Minister of Foreign Affairs, Chief Geoffrey Onyeama, has received a stolen Ile-Ife artefact recovered from Mexico in Abuja.
Collecting the artefact on Thursday, he called for a more secure border to prevent future occurrence of theft.
Onyeama received the artefact from Dr Yakubu Dadu, Charge d’Affaires of the Nigerian Mission in Mexico.
“Presented with an ancient bronze sculpture by Dr. Yakubu Dadu, Chargé Affaires of The Nigerian Embassy in Mexico,” the minister tweeted on his official handle.
Presented with an ancient bronze sculpture by Dr. Yakubu Dadu, Chargé Affaires of The Nigerian Embassy in Mexico. This Ife bronze was stolen from Nigeria and noticed at an airport in Mexico by our Ambassador at the time, Aminu Iyawa. pic.twitter.com/ZLAlxRc6qF
— Geoffrey Onyeama (@GeoffreyOnyeama) April 8, 2021
He stated that;
This Ife bronze was stolen from Nigeria and noticed at an airport in Mexico by our Ambassador at the time, Aminu Iyawa.
The minister explained that the then-ambassador was “suspicious and alerted the authorities who played a significant role in ensuring it was recovered and handed back to us.”
While thanking the Mexican government for its role in the return of the artefact, he said he will present it to Information and Culture Minister, Lai Mohammed.
Late last month, University of Aberdeen said it will return a Benin Bronze to Nigeria, many years after the British looted the sculptures.
“An ongoing review of the collections identified the Head of an Oba as having been acquired in a way that we now consider to have been extremely immoral, so we took a proactive approach to identify the appropriate people to discuss what to do,” the school said as it became the first institution to agree to the full repatriation from a museum of a Benin bronze.
The minister hailed the Embassy’s efforts in recovering the artefact.
He said that the interventions of Nigerian Envoys in recovering stolen possessions of the country shows the important works they were doing as against negative reports of Nigerian missions on social media.
Onyeama also appreciated the government of Mexico for its cooperation in ensuring that the artifact was duly returned to Nigeria.
He however stressed the need for sensitising Customs officials at borders, explaining that it is better to secure national heritages from being stolen than to start negotiation for their return after being stolen.
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