Foreign / History / News

Germany to return 1,130 looted Benin Bronzes to Nigeria – Lai Mohammed

Nigeria’s Information and Culture Minister Lai Mohammed says Nigeria has signed an agreement with Germany for the repatriation of over 1,130 looted Benin Bronze artifacts back to the country.

The Minister disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in Washington DC, United States on Tuesday.

This was after three museums in the US repatriated 31 Benin Bronze artefacts to Nigeria.

He commended the German Government for that effort, adding that Nigeria is also getting positive response from France and Mexico to return some of its stolen artefacts.

In 1897 during a British raid on Benin, the royal palace was torched and looted, and the oba (ruler) was exiled.

The British confiscated all royal treasures, giving some to individual officers and taking most to auction in London.

The estimated 3,000 objects eventually made their way into museums and private collections around the world.

The Minister said the world had seen that it was an ethical and moral issue to return the artefacts to their owners, noting that it is not a matter of law as claimed by the British Government.

Mohammed said: ““This is important for the British Museum to understand and for the British Government to know, because I was also in the British Museum to ask them to return thousands of the artefacts in its custody.

“The standard response is that until the British Parliament changes the status, they are not in position to so do.

“The US and Germany are now seeing that this matter is not of law, but of morality.

“It is about doing the right thing.

“I hope that the British Government will also learn from the two countries and do same.”

According to Mohammed, Nigeria is planning to sign an agreement with the British Government on November 28 to return about 86 other artefacts from various museums in UK.

The Minister told NAN that the campaign of the current administration for the return of and restitution of Nigeria’s looted/smuggled artefacts from around the world, which was launched in November 2019, …

Lifestyle / News / politics

24 States get N477b refund on FG projects — Lai Mohammed

The present administration has so far reimbursed state governments to the tune of N447 billion for expenses incurred on Federal Government projects, Minister of Information and Culture,  Lai Mohammed, has said.

He disclosed this to Correspondents at the end of the Federal Executive Council at the Presidential Villa on Wednesday.

Mohammed said in Abuja: “I think it’s important to say that well it’s true that we’re just reporting this particular memo, which is the refund being sought by Yobe State Government.

“Yobe State Government is asking for the sum of N18,663,843,109 as reimbursement for five federal roads, which they rehabilitated or constructed.

“A committee was set up to inspect the claim.

They were actually found to be true.

“They reviewed the N20 billion they asked for and certified N18 billion as refund due to Yobe State for undertaking the construction/rehabilitation of these federal roads on behalf of the Federal Government.

“But this is not the first time.

“We have, since 2015, made refunds to about 24 states.

“If my records are correct, and I want to put on record here, that but for the benevolence of this administration, many states would have sunk under.

“You will remember that by the time we came in, about 27 states of the federation were unable to pay salaries.

“They owed salaries and could not pay.

“It took this Federal Government to really bail many of them out so they could pay not only salaries, but also they could pay the arrears.

“When the price of crude crashed, this same government gave each state what is called a bailout and some of the states today that complain that they’ve never benefited from the Federal Government, especially the PDP (Peoples Democratic Party) states, are the ones that have taken the lion share of this reimbursement.

“The records I have here say that Akwa Ibom got N61 billion from this Federal Government for works done on behalf of the government and especially before we came in.

“Rivers had upwards of N100 billion.

“But we show that …