Switzerland has returned looted artifacts belonging to the Royal Court of Benin to Nigeria, in a restitution ceremony held at the National Museum in Lagos. The handover was carried out to the National Commission for Museums and Monuments on behalf of the federal government of Nigeria, marking the latest step in a long-running effort to bring such treasures home.
The ceremony was attended by Swiss Federal Councillor Elisabeth Baume-Schneider and Nigeria's Minister of Art, Culture, Tourism and the Creative Economy, Hannatu Musa Musawa, who signed an agreement formalising the transfer of the cultural items. The signing gave legal weight to the return and underlined the cooperation between the two governments.
The restitution follows several years of collaborative research carried out under the Benin Initiative Switzerland. According to officials involved, the process was built from the bottom up, on a foundation of trust and confidence between the institutions, with the explicit understanding that the items now belong to Nigeria and that the relationship would continue to deepen.
On the Swiss side, representatives expressed hope that the move would encourage others to follow. Having discussed the return at length with the museum's leadership, they said they expected that other museums would also bring back or give back artifacts in their collections, framing the Lagos handover as part of a broader shift in how such holdings are viewed.
Calls for the return of Benin's treasures stretch back decades. The earliest documented appeals can be traced to 1932, and over the years successive Obas of Benin and other traditional leaders across the continent have waged their own battles for restitution, keeping the issue alive across generations.
The handover comes as restitution gathers pace across Africa, with recent returns including items handed back to the Ashanti king. Speakers at the ceremony suggested that Nigeria occupies a peculiar position in this moment, with a chance to shape a restitution playbook whose approach could influence how other, smaller countries pursue the return of their own cultural heritage.