The National Commission for Museums and Monuments (NCMM) has said no fewer than 1,500 Nigerian artefacts taken away will be retrieved from across the world in 2022.
Abba Tijani, director-general, NCMM, disclosed this in a telephone interview.
Tijani said these were part of the over 5,000 artefacts carted away from different locations in Nigeria, decades ago.
The director-general said the artefacts would be retrieved from Germany, Australia, New Zealand, United Kingdom and other individual museums across the globe.
He noted that agreements had been reached for the return of the Benin bronzes in the British Museum of Anthropology and Archeology at the University of Cambridge, United Kingdom, as they hold the second largest collection of such artefacts.
According to him, the largest number to be retrieved in 2022 will be coming from Germany with 1,030 Nigerian artefacts.
He said the Oxford University, England was also willing to return the Benin bronzes in their collection.
” We have not been able to retrieve much because the negotiation and agreement started this year; the artefacts are expected to start coming in from 2022.
” We have written formally to other museums with our artefacts, likewise the Australian embassy has organised an online meeting, to be held in January where we are going to meet with all the museum directors in Australia to discuss the terms of return.
He also said they have been contacted by museums in the United States of America and other individual museums in other countries saying that they are ready to return all the Benin bronzes in their collection.
Tijani said the commission was working tirelessly on preparing a conducive environment for the artefacts to be kept in an international standard.
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