Ownership of Benin Bronzes transferred to royal ruler

The ongoing negotiations surrounding the restitution of the Benin Bronzes from European museums may be complicated by the Nigerian government’s decision to officially recognise the Oba of Benin as their owner, it has been suggested.

The transfer of ownership of the artefacts, which were looted in the 19th Century, was announced via a Presidential Declaration made in March.

The proposed law states that “all artefacts must be delivered to the Oba of Benin who exercises the rights of original owner. This covers the ones already repatriated and those yet to be repatriated,” a report on the Arise news website said. 

“For many Edo people, it is right and proper that such objects go back to the Oba as they were looted from his great-great-grandfather,” Barnaby Phillips, author of Loot: Britain and the Benin Bronzes, told the Art Newspaper.

But he said the decision had caused confusion among European museums currently negotiating deals with Nigeria’s National Commission for Museums and Monuments (NCMM). The organisation itself was also “blindsided” by the transfer of ownership, he added.

The NCMM is responsible for coordinating restitution efforts with Western institutions. 

Godwin Obaseki, the local Edo State governor, has backed plans to house the bronzes in the Edo Museum of Western African Art, due to open in stages from next year, but Oba wants the bronzes to be held by his family in a royal museum or palace, the Art Newspaper reported.