Dear British Museum, Please Don't Return Your Collection of Benin Artworks To Nigeria

The famous Queen Mother Idia,16th century ivory portrait, one of four related ivory pendant masks, that were among the prized regalia of the Oba of Benin, among the treasures of Benin Kingdom taken by the British during the punitive expedition of 1897. Presently at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, British Museum, Seattle Art Museum, Linden Museum and a private collection.

Dear British Museum,
Please, don't return your largest collection of the artworks from the Benin kingdom to Nigeria. Because there are no facilities for the safe keeping and preservation in the local museums in our country.
The local museums have been neglected and underfunded and many of the artworks are being destroyed everyday or stolen.
My painting, "Blessed Mother" was stolen from the Education Unit of the National Museum in Lagos in 1984 and have not been recovered.

The National Commission for Museums and Monuments does not know how to run our museums and have failed to learn from the British Museum, MoMA and MET. They are clueless about how to turn our museums into international tourist attractions that can generate millions of dollars and pounds annually.
The education programmes of the National Museum in Lagos have been abandoned.
They don't even know that we need a museum for #Nollywood and #Kannywood, the two major genres of the Nigerian film industry.

All the treasures of Benin Art and Crafts taken away after the Benin Expedition of 1897 would have been destroyed or lost if they were not taken away to Britain in the late 19th century,
Thank you for preserving these priceless treasures of the history of the great Benin Kingdom.

Faithfully,
Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima
@Amazon author.
Publisher/Editor
NOLLYWOOD MIRROR®Series
247 Nigeria @247nigeria Twitter