Nigeria to receive 119 looted Benin bronzes from the Netherlands in historic repatriation

Nigeria is set to welcome back 119 Benin Bronzes looted during the 1897 British invasion of the Benin Kingdom, with the first batch scheduled to arrive in June, the National Commission for Museums and Monuments (NCMM) has confirmed.

Of the returning artifacts, 113 were part of the Dutch State Collection, while six were previously held by the Municipality of Rotterdam. The repatriation agreement was formally signed on Wednesday at the Wereldmuseum in Leiden, Netherlands, where the bronzes had been displayed.

NCMM Director-General Olugbile Holloway highlighted that the return marks the single largest repatriation of Benin antiquities directly linked to the British punitive expedition of 1897.

He emphasized that this achievement was the result of years of negotiations and diplomatic collaboration between Nigeria and the Netherlands.

The formal request for the return of the artifacts was made in September 2022, with discussions gaining momentum at the European Union and African Union conference in Ethiopia in July 2024. By November 2024, following recommendations from the Netherlands’ independent Colonial Collections Committee, the Dutch government agreed to return the bronzes unconditionally.

Holloway commended the Netherlands’ commitment to restitution and acknowledged the instrumental role played by the Dutch Embassy in Nigeria.

He also expressed gratitude to Nigeria’s Federal Ministry of Arts, Culture, Tourism, and the Creative Economy, as well as Minister Hannatu Musawa, for their support in facilitating the historic return.