Nigeria has recovered 23 cultural artefacts from Switzerland, including 18 looted Benin Kingdom treasures and five other historical objects, in what authorities described as another milestone in the country’s campaign to reclaim its stolen cultural heritage.
The artefacts were formally handed over to the Federal Government at the National Museum in Lagos on Monday during a restitution ceremony attended by senior Nigerian and Swiss officials.
The returned collection comprises 18 Benin artefacts—commonly referred to as the Benin Bronzes—which were looted during the British invasion of the Benin Kingdom in 1897 and later found their way into Swiss museums.
The Swiss Government also returned five additional cultural objects comprising a bronze bracelet and four archaeological monoliths from Nigeria’s Niger Delta. The items had been seized in Switzerland during criminal proceedings before being transferred to the Swiss state.
Speaking at the ceremony, Switzerland’s Federal Councillor, Elisabeth Baume-Schneider, and Nigeria’s Minister of Art, Culture, Tourism and the Creative Economy, Hannatu Musa Musawa, signed an agreement on the transfer of cultural property.
The pact establishes a legal framework for cooperation between both countries on the import, export and repatriation of cultural objects, while strengthening efforts to combat the illicit trafficking of cultural heritage.
The National Commission for Museums and Monuments received the artefacts on behalf of the Federal Government.
According to officials, 14 of the Benin artefacts were returned by the Ethnographic Museum at the University of Zurich, while Museum Rietberg Zurich and the Musée d’Ethnographie de Genève each returned two objects.
The restitution followed years of provenance research conducted under the Benin Initiative Switzerland, which established that the artefacts had been looted during the 1897 British military expedition to the Benin Kingdom.
Swiss and Nigerian authorities said the return of the artefacts represents part of broader efforts to address historical injustices while fostering long-term cultural cooperation.
They noted that the recovered objects hold immense historical, spiritual and artistic significance for the communities from which they originated, adding that their return would enable Nigerian scholars, researchers, artists and the public to preserve and interpret the country’s cultural heritage within Nigeria.
The Federal Government disclosed that some of the artefacts would be exhibited at the National Museum in Lagos, while most would eventually be returned to their ancestral home in Edo State.
The ceremony was attended by the Director-General of the NCMM, Olugbile Holloway, officials of the Swiss Federal Office of Culture, and directors of the three Swiss museums that facilitated the restitution.
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