Oxford, Cambridge to return 257 stolen Benin artefacts

Oxford’s Pitt Rivers Museum and Cambridge’s Museum of Archaeology, both in the United Kingdom, have said they would return a total of 257 looted artefacts to the Nigerian government.
According to The Telegraph UK, the museums were contacted by the Director of Nigeria’s National Commission for Museums and Monuments, Prof. Abba Tijani, who said institutions were now ‘ready to repatriate’.
Museums linked to Oxford and Cambridge universities are set to return their collections of Benin Bronzes within the year, it is claimed, after receiving a formal request for their repatriation.
The Times reported that Cambridge will be ready to return about 160 pieces in July and that Oxford was “100 per cent willing”, and could repatriate about 97 pieces by October.
They, however, suggested that this process could take longer, but the museum bosses have given their support to the repatriation scheme.
The Nigerian government has been demanding the return of artefacts which were taken by British forces in a 1897 raid on Benin City, before they found their ways into museum collections around the world.
The Director of the MAA, Nicholas Thomas, was quoted by The Telegraph UK, to have said, ““The dialogue over the last few years between MAA curators and colleagues in Nigeria has been extraordinarily rewarding.
“We welcome the claim from Nigeria for Museum and Monuments.”
The Director of Pitt Rivers Museum, Laura van Broekhoven also confirmed that the institution had ‘received a claim’ that was now being worked on.