The statue had been donated by a student's parent who took part in the colonial expedition. In Cambridge, Jesus College returned on October 27 a bronze sculpture of a cockerel that had stood in the hall since 1905. The University of Aberdeen, in Scotland, returned a bronze sculpture purchased by the institution in 1957 and originating from the same 1897 loot. In late October, two UK universities also returned to Nigeria objects looted in the Kingdom of Benin. The American cultural institution now plans to begin a repatriation process for 16 pieces identified as objects looted during a British expedition in 1897 – without any formal request from Nigeria.

In the latest development, the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of African Art in Washington, DC declared last week that it had removed from its collection bronzes from the Kingdom of Benin, a territory located in present-day Nigeria, which included modern-day Lagos. “Anywhere we come across these objects, whether in private collections or in public institutions, we are going to lay claim (…) that we are sure of.'īenin’s neighbour Nigeria has proactively joined the restitution campaign, negotiating agreements with museums and institutions in the United States, Germany, Ireland and the UK, including the Fowler Museum in Los Angeles, the National Museum of Ireland and Berlin’s Ethnologisches Museum. “It’s a big international issue now,” Abba Isa Tijani, the director general of Nigeria’s National Commission for Museums and Monuments, told Al Jazeera in October.

'France has probably lit a spark' for other countries to follow, she added.Īs the debate intensifies, African countries have grown increasignly vocal and assertive in their pursuit. All of a sudden, France started to move,' Marie-Cécile Zinsou, president of the Zinsou Art Foundation, told FRANCE 24.įor the Franco-Beninese dual national, an African art specialist and daughter of former Beninese premier Lionel Zinsou, the push to return artworks is first of all 'a global movement, which will be difficult to avoid from now on'. 'President Macron surprised everyone with his promise, we didn't expect it.

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