00:00they are finally back in nigeria these benin bronze sculptures more than 100 of them are
00:09getting a much-awaited homecoming welcome they are being returned by a dutch museum after they were
00:14looted from the benin kingdom by british forces in 1897. this official handover to nigeria's
00:21national museum commission represents the single largest return of benin artifacts so far it's a
00:27significant occasion for the people the royal palace and the people of benin and in fact
00:35all nigerians that things that were taken by force or stolen are being returned to where they belong
00:43these are works that are extremely talented forefathers artists and craftsmen artists they did
00:53prior to 1897 until now they are still standing the conversation around the repatriation of looted
01:02artifacts from africa during the colonial era have gained ground in recent years and for campaigners
01:09in nigeria it's been a long push to have the bronzes returned from western museums first and foremost we
01:16welcome our artifacts back home but secondly we want the world to know that these artifacts will indeed
01:22be taken care of with the utmost attention to detail and they will be displayed in all their glory we
01:28hope it does that's the whole point we hope that this does a fire restitution across the continent
01:34we hope that this starts a questioning of conscience amongst the museum goers and the museum operators
01:40abroad countries like germany returned over 20 sculptures like these in 2022 but the uk's british
01:47museum in london still holds a large collection of benin bronzes with legal complications preventing their
01:53return the return of these sculptures marks a significant milestone in the conversation about
02:00restitution of artifacts taken away from africa during the colonial area and many view this as a
02:06step towards righting some historical wrongs now with 119 of these bronzes returned from the netherlands
02:13these four will be housed right here at the national museum in lagos while the rest of them will be
02:18taken to a museum in beneath city that's the historical and royal land from where these artifacts was
02:23first taken over 100 years ago the nigerian museum authorities say this will not be a one-off
02:30they also say efforts are being made for the restitution of more ancient artifacts from various countries in
02:37europe
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