Receiving Bronzes of Contention

Okechukwu Uwaezuoke

“A moment comes in the history of mankind [when] we are beckoned upon to do what is right.” That Tuesday, December 20 afternoon, the voice of Information and Culture Minister Lai Mohammed could be heard clearly across the Foreign Affairs Ministry’s Abuja building’s Rotunda Hall. Its tone? More cordial and convivial, in keeping with the occasion. By this time, the large amphitheatre had gone virtually silent after the pre-conference hubbub tapered off.

The occasion? A few of the Benin bronzes in the custody of Germany were being officially handed over by Germany to Nigeria in a ceremony witnessed by Nigeria’s Foreign Affairs Minister Geoffrey Onyeama, the Sports Minister Sunday Dare, and Nigeria’s ambassador to Germany, Yusuf Maitama Tuggar and the Director General of the National Commission for Museums and Monuments (NCMM), Professor Abba Isa Tijani, among others. On the German side was the German Foreign Affairs Minister Annalena Baerbock, who told the audience that she was leading the largest delegation of officials, which included the Culture Minister Claudia Roth, since her resumption in office on December 21, 2021. “This moment beckoned and Germany seized it,” Mr Mohammed resumed. “Forever, Nigeria, Africa and indeed all of humanity, will remember and always cherish this period in human history when Germany stood by us.” This was approximately three years after he had warned “those who are holding on to Nigeria’s cultural property anywhere in the world” that “we are coming for you.”

It was at that press conference held on Thursday, November 28, 2019, that the minister launched the Campaign for the Return and Restitution of Nigeria’s looted or smuggled artefacts from around the world, and had vowed to use “all legal and diplomatic instruments available” to achieve this goal.

It is in this context that the minister’s conviviality toward the German guests should be understood. After all, as he said: “When Germany mooted and announced the idea of returning Nigerian Benin bronzes, the entire globe treated the news with disbelief. However, Germany did not stop at a mere announcement, but followed up with a visit to Nigeria by high-ranking officials in March 2021 to further assure us.”

It was also not unlikely that Germany’s laudable decision to return the looted objects had inspired others to follow suit, as the minister suggested with the statement: “Because of what Germany has done, negotiations with other nations, institutions, and museums for the repatriation of the Benin bronzes in their possession became swifter.”

Following a series of meetings between officials from both countries, during which “the Germans were gracious,” according to Mohammed, Germany signed a declaration committing to releasing all 1,130 Benin bronzes in Germany’s public museums on July 7, 2022.

Of course, not all 1,130 Benin bronzes were immediately handed over at last Tuesday’s ceremony in Abuja. Twenty-two of them were returned, and others are expected to be returned according to the schedule. But even this could not have dampened the atmosphere of excitement in the hall. “Twenty years ago, even 10 years ago, nobody could have anticipated these bronzes returning to Nigeria, because the obstacles to achieving repatriation were seemingly insurmountable,” the minister said. “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. In this regard, my special gratitude goes to Andreas Goergen and the Directors of the various museums for their patience and understanding.”

Meanwhile, there is the narrative advanced by the Western museum oligarchy that Africans cannot be trusted to safeguard their own cultural heritage, which, curiously, the minister dignified with his reply. While the Federal Government of Nigeria’s planned infrastructural development around the National Museum in Benin, in addition to other stakeholders’ initiatives in Nigeria and the immense support of foreign partners, particularly Germany, which can easily transform Benin City into a cultural hub for Africa, can indeed be described as a laudable venture, it need not be a precondition to the return of stolen cultural objects. 

“The infernal logic of this counter-narrative is a favourite ploy of apologists of the existing museum power structure, such as James Cuno, whose arrogant defence of the right of Western museums to keep the loot of their imperial plunder amounts in many ways to crass racism,” countered Sylvester Okwunodu Ogbechie, a Professor of History of Art and Architecture at the University of California Santa Barbara, USA, during a lecture in Lagos three years ago. “The defence of the status quo is either based on the idea that might makes right and Western imperialism does not have to account for its past transgressions against African peoples or that Africans and indigenous peoples everywhere have no right to their bodies or their natural resources. Both claims are morally bankrupt.”

This paternalistic mindset explains the British Museum’s haughtiness, which has so far resisted efforts to release the around 900 Benin bronzes it currently holds. This is even a year after receiving an official letter requesting their return. But then, it is as Mohammed said: “The British Museum and all those holding on to our artefacts must understand that repatriation is a cause [for] which [the] time has come. They must also understand that many of these cultural objects are not mere art …but the true essence of our being. They are more than just decorative works; they represent our culture and heritage. They belong here, not anywhere else!”