The Memorandum of Understanding signing event for the Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation took place in Abuja on Thursday.
The US government said it has successfully repatriated a total of 63 Benin bronzes since 2022.
The Chargé d’Affaires of the U.S. embassy in Nigeria, David Greene, said the grant was awarded to the International Council on Monuments and Sites in Nigeria.
On the purpose of the grant, Greene said, “The latest grant will support ICOMOS-Nigeria and its local partners to help preserve Sukur cultural heritage through infrastructure enhancements, the revival of threatened traditional crafts, and documentation and preservation of the Sakun language.”
The Charge’d’Affaires said the successful repatriation is a fallout of the partnership agreement between the US and Nigeria signed on bilateral cultural property.
“With that, we intensified joint efforts to identify, intercept, and repatriate looted, or other displaced cultural property and related works. These efforts paved the way for the official transfer in October 2022 of 22 Bening Bronzes back to Nigeria.
“These efforts paved the way for the official transfer in October 2022 of twenty-two Benin bronzes back to Nigeria. I am pleased to report that since 2022, the number has grown, and now a total of 63 Benin bronzes have been successfully repatriated to Nigeria,” he said.
Nigeria’s Minister of Arts, Culture, and the Creative Economy, Hannatu Musawa, noted that the Sukur Cultural Landscape is threatened by insurgency and immediate danger imposed by global climate change.
She said, “The project aims at undertaking a two-year conservation and preservation work in the Sukur Cultural Landscape, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, which is regarded as a place of Outstanding Universal Values.
“The work also involves the conservation of the tangible and intangible heritage of Sukur Cultural Landscape, enhancing community capacity, strengthening local, national, and international links and networks for conserving the site’s Outstanding Universal Values, and buttressing the resilience of the Sukur community in the face of insurgency and climate change.”
Sukur, or Sukur Cultural Landscape, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site located on a hill above the village of Sukur in the Adamawa State of Nigeria.
It is situated in the Mandara Mountains, close to the border with Cameroon. Its UNESCO inscription is based on its cultural heritage, material culture, and terraced fields. Sukur is Africa’s first cultural landscape to receive a World Heritage List inscription.
