A
abujagirl
Guest
A bronze cockerel looted from Nigeria in the 19th century will be returned by the British government.
THIS DAY reports that students at a Cambridge University college have voted that the bronze cockerel which stands in its hall should be repatriated to Nigeria. Firing the opening shots in a campaign that echoes a drive by Oxford students to remove a statue of Cecil Rhodes, the Jesus College student union (JCSU) has passed a motion saying that the sculpture should be handed over to Nigeria in a repatriation ceremony.
The cockerel – known properly as “okukor” (meaning cockerel or chicken in Igbo), according to the students – was among hundreds of artworks taken from the Benin empire, now part of modern-day Nigeria, after a punitive British naval expedition in 1897 that brought the empire to an end. Nigeria has repeatedly called for all the Benin bronzes – which it says are part of its cultural heritage – to be repatriated.
THIS DAY reports that students at a Cambridge University college have voted that the bronze cockerel which stands in its hall should be repatriated to Nigeria. Firing the opening shots in a campaign that echoes a drive by Oxford students to remove a statue of Cecil Rhodes, the Jesus College student union (JCSU) has passed a motion saying that the sculpture should be handed over to Nigeria in a repatriation ceremony.
The cockerel – known properly as “okukor” (meaning cockerel or chicken in Igbo), according to the students – was among hundreds of artworks taken from the Benin empire, now part of modern-day Nigeria, after a punitive British naval expedition in 1897 that brought the empire to an end. Nigeria has repeatedly called for all the Benin bronzes – which it says are part of its cultural heritage – to be repatriated.