In a significant move towards colonial accountability, the Netherlands has officially returned 119 looted Benin artifacts to Nigeria, recognizing that the objects were wrongfully taken during the brutal 1897 British invasion of the Benin Kingdom.
The restitution ceremony took place on Saturday at the National Museum in Lagos, where Nigerian officials accepted plaques, royal regalia, bronze sculptures, and an ancient ceremonial bell — all stolen from royal palaces in present-day southern Nigeria more than a century ago.
“These pieces never belonged in the Netherlands,” the Dutch government declared in its statement. “They were plundered during a military campaign and are being returned unconditionally.”
The artifacts, collectively known as the Benin Bronzes, are deeply symbolic for Nigeria. Taken during a British military raid that exiled King Ovonramwen Nogbaisi, the objects have become icons of both cultural pride and colonial injustice. The operation was part of Britain’s wider imperial push to control lucrative trade in palm oil, ivory, and rubber.
The Dutch restitution is currently the largest physical return of Benin artifacts to Nigeria, according to government officials. It follows mounting international pressure in recent years from African governments and heritage organizations demanding the return of stolen cultural property.
This return echoes earlier moves by other Western institutions. In 2022, London’s Horniman Museum sent back 72 Benin Bronzes. Later, the Rhode Island School of Design Museum followed suit, returning 31 items — including a famed “Head of a King” sculpture — to Nigeria's national collections.
In January 2024, the British Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum signed a loan deal to return 30 royal treasures to Ghana. Meanwhile, Oxford University attempted a symbolic gesture in 2023, offering 196 cows as compensation to Maasai communities in Kenya and Tanzania for colonial-era plundering.
Nigeria’s National Commission for Museums and Monuments (NCMM) has spearheaded the country’s global campaign for repatriation. At Saturday’s ceremony, NCMM Director-General Olugbile Holloway emphasized the spiritual and cultural significance of the artifacts.
“These items are more than just art — they embody the soul of the people they were taken from,” Holloway said. “We ask only for fairness, dignity, and respect.”
Calls for decolonizing Western museums continue to grow louder, with African nations demanding not just restitution of stolen treasures, but acknowledgment of the lasting trauma of colonial theft.