NemoDatQuod:
First off, maximum respect to the people of the great Benin Empire for having the skill, discipline and ingenuity to produce this incredible and delicately designed work of art nearly two hundred years ago. But what happened to that skillset from long ago? Is there a way to resuscitate it so we can once more enjoy such incredible works including the attendant revenue?

Most importantly, methinks this is not the time to return anything of serious value to any part of Nigeria. As the Economist magazine rightly put it, Nigeria is not just a crime scene, it is an unfolding crime scene. Five years from now (if that long) we shall look for these artefacts and they will be nowhere to be found. Is it not better to leave these beautiful works of art in the care and safe keeping of societies where human beings live, instead of returning them to an unfolding crime scene bedevilled by unabated criminality and corruption? We shall live to rue the day we accepted these art works back into Nigeria. Let the West publicly acknowledge Nigeria's ownership of these artworks. Then let them keep them and continue to display them safely in their museums and schools. Present day Nigeria is not worthy of such beauty of ingenuity.

Have no fear about the safety, the Benin nation is more than ready to defend it.

onumadu:


It is still neither here nor there because the punctuation under the "O" is purely Igbo.
And in Igbo it means "Chicken".

Interesting!

Correctly spelled as "Àkùkọ" in Yoruba, it also means "Rooster".

slowice:
They should ve left these sculptures in the clime where there values will be intact and high. We all want to applauds this though we all know its useless to us.... Let's focus on dealing with the poverty and high cost of commodity ravaging the land first, tackle poor quality leadership before pursuing things like this.

If these weren't plundered by the whites, most of them would be dust by now.. The value it has today is the value given to it by the same white people.

Given the poor maintenance culture in these parts, this may be a good idea:

The Oba of Benin / Edo State Government/FG should in due course make an arrangement for the returned artifacts to be periodically and cyclically loaned to museums in Europe /North America for a fee.

The forex thereby earned should go into a trust that will provide scholarships / infrastructure etc for Edo indigenes.

Qualer:
See how that piece is looking clean and well maintained like it was made last year.
By the time you see that thing in another two years, it will be covered in brown dust and chipped off at various edges.
That has been my worry with this clamour for 'return our artefacts'. Where and how are they going to store/keep them so that it will be available like it is now in another 150 years

If the Oyibo man didn't take them, by now there wouldn't have been any artefact to speak of. I have been to a few of the museums in Europe and seen the way they keep and take care of these pieces (these are people's well-paid full time jobs), some of them have not left glass casings in a climate controlled environment for more than a century and it shows in the piece above. The Ife art pieces in the British museum look like they were made two/three years ago and people pay a gate pass of more than 10pounds to view them when they are on exhibition.

Well, let's see how it goes sha... I'm hoping they prove me wrong.

Given the poor maintenance culture in these parts, this may be a good idea:

The Oba of Benin / Edo State Government/FG should in due course make an arrangement for the returned artifacts to be periodically and cyclically loaned to museums in Europe /North America for a fee.

The forex thereby earned should go into a trust that will provide scholarships / infrastructure etc for Edo indigenes.

prof2007:


Given the poor maintenance culture in these parts, this may be a good idea:

The Oba of Benin / Edo State Government/FG should in due course make an arrangement for the returned artifacts to be periodically and cyclically loaned to museums in Europe /North America for a fee.

The forex thereby earned should go into a trust that will provide scholarships / infrastructure etc for Edo indigenes.

You ve a point here.... Loaning them out to earn forex that will go into a trust to provide scholarship for edo indigenes. Cos if they build a museum and house them here, just give it 5yrs and it ll be abandoned.

Hi


We made them speak our language, worship our gods and bear our names


That is dominance

Igboid:


You are a primitive Bini man.
Lol!
Igbos had organized democracy, we were never without leaders. Power was decentralized between title holders, chief priests and priestesses of important deities,women leaders, Leaders of different age groups, market leaders and then the general assembly of the people.
We were that organized and it was much better than a fat and probably intellectually challenged Oba dictating for everyone else.

The evidence of superiority of a people organization lies in their productivity.
Igbo arts (Igbo ukwu) were 1 million times better than Edo arts. Igbo blacksmiths (The Awka blacksmiths) where 1 trillion times better than Bini ones. In other words, we were and remain technologically more advanced than Binis.
What's more, Igbos evolved a traditional cloth weaving centres with Akwete in Abia State as the most famous of them all, Bini had not a single one. I bet you were all wearing plant leaves before encounter with the Portuguese who you shamelessly collected weapons from, with which you used to terrorize neighbouring groups and sold to them to the Portuguese in exchange for coins and other materials which you melted to produce your bronze works, as Bini had no traditional iron ore minning sites, like we had in Lejja in Igboland.

Igbos adapted and modified a writing style called Nsibidi before the whites came, your backward Bini had non.

Ajayi crowther never wrote any Igbo Bible, how can he do so when he couldn't speak Igbo?
Igbo missionaries of Sierra Leone origin wrote the first Igbo Bible, Ajayi crowther was the head of the church delegation to Nigeria so naturally supervised the work. Quit being retarded.
Google about Simon Jonas! He was an Igbo slave of Sierra Leone origin who did most of the work in Igbo Bible production.

Bini empire conquered nada! How can you claim to conquer when even in your Edo State, the superiority of Igbo civilization reigns supreme as groups like Igbanke, Owariuzo, etc, all speak an Igboid language?
Look around you how many so called Bini decendants who dumped Bini language for a superior Igbo language and culture.

Is there any better prove of cultural superiority than language imposition? I mean the sign of British dominance is seen in English language universality in today World, the Portuguese dominance of the word can be seen in Brazil, Angola and Mozambique.
Spanish dominance can be seen in South America and Equitorial Guinea.

Igbo superiority can be seen right in Edo state!
You were bunch of Savages who couldn't evolve civilization until the Portuguese gave you weapons with which you shamelessly used to terrorize your fellow black neighbors.

When the British came for you, you fell in a matter of days and the stench of your citiy where you used fellow blacks for human sacrifice was exposed.

Igboid:


Zik was playing politics with you Edoids.
It's impossible for a Bini person to be named Eze Chima in 1770s, use your brain.
Moreover even in Edo state, we still have Igboid speakers till today.
The Obi of Onitsha who is the custodian of Onitsha culture had since come out to proclaim that Onitsha were ancient Igbos who were on reverse migration from Ife, had a brief stop at Bini before returning to Igboland.
Bini is too small to influence Ndiigbo.
There is nothing sophisticated about a bunch of people bowing down to a fat Oba who they are probably more intelligent than.
Ndiigbo are too wise for such tomfoolery. We evolved s much more superior Democracy where everyone opinion matters and is weighed upon in community square before a decision that affects everyone was taken.

If you think you are superior because your ancestors allowed a fat man dictate for them, then the joke is on you.
Bini never evolved a superior civilization than Ndiigbo. Igbo-ukwu arts are much more superior to whatever Bini had to offer.
Awka blacksmiths were much more advanced than Binis ever had. Bini land hard no pre colonial cloth making centres, Ndiigbo had many with Akwete being the most famous.
When faced with a superior civilization like the British, the Igbos put up much more robust and sophisticated military resistance as shown in Anglo-Aro war, than the weak Binis who lived on hype but was ransacked by the British in a matter of 48hrs.

They exiled their kings like a clown.... No igbo leader ever died in exiled... None

Eriokanmi:
I wonder oo...always coining our language

There is a place in Benin called Okhukor-ugbo

It means fowl in the bush and I told them that they just stole igbo language and can't even give igbo the credit..


Ụgbọ is Farm in Igbo
Okukor is fowl

Asiwaju9ja:


Ise

Even the word Ise that benin used is being given to the by Eze Chime and the igbo people that have given them spirituality and craftsmanship