Headline

Nigeria Receives Looted Benin, Ife Artefacts From U.S. Museum

Published

4 years ago

November 24, 2021

The Consulate-General of Nigeria in New York has taken custody of three Benin and Ife artefacts from the Metropolitan Museum of Art (MET) in New York.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Director-General, National Commission for Museums and Monuments (NCMM), Prof. Abba Tijjani, received the artefacts from the museum in company of the Consul-General of Nigeria in New York, Amb. Lot Egopija.

NAN also reports that the MET currently houses about 160 works of arts from Nigeria, which were mostly donated by individuals who were said to have acquired them in the art market.

Tijjani, who later signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with MET, commended the museum for returning the artefacts to Nigeria, urging other museums in possession of Nigerian artefacts to follow its exemplary gesture.

The director-general said the issue of repatriation was now at the heart of the people looking at museums particularly in Europe that these artefacts were not their own yet they displayed them.

“We are looking forward to collaborating with the MET because we cannot exist in an island, for example, the museum cannot be working in Nigeria without collaborating with partners outside the country.

“So, we are looking forward to collaborating with MET now that we are friends and we understand each other and we want to see how we can work together,’’ he said.

“We have about 52 museums across the country under the commission, and we have 65 monuments and sites and staff working in the museums will require modern training.’’

Similarly, Tijjani called for collaboration between MET and NCMM on exhibition, scholarship and capacity building of the staff and getting the required curators

Noting that exhibition is key to reaching out to the public, he said “Nigeria is very passionate about the way it exhibits its artefacts and we feel that it will be good if we collaborate and rob minds when it comes to joint exhibitions.

“There is a need for us to exhibit our works in a way that we understand it and we want people to understand these artefacts too,’’ he said

The director-general said he was looking forward to signing Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with MET in those areas and other areas of mutual areas.

Also speaking, MET Director, Max Hollein said the shared commitment to future exchanges of programmes would form part of the MoU.

“We have we had long lasting relationships, the museum is committed to a responsible process in collaborating in areas of standards as well as to study works that have been in our collection.

“It’s an ongoing effort to learn to exchange and to find the right solutions,’’ he said.

Hollein said MET would be pleased to initiate the return of Nigeria’s works and remain “committed to transparency and the responsible collecting of cultural property”.

He said the signing of the MoU was a meaningful way to show dedication of MET with NCMM, adding the possibility to exchange more on different levels on scholarship, exhibitions and other ideas that we might have together.

“We at the MET are so pleased to establishing the framework of exchange with Nigeria and we are looking forward to collaborating together,’’ Hollein said.

NAN reports that the two 16th-century Benin brass plaques and the 14th-century Ife brass head were later taken to the Consulate-General of Nigeria in New York for eventual return to Nigeria at a later date.

(NAN/VANGUARD)

Related Topics:Ife Artifacts Looted Benin Artifacts

Up Next

JUST IN: EFCC Places Anambra Gov, Obiano, On Watch List

Don't Miss

Akeredolu, Mimiko, Achievers Varsity Chancellor To Grace Precision’s 5th Anniversary

Comments

Headline

Serbia Indicts Ex-minister, 12 Others Over Train Station Tragedy

Published

14 hours ago

September 16, 2025

Editor

Serbian prosecutors filed an updated indictment on Tuesday against 13 people, including a former minister, over a fatal railway station roof collapse that has triggered a wave of anti-government protests.

The prosecution said all those indicted, among them former construction minister Goran Vesic, face charges of “serious crimes against public safety” over the tragedy that killed 16 people last November.

“The indictment proposes that the Higher Court in Novi Sad order custody for all the defendants,” the prosecutor’s office said in a statement.

The roof collapse at the newly renovated station in Serbia’s second-largest city, Novi Sad, became a symbol of entrenched corruption and sparked almost daily protests.

Protesters first demanded a transparent investigation, but their calls soon escalated into demands for early elections.

The Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office in Novi Sad initially filed an indictment at the end of December, but judges returned it in April, requesting more information.

The accused were released or placed under house arrest following the decision.

The prosecutor’s office said it had complied with the judge’s request and had now completed the supplementary investigation.

The prosecutor specialising in organised crime and corruption in Belgrade is leading a separate, independent investigation into the tragedy.

That investigation is focused on 13 people, including Vesic and another former minister, Tomislav Momirovic, who headed the Construction Ministry before him.

In March, the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) launched a third, separate investigation into the possible misuse of EU funds for the station’s reconstruction.

AFP

Headline

Kazakhstan Bans Forced Marriage, Bride Kidnapping

Published

14 hours ago

September 16, 2025

Editor

Kazakhstan has banned forced marriages and bride kidnappings through a law that came into effect Tuesday in the Central Asian country, where the practice persists despite new attention being paid to women’s rights.

Forcing someone to marry is now punishable by up to 10 years in prison, Kazakh police said in a statement.

“These changes are aimed at preventing forced marriages and protecting vulnerable categories of citizens, especially women and adolescents,” it added.

Bride kidnappings have also been outlawed.

REAS ALSO:What To Know About Albania’s AI Minister, Diella

“Previously, a person who voluntarily released a kidnapped person could expect to be released from criminal liability. Now this possibility has been eliminated,” the police said.

There are no reliable statistics of forced marriage cases across the country, with no separate article in the criminal code prohibiting it until now.

A Kazakh lawmaker said earlier this year that the police had received 214 such complaints over the past three years.

The custom is also present in neighbouring Kyrgyzstan, where it mostly goes unpunished due to indifferent law enforcement and stigma surrounding whistleblowers.

The issue of women’s rights in Kazakhstan gained media attention in 2023 following the murder of a woman by her husband, a former minister, a case that shocked Kazakh society and prompted President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev to react.

“Some people hide behind so-called traditions and try to impose the practice of wife stealing. This blatant obscurantism cannot be justified,” Tokayev said last year.

AFP

Headline

Russia Arrests Woman For Detonating Bomb On Railway

Published

14 hours ago

September 16, 2025

Editor

Russia’s FSB security service said on Tuesday it had arrested a woman in her fifties accused of detonating explosives in a bid to sabotage the Trans-Siberian Railway.

The suspect was allegedly working on behalf of Ukrainian intelligence, the FSB said, in the latest incident of alleged covert activity during the countries’ conflict.

“In August 2025, following the instructions provided by the adversary, the suspect manufactured a homemade explosive device from publicly available components, placed it on the railway tracks and triggered it,” the Russian agency said.

“She recorded the moment of the explosion on her mobile phone camera and sent the footage as a report to the handler to receive a reward.”

The statement did not name the suspect but said she was born in 1974 and carried out the alleged attack in eastern Siberia’s Zabaikalsky region.

The FSB warned Russians that it was monitoring social networks and online messenger services such as Telegram and WhatsApp for evidence of Ukrainian services recruiting Russians to carry out sabotage.

Separately, the agency told state news agency TASS that a man had been sentenced to 18 years and six months for transporting explosives on behalf of a “pro-Ukrainian” group.

A resident of the Bryansk region, which borders Ukraine, had, the FSB said, established contact through the Telegram app with a banned “terrorist organisation”.

He allegedly retrieved explosives from a cache on the orders of this group before waiting for “further instructions”, according to the same source cited by TASS.

He was jailed by a military tribunal.

AFP