France returns smuggled Nok artefacts to Nigeria | Welcome to Linda Ikeji's Blog

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Wednesday 30 January 2013

France returns smuggled Nok artefacts to Nigeria

France has returned to Nigeria five ancient terracotta sculptures smuggled out of the country in 2010.
The artefacts, of Nok origin, were found in the luggage of French citizen at a Paris airport.
Their exact value has not been disclosed, but they are believed to date back more than 3,000 years.

Nigeria's tourism minister told the BBC it was a "big achievement" in the country's campaign to recover its lost treasures from around the world.


"I feel extremely delighted," said Edem Duke, who attended the ceremony to receive the sculptures from French embassy officials in the capital, Abuja.

Over the last 85 years, Nok art has been discovered in a large area of north-central Nigeria from Jos to Kaduna. Experts say Nok art, which often represents human heads, is the earliest attempt at portraiture yet discovered in Nigeria.

Nigeria's National Commission for Museums and Monuments believes that items of Nok culture show it was the first society to have used iron in sub-Saharan Africa. (BBC)

56 comments:

Anonymous said...

Which museum do tourists in nigeria come to to appreciate the nok sculpture.

Anonymous said...

Retuning the items's good; let(oyibo) them also return the loot hidden in their countries.

★★PRINCE CHARMING™★★ said...

Nice one here

Unknown said...

Naija we dey try

Anonymous said...

U go fear nau

Anonymous said...

They should have kept it. Jazz things.

sarafina said...

How e take commot for where e dey? Hian

freeangel said...

Am happy. 9ja no dey carry last.

Anonymous said...

I wonder!

Anonymous said...

who hear say them thief anything... NTA or AIT no carry am o

Her Majesty said...

How does this affect what the situation of the country is? what the heck?!

Anonymous said...

Make dem no sell am again o

Anonymous said...

They shld have kept it, is of no use to us That ugly thing.

Chidozie Mario said...

What happened to the French citizen who stole the sculpture? Isn't this a crime.
10 Signs He's Not Into You

Unknown said...

Na so mek dem return ma golden helmet wey back since 1640 too

Anonymous said...

MUMU!!!! na the JUJU hold them for pant ... if i hear

Anonymous said...

Am suspectin smtin fishy.maybe is disturbing them.

Anonymous said...

Hope they returned d original

Anonymous said...

Shame that it passed through our immigrations and customs unnoticed.

Anonymous said...

@Anon 6:45 come to Jos museum we have lots of Nok terracotta for your appreciation

zoomzoomzoom said...

The 'ogbakiri' spirit no let the Frenchmen rest...lol

Anonymous said...

Ok

Haliyat said...

Ok am happy

Anonymous said...

Na wetin we want use this ugly clay do now....people are hungry, they are returning smuggled nok sculpture wey we no value for 9ja.

I beg make them keep am....no be our problem be dis.

Anonymous said...

Your new award should be Stale news publisher of the year!

Anonymous said...

They took original and returned a counterfeited one....Typical of them YT men.

Rabbi

Anonymous said...

they are in jos, plateau state museum

Anonymous said...

Illitracy/ignorance is a disease o.

Anonymous said...

They should return the stashed billions of dollars, they can keep the artifacts especially these juju looking ones wey resemble Mr Ibu. They should return all gold, brass, silver and copper works of art and keep the clay and wooden ones. Thief people!

Anonymous said...

Don't be surprised one of the "big men" have something to do with it....

Uncleyo said...

9Ja no dey carry last? Was it not a nigerian sold it to oyibo and dey oyibo pass our airport smoothly, if not for the paris airport security that one for don waka na, linda make u post my comment o.

Anonymous said...

Scary ugly sh*t

Amusan said...

I hope other countries follow suit. No 1 thief is the UK. The Benin masks. It's upsetting.

Unknown said...

--^--nnnooooooo,abeg make dem no return am oooo.we dey look for how to reduce all dis jaazz tins for dis country wey festac cary com,nok or konk tera whatevr,france shud take it abeg,what we want nw is our looted funds nd any bible or koran dat been smugled out

Anonymous said...

...hahah.. Like a gold ring on a pig's snout...
Do we know the value and worth of this masterpiece? Of course NO, come back this time next years and I bet you my bottom dollar it's gonna be in some dump hole in calabar or Kano in some filty office where no one knows it's worth, value or history. They should have left it with the people who knows and appriciate ART, by the way it was some idiot back in the days who was given a bag of salt or mirror who gave it away. I was at the NTA not long ago wanting to see if we could digitalise the good old village headmaster series and no one had a clue where all the archived tapes where, they could NOT find a single reel. SO SAD...now that we got it back we'll see if some rouge won't sell it to an art dealer in Canada or USA....

Anonymous said...

Abi oh?If it were a black man dem for don kill am by now!Poor us!:( sad face #Yudy

Anonymous said...

White men!Ever smart!!!JUJU things* They think we won't know!Abi the sculpture don deal with them tire!Nonsense!!!

Anonymous said...

Abi oh?If it were a black man dem for don kill am by now!Poor us!:( sad face #Yudy

Anonymous said...

Yayyyyyyy am happy they found it O, cos the stuff is from my village.

Micbechy said...

There are beta tins to return and not this for now. The sized, stolen funds should be returned and manged well 1st. The billionaires hidden-thieves need to be exposed and punished accordingly. Nice one thou. lol

Micbechy said...

There are beta tins to return and not this for now. The sized, stolen funds should be returned and manged well 1st. The billionaires hidden-thieves need to be exposed and punished accordingly. Nice one thou. lol

Anonymous said...

White collar thinz..hahaha

Anonymous said...

Miss Jade said...
hahaha! na ojuju wey worry dem, make dem return am.

Make dem begin dey return all our money sef wey dis old dirty bastards keep for their country!

Anonymous said...

Not everything is abt money o ,dear Nigerians.there's something called heritage n we shd be proud of it,guard and respect it

Anonymous said...

Itz like dis Nok art has tormented them enof... Abeg we nor want again ooº°˚ ˚°Âºoo . Take! Abeg take oh!
Return our Gold and Diamonds back to africa n' not moulded mud. Oshiiii pple. I dislike whites eh.

Anonymous said...

Itz like dis Nok art has tormented them enof... Abeg we nor want again ooº°˚ ˚°Âºoo . Take! Abeg take oh!
Return our Gold and Diamonds back to africa n' not moulded mud. Oshiiii pple. I dislike whites eh.

Anonymous said...

Itz like dis Nok art has tormented them enof... Abeg we nor want again ooº°˚ ˚°Âºoo . Take! Abeg take oh!
Return our Gold and Diamonds back to africa n' not moulded mud. Oshiiii pple. I dislike whites eh.

Anonymous said...

Itz like dis Nok art has tormented them enof... Abeg we nor want again ooº°˚ ˚°Âºoo . Take! Abeg take oh!
Return our Gold and Diamonds back to africa n' not moulded mud. Oshiiii pple. I dislike whites eh.

Anonymous said...

Wetin b ds?,dt tin no b clay?,no b mud wey dm mould?,let dm carry d ting na!,of wat benefit is it to us na?.abeg.

Anonymous said...

But guys, these sculptures are over 3000 years old. This confirms that we have been around since or even before the time of Moses. And based on the materials used and the knowledge and expertise applied in fashioning these wonderful items, we were innovative and inventive. Also spiritual and functional. History is not just about wars, and buildings that are still standing. The use of clay trumps any painting you'd find in the Lourve, British Museum or the Met. It indicates a very very early form of intelligence. Biblically, no such effort was recorded at the time of those names we exalt today. Almighty God has sustained us. Let us strive to return to our former glory.#makelovenotwar

Anonymous said...

Sad but true. But should the question "why don't we value.." be asked. How did we learn to hate and not value our own? #colonisation

GlamNotchApparels said...

They shud go to the museum of art in New York City and see how our stolen artifacts have taken center stage in the African section of the museum. I was very astonished to see all that the day i visited that museum, They shud go and reclaim those ones too. It's high time we gathered these important sculptures and begin to set up a standard museum in our own country, Nigeria.

palo said...

My thoughts exactly, they should keep it because we don't know †̥ђε̲̣̣̣̥ worth of these artefacts, imagine someone calling it juju? A part of ur culture juju? but u claim to be a christian, was it not †̥ђε̲̣̣̣̥ whiteman that taught u christianity?

@anon 3:33 Colonisation shouldn't be blamed for us not valuing our own, afterall they hadn't colonised us when we collected mirrow and drink in exchange for able bodied men and women.

palo said...

Ooooh shut up!! What's juju? Mtscheeew

Why are these nok sculptures mostly blind? *wondering if there were a lot of blind people at †̥ђε̲̣̣̣̥ time hmmm

Anonymous said...

Lovely works of art depicting our early civilization. We should be proud of what we have. Those artifacts are priceless and will forever remain our identity. Let US value them.

Anonymous said...

una no see the thing eye e come be 3000 yrs chaii plenty spirit dey inside why dem no go return am e for don dey give dem better dream lolll

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