited former President Donald Trump’s remarks, noting that the United States “cannot stand by while such atrocities are happening in Nigeria, and numerous other countries.” The policy will apply to Nigeria and other governments or individuals implicated in violations of religious freedom.

The announcement follows growing international concern over attacks on religious communities in Nigeria, including targeted killings, abductions, and destruction of property attributed to armed groups.