NY museum returns Nigerian treasures

New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art has returned three works of art to Nigeria that were looted in the 19th century, as museums make increasing efforts to repatriate some foreign treasures. A report on the News24 site notes that the two 16th-century brass plaques and a 14th-century brass head from the Kingdom of Benin – part of modern-day Nigeria – were taken from the Nigerian Royal Palace during British military occupation in 1897. Abba Isa Tijani, director-general of the National Commission for Museums and Monuments of Nigeria thanked the Met ‘for the transparency it has shown’. Nigeria's Information Minister Alhaji Lai Mohammed said ‘the art world can be a better place if every possessor of cultural artefacts considers the rights and feelings of the dispossessed’.