Twenty historic bronze sculptures have been returned to Nigeria by Germany as part of efforts to address its “dark colonial past,” its foreign minister said on Tuesday.
Annalena Baerbock, Germany’s foreign minister, returned the prized cultural artefacts to Nigerian officials in a ceremony in the capital, Abuja. The sculptures, known as Benin bronzes, were looted from the West African country by British troops when it was under colonial rule.
More than 5,000 ancient artefacts are estimated to have been looted from Nigeria by England when it colonised the country.