Washington, DC — Nigeria has recovered three artefacts from the Canadian Conservations Institute (CCI).

THISDAY gathered that the Nigerian High Commissioner to Canada, Professor Iyorwuese Hagher, received the items on behalf of the Nigerian government from the officials of the institute notably Director of the Institute, Jeanne Inch, Director, Movable Cultural Property, Erica Claus, and Director of the Canadian Border Services Agency CBSA), Mr Raymond Bedard.

The items were handed over to the Nigerian envoy at ICC's facility in Ottawa, Canada. The antiquities were impounded from smugglers by CBSA, it was learnt. Results of examinations carried out in Oxford, England revealed that one of the two Terra Cotta effigies is between 1000-1300 years old while the other is aged between 700-1000 years. The third one is a wooden carving believed to be aged between 200-300 years. In a statement, the High Commissioner called on all Canadians to "continue to support efforts aimed at exposing syndicates who are still engaging in theft and smuggling and illicit trade in valuable items that form part of Nigeria's national heritage and establish the ancient Nigerian civilization."He also thanked the Canadian authorities for their support and co-operation.

Hagher called on other countries to emulate the government of Canada which is signatory to international conventions that make it possible for countries to support one another in conserving, safeguarding and returning precious cultural artefacts back to their origin. Illegal trade in antiquities is lucrative. Groups involved in the business smuggle the materials out, through porous borders after which they are sold at the international market. There are other materials removed during the colonial period. They remain in museums in western nations while some are privately owned.

African countries have often met obstacles in retrieving valuable artefacts either smuggled out or forcibly removed during the colonial period from the continent.