Damn good article I was wondering when someone would finally speak up for this cause. Africa must unite!!

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Excellent article. Should be compulsory reading for all cultural policy makers in Africa - from ministers of culture to art teachers, etc. At a time when the whole of Africa is gathered in Algiers for the 2nd PANAF cultural jamboree, the article is a timely reminder that we cannot continue to aide and abet our cultural exploitation by those who have milked our lands dry. Does anyone recall our failed efforts to recover the ivory mask of the Benin royalty that was the emblem of FESTAC 77 in Nigeria? As a matter of fact, a cornerstone of our cultural cooperation policy with any European country should hinge on the return of ALL stolen/looted art works, cultural/religious artefacts and other otherwise ill-acquired cultural goods.

There is a major exhibition of Ife art in Europe and the US because people and institutions in the US contacted their Nigerian counterparts and made it happen. It should not be beyond the capabilities of the author or the cheering section to mount similar exhibitions in Zaria, or Lagos, or Port Harcourt - or Accra, Abidjan or Addis Ababa.

Rest assured that the loan of a few hundred pieces from Ife hardly depletes - much less exhausts - the treasures available for exhibition or loan. The limiting factor is a collective lack of interest and initiative, not looted or loaned artifacts. It is not even a question of money - every country in the region arranges national games and sporting tournaments that cost far more than these exhibitions. I have read different versions of this article over more than 30 years, and heard the same cheers echoed back. However, I can count on my fingers the number of individuals and institutions who have mounted exhibitions in the region. Some of these exhibitions were splendid, but there has been little official or private support, and minimal public participation. Ah, well, that must be yet another product of the ubiquitous "colonial heritage" .....