Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed
The Federal Government will take possession of 1,130 looted Benin Bronzes when returned by Germany, Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, has said.
The minister stated this on Saturday at a press conference in Lagos State.
Mohammed; Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki; and some government officials had visited Germany recently to further talks on the repatriation of the artefacts allegedly looted during the invasion of the Benin Kingdom in 1897 by the British led by Captain Philip.
The Benin Palace and the Edo State Government have been at loggerheads over where the artefacts will be housed. While the palace wants the artefacts kept in the Benin Royal Museum, which will be built within the palace, the state government wants the items preserved in the proposed Edo Museum of West African Arts.