The consulate-general of Nigeria in New York, Lot Egopija, has received three Benin and Ife artefacts from the Metropolitan Museum of Art (MET) in the United States.
The artefacts, which comprised two 16th-century Benin brass plaques and one 14th-century Ife brass head, were received in the company of the Director-General of the National Commission for Museums and Monuments (NCMM), Abba Tijjani.
Tijjani, who signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with MET, urged other museums in possession of Nigerian artefacts to follow MET’s exemplary gesture.
“So, we are looking forward to collaborating with MET now that we are friends and we understand each other and we want to see how we can work together,” he said.
“We have about 52 museums across the country under the commission, and we have 65 monuments and sites and staff working in the museums will require modern training.’’
“Nigeria is very passionate about the way it exhibits its artefacts and we feel that it will be good if we collaborate and rob minds when it comes to joint exhibitions,” he added.
“There is a need for us to exhibit our works in a way that we understand it and we want people to understand these artefacts too.”
MET’s director, Maz Hollein, director, said the shared commitment to future exchanges of programmes would form part of the MoU, adding that the museum was committed to a responsible process in collaborating in areas of standards as well as to study works that have been in our collection,
