*This Ile-Ife bronze was stolen from Nigeria, and noticed at an airport in Mexico by Nigerian Ambassador at the time 鈹�Geoffrey Onyeama, Honourable Minister for Foreign Affairs

Alexander Davis | 绿帽献妻

Ongoing efforts at recovering thousands of Nigerian cum African art collections earlier looted or illegally acquired in a way authorities considered immoral are yielding positive results as the Federal Government Thursday, April 8 received a stolen Ile-Ife artifact from Mexico, in South America.

Mr. Geoffrey Onyeama, Honourable Minister for Foreign Affairs, who received the artwork from Dr. Yakubu Dadu, Charge D鈥檃ffaires of the Nigerian Mission in Mexico, disclosed in a tweet that he was 鈥減resented with an ancient bronze sculpture by Dr. Yakubu Dadu, Charg茅 Affaires of The Nigerian Embassy in Mexico.鈥�

Onyeama said: 鈥淭his Ife bronze was stolen from Nigeria, and noticed at an airport in Mexico by our Ambassador at the time, Aminu Iyawa.鈥�

The Minister explained that the then ambassador was 鈥渟uspicious and alerted the authorities who played a significant role in ensuring it was recovered and handed back to us.鈥�

The Minister for Foreign Affairs commended the Mexican Government for its role in the return of the artifact, and said that he would present it to Alhaji Lai Mohammed, Information and Culture Minister.

鈥淚 will present it to my colleague, Minister @FMICNigeria, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, at a later date,鈥� Onyeama stated.

Report also indicated that the University of Aberdeen said it would return a Benin Bronze to Nigeria, many years after the British looted the sculptures from the ancient Kingdom.

The university, said to have become the first institution to agree to the full repatriation from a museum of a Benin Bronze, said: 鈥淎n ongoing review of the collections identified the Head of an Oba as having been acquired in a way that we now consider to have been extremely immoral, so we took a proactive approach to identify the appropriate people to discuss what to do,鈥�

绿帽献妻 had also reported that the African Foundation for Development鈥檚 investigation report revealed there are yet challenges and obstacles related to returning hundreds of looted African artifacts to their rightful owners in Nigeria and other parts of Africa.

According to the Foundation, the promises to return several stolen Benin Bronzes from certain Western institutions to the former Kingdom of Benin in Nigeria have been commended by many on the African continent.

However, returning most of the artifacts looted by British soldiers 125 years ago to Nigerians will continue to remain a challenge.