The Kingdom of Netherlands on Thursday officially presented a smuggled Ife Terracotta antiquity dated to be at least 600 years old to Nigeria.
The repatriated antiquity was presented to the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed at a ceremony held in Abuja.
Receiving the repatriated object, the minister explained that the 600-Year-Old Ife Terracotta arrived Europe in 2019 after it was smuggled through the airport in Ghana.
“The smuggler had obtained forged documents purported to be from a former Director-General of the National Commission for Museums and Monuments NCMM.
“The smuggler ultimately passed through the airport in Ghana before getting to Europe in 2019.
“The Dutch Customs at Schiphol Airport suspected that the object might be illicitly imported and alerted the antiquity protection office known as the Inspectie, which is the Information and Heritage Inspectorate of the Netherlands, to give an opinion.
“The Inspectie invited Nigeria to prove her case against the suspected smuggler,’’ he said.
According to Mohammed, the NCMM acted swiftly by dispatching its lawyer to present evidence and argue for the return of the object, a case which was successful in Nigeria’s favour.
He said the Government of the Netherlands handed over the object to the Nigerian Embassy in Hague on Nov. 2 after all internal procedures, including the right of appeal, were exhausted.
The Minister who went on to underscore the need for Nigeria to tap into tourism and other fields, noted that such measure would generate income for the nation and secure jobs for the youth.
“One way of generating income for the country is if our cultural properties are exhibited around the world to a fee-paying audience, on the basis of proper agreement that acknowledges us as owners and confers the right benefits on us.
“But this is not possible for as long as most of them adorn the museums and private collections of others, who describe them as their properties,’’ he said.
Mohammed further assured of Nigeria’s commitment to putting a stop to illicit export and import of cultural goods.
Also present at the event were The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyema, Netherlands Ambassador to Nigeria, Harry Van Dijk, Nigeria Charge de Affairs to the Netherlands, Kabiru Musa and the Director-General National Commission for Museum and Monuments (NCMM) were present at the event.
Musa said the repatriation was made possible in compliance with the 1970 UNESCO Convention on the Prevention of Illegal Trafficking of Cultural Heritage which Nigeria and Netherlands are signatories.
He said that the return of the smuggled artefact was significant considering the fact that it coincided with 50 years-celebration of the UNESCO Convention.
