Looted African artefacts must be returned with compensation, historian says

According to him, there is no justification for these former colonising countries to keep goods and artefacts that “do not belong to them”.

His comments come following a recent loan partnership between the United Kingdom and Ghana. Per the details of the agreement, gold artefacts including crown jewels which were looted by the British from the Asante Kingdom in the 19^th Century will be returned to Ghana for a three-year period to be used by the country’s Asante Monarch, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II.

The partnership has raised questions about why stolen items are being loaned to the original country from which they were taken but the British government has explained that it has a “retain and explain” stance for state-owned institutions where contested objects are kept and their context explained.   

The British Museum Act of 1963 and the National Heritage Act of 1983 prevent museum trustees at some high-profile institutions from “deaccessioning” items in their collections, according to the BBC.

But the Benin-based historian describes the move as unjustifiable. According to him, these artefacts should have been returned completely and with some reparation.

“There is neither reason nor justification for former colonizing countries to continue to keep goods and other artefacts that do not belong to them, and what is worse is that most of them were stolen. This is a normal return. And they should even be accompanied by compensation. If we could think and say that the Black man is a sub-man, then why steal the creations of the sub-man? It was simply a scam on every level. And I think that Black Africa should learn the lessons of this entire period of history where the Black man was not only despoiled but dehumanized,” Teiga said to GSW's Wonder Hagan.

He reiterated the stance of Former President of Nigeria, Olusegun Obasanjo, Benin President, Nicéphore Soglo and in recent times, Ghana’s president Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo that Africa needs to receive reparations for the effects of colonisation, not only from European countries but Arab countries which according to him were also involved in slavery.

“The President of Ghana, Nana Akufo-Addo, is absolutely right. We need to talk about reparations with the West for many things. But not only with the former colonizing countries of Europe. We must do the same thing with Arab countries because the Arabs are the first to enslave black people. There was never any repair. Worse, there was never even an apology.

“I must say that before President Nana Akufo-Addo, I remember that many others like the former President of Nigeria, Olusegun Obasanjo and his friend and brother the former President of Benin, Nicéphore Soglo, had spoken about it,” the Africa and Diaspora Specialist Marcus Teiga added.

Many former European colonies have tried to return stolen African artefacts to their respective countries. In 2021, French President Emmanuel Macron formally apologised for the theft of African artefacts in his country and demanded that they be returned. Ireland also promised to return mummified remains in its country to Egypt, the country of origin. Similar developments have been seen in Berlin and Germany where looted items from the 19^th Century were returned to Namibia and Nigeria respectively.