How Nigerian artefact smuggled to Mexico was returned

An Ife bronze sculpture depicting royalty and deities of the ancient Yoruba Kingdom was recently returned to Nigeria by Mexico. According to the BBC, the artefact was seized by customs officers at the main airport in Mexico City. It was verified to be of Yoruba origin by Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History and […]

An Ife bronze sculpture depicting royalty and deities of the ancient Yoruba Kingdom was recently returned to Nigeria by Mexico.

According to the BBC, the artefact was seized by customs officers at the main airport in Mexico City. It was verified to be of Yoruba origin by Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History and has been handed to Nigeria’s ambassador to Mexico, Aminu Iyaw.   He confirmed that the sculpture was of Yoruba origin and has been returned.

“A beautiful bronze piece, and being of Nigerian heritage, it should return to its home,” said Diego Prieto, the head of Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History.

“We oppose the illegal commercialisation of archaeological pieces, an important cause of the impoverishment of the cultural heritage of the nations of origin, since it undermines the integrity of cultures and, therefore, of humanity,” said Julián Ventura Valero, the deputy secretary of foreign affairs.

Officials did not give details about who was behind the attempt to smuggle the sculpture into Mexico.

Way back in 2016, as part of events marking the International Museum Day, the Nigerian government received the Nok Terracotta piece repatriated after it was intercepted in France while in transit from Togo to the United States in 2008. The French ambassador to Nigeria, Denys Gauer, made an official presentation of the artefact to the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed who thanked the envoy particularly for France’s show of support in Nigeria’s fight against the illicit trafficking of cultural goods and for their untiring efforts with the restitution and return of such items.

In 2019, Nigeria’s Federal Government launched the ‘Campaign For the Return and Restitution of Nigeria’s Looted and Smuggled Artefacts from Around the World’ spear-headed by Alhaji Mohammed, at a press conference in Lagos. In a statement, the ministry said it was putting on notice all those who are holding onto Nigeria’s cultural property anywhere in the world that “we are coming for them, using all legal and diplomatic instruments available.”