[African_heritage_under_threat:57] In Lagos, 'Benin 1897.com' spurs looted artefacts’ debate Tuesday, 20 April 2010 00:00 Emmanuel Agozino

[Mark]

In Lagos, 'Benin 1897.com' spurs looted artefacts’ debate Tuesday, 20
April 2010 00:00 Emmanuel Agozino
http://www.compassnewspaper.com/NG/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=46314:in-lagos-benin-1897com-spurs-looted-artefacts-debate-&catid=54:arts&Itemid=694
GLOBAL calls for the return of thousands of bronze, ivory works and
other artifacts forcefully removed from Benin received a boost
recently during a colloquium which held in Lagos.

Organised as a topical kicker to the touring exhibition, entitled,
Benin 1897.com: Art and the Restitution Question, mounted by the
artist and art history don, Dr. Peju Layiwola, at University of Lagos
(UNILAG), the event brought together leading members of the art
community from within and outside Nigeria. There were papers and a day-
long lively debate. The colloquium was aimed primarily at critically
appraising the 1897 British expedition to Benin.

Interestingly, the forum of eminent personalities – cultural leaders,
artists and shcolars among others – canvassed a vast range of the
matter, and perhaps conflicting perspectives on how best to approach
the issue of restitution. Views stretching from the openly cynical to
the more familiar calls for Brtain to return the looted artifacts
competed for attention as the Main Auditorium Hall of UNILAG charged
with intellectual contributions.

Those urging restitution cited the example of France which recently
retuned antiques it forcefully removed from Egypt during the reign of
Emperor Napoleon and Italy’s recent return of the Obelisks it removed
from Ethiopia under the fascist reign of Benito Mussolini and called
that United Kingdom should do the same on the looted Benin artefacts.

One major point that got the nod of almost all the speakers was that
the British expedition and the subsequent looting of Benin has no
moral or legal justification as Britain’s role was not only deemed a
rape but a criminal act inspired by greed and economic desire.

Several papers presented at the colloquium confronted this said
injustice head on.

Father of the event was HRH Prince Edun Akenzua, Enogie of Obazuwa.
Also present were the former minister of national planning and
immediate past helmsman of Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory
Agency (PPPRA), Chief Rashid Gbadamosi, who is the Vice Chairman of
Visual Arts Society of Nigeria (VASON) was there along with renowned
artist, Dr. Bruce Onobrakpeya among others who made useful
contributions on the debate raised by scholars who presented the
papers. Others include Prof. Dele Jegede of University of Miami,
United States of America (USA), Director General of Centre for Black
African Art and Civilsation(CBAAC) Prof. Tunde Babawale, Dr Tayo
Adeshina, The Director-General of National Commission for Museum and
Monument (NCMM), Mallam Abdallah Usman Yusuf who was represented by
Aisha Katundah and the curator of the African Collection, Museum of
Ethnology Vienna Austria, Barbara Plankensteiner, Dean of the
Department of Creative Arts, UNILAG, Prof. Duro Oni and a teeming
number of academic researchers from several African academic and non-
academic institutions.

The colloquium opened on Thursday, April 8, with an introduction by
the former Vice Chancellor of UNILAG, Prof. Akin Oyebode whose brief
but incisive address urged participants to feel free and contribute
positively to the topic. Having said that, the erudite legal scholar
set the ball rolling. Oyebode informed participants that he came
across many of Nigeria’s looted artifacts in several museums in
Stalingrad, Russia, France and Britain, when he was a student in
Europe lamented the inability of the nation’s authorities to protect
its cultural heritage. According to him, time has come when Nigeria
should take the issues of preserving its cultural heritage serious.
“While Nigeria and the rest of Africa may not see the values of these
works, many European nations have for long known their worth,” he
observed while

Paper presentation by, among others. Prof. Folarin Shyllon, former
Dean , Faculty of Law, University of Ibadan and Prof. Demola Popoola,
Dean Faculty of Law, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife followed.
Shyllon through his paper entitled, Towards Strategy for Curbing
Illicit Trafficking and the Return of Cultural Property, established
that looting artefacts and antiquities is an ancient practice. But
going futher to prove his points, he argued that in the 20th Century,
the phenomenon has grown exponentially. According to him, apart from
countries like Greek, Italy and Turkey, African countries has suffered
the most through unauthorised excavations of archeological sites and
trade in stolen antiquities. The don posited that it in the 1960s and
1970s the plundering of African cultural property assumed gigantic
proportion. His paper however moaned the inability of Nigerian leaders
to protect the country’s artistic heritage, adding that the nation
stands to lose should leaders continue to pay lip service to this
danger.

“In 1971, the Director of the then Antiquities Department of Nigeria,
Ekpo Eyo warned that unless the theft of Nigerian collections was
arrested, nothing will be left of Nigerian antiquities in about ten
years. In 1996 while inaugurating an Inter-Ministerial Committee on
the looting of Nigerian antiquities, the Minister of Culture said that
Nigeria is losing its cultural heritage at such an alarming rate that
unless the trend is arrested soon we may have no cultural artefacts to
bequeath to our progeny. The situation that gave rise to the comments
of the Minister and director of antiquities is not unique to Nigeria.
In 1996, in a general overview, Drewal urged that drastic steps be
taken to curb the activities of those plundering Africa’s past,
otherwise Africa will soon have a landscape barren of cultural
heritage. It is submitted, that if during the colonial encounter
military force was used to take over land and resources of the people
in the colonies, and if the missionaries destroyed and pillaged
because their existence hindered the liberation of the African mind
from demons, today the offer of hard currency by western collectors to
thieves of art works encourages the plundering of the cultural
heritage of African countries,” Shyllon stated.

Denouncing the action of former Military Head of State, Gen Yakubu
Gowon (rtd) who was said to have during a State visit to England in
1973, deliberately taken, from the National Museum Lagos a 17th
Century Benin bronze to offer as gift to Queen of England, Shyllon
pointed out that such careless attitude demonstrated the Nigerian
leadership’s lackadaisical approach to its items of cultural heritage.

A similar incident happened under President Olusegun Obasanjo. “In
1999 the French bought three Nok and Sokoto terra cotta knowing fully
well that they must have been looted and illegally exported from
Nigeria since the objects are on ICOM’s Red List of African Cultural
Objects at Risk. Eventually France had to acknowledge Nigerian
ownership of the antiquities. Unfortunately, France was allowed, under
a very dubious agreement sanctioned by the President of Nigeria to
keep the items on loan for a period of twenty-five years which is
renewable. This pusillanimous action of Nigeria contrasts most
unfavorably with the forthright approach of Zahi Hawass of the
Egyptian SCA ... in the confrontation with the Louvre (in France),”
Shyllon argued.

In his paper titled Between Reparation and Repatriation: Legal Issues
in the Recovery of Nigeria’s Plundered Cultural Property, Popoola
corroborated most of Shyllon’s argument especially from legal
perspectives. He noted that contemporary international law supports
the demand for restoration of displaced cultural property. According
him, “It is, therefore, not surprising that since the adoption of the
UNIDROIT Convention on Stolen and Illegally Exported Cultural Property
(1999), which provides, in no mistakable terms, for the return of such
property, big western museums have come under pressure to return
objects (even whole collections) on the grounds that the museum
holding the object(s) is not the legal owner.” But Nigeria has not
taken advantage of that legal provision.

However, earlier during his opening speech, Prof. Babawale, a
historian had lampooned Great Britain for looting Beninfs artifacts.
The CBAAC boos who held the audience spellbound thorough his
presentation pointed out how the 1897, event contributed to the
setback in Nigeria’s and Africa’s cultural heritage. He disclosed
CBAAC’s intention to associate with the event in promoting the cause
of the restitution campaign and more African culture.

Nonetheless, despite the condemnation of Britain throughout the event,
it was a drama as few voices rose in the hall to criticise Nigeria for
not protecting its cultural treasures and failing to keep its art
houses as well as museums in order before demanding for return of
looted artifacts from the West.

“Go to National museum Onikan, it is dead. What of Ojukwu bunker in
Umuahia, nothing has been done to keep such place. I was recently at
Lord Lugard’s house in Lokoja, Kogi State, the whole place is being
destroyed. What I a sayng is that instead of asking for Britain to
return these things, we should first keep our house in order,” a man
shouted from the audience during open contributions.

Another issue which found disparate reactions throughout the
colloquium was wether Nigeria should be asking for reparation or
restitution from Britain.

On the issue, Prof. Oyebode said Nigerians should get it right. “We
should stop clamouring for restitution. Rather, the major thing should
be restoration. Benin should be calling that those works should be
returned. That is what is presently happening all over the world.”
Oyebode said.

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