The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has formally received the repatriated Ife Terracotta from Foreign Affairs minister, Mr. Geoffrey Onyeama, in the company of the Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to Nigeria, Mr. Harry van Dijk
While receiving the artifact in his office in Abuja on Thursday, November 2, Lai Mohammed said the return of the stolen Ife Terracotta marks a milestone in Nigeria’s efforts at pursuing the return of the country’s antiquities. He said the Ife Terracotta was smuggled from Nigeria through Ghana to The Netherlands in 2019 with a forged document.The Minister
of Information and Culture said following the interception of the Artefa by the
Dutch Customs at Schiphol Airport in The Netherlands, Nigeria was invited to
prove her case against the suspected smuggler, which the country did successfully,
hence the return of the Artefact.
“Let me state
here that Nigeria believes in joint international efforts to put a stop to
illicit export and import of cultural goods. The issue of cultural property
should not be a ground of rancour and discord among nations. That is if nations
choose to tow the path which the Kingdom of The Netherlands has chosen by
insisting on justice, fairness and amity,” he said
In his
remarks, the Minister of Foreign Affairs thanked The Netherlands for the
efficient and expeditious manner in which it deployed resources to identify,
retrieve, and repatriate the Ife Terracotta to Nigeria.
Also
speaking, the Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to Nigeria said the
return of the artifact is a fitting gift to mark the 50th anniversary of the
UNESCO Convention on the Prevention of Illicit Trafficking of Culture Heritage,
of which Nigeria and The Netherlands are signatories.
c.
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