Following efforts to return stolen artifacts back to Nigeria, it has been reported that the Egyptian Government has offered to aid Nigeria in the preservation of the 1,130 looted Benin bronzes being expected in the country from Germany.
According to reports, The artifacts, with the least weight of 30kg each, were looted by British troops in 1897, and are to be transported from Germany to Nigeria this year.
However, the Egypt Minister of Tourism and Antiquities, Khaled El-Anany, offered to help in preserving the artifacts following the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, visit Cairo in Egypt.
The Egyptian minister reportedly stated that they were willing to deploy their wealth of experiences in antiquity preservation management to assist Nigeria in preserving the treasure being expected from Germany.
According to reports, El-Anany noted that tourism contributed not less than 30 percent to Egypt’s Gross Domestic Product and the Department of Antiquity alone under his Ministry employs 32,000 personnel to manage their museums and Monuments and archaeological sites.
He also made it known that Egypt had more than 2,000 tourist sites and 60 percent of the tourists visit historical sites, museums, and operas.
He reportedly offered to help Nigeria in the areas of capacity building, museum management and tourism statistics, disclosing that Egypt suffered a similar fate and they had successfully repatriated a whole lot of their antiquities stolen and transported outside the shores of the country.
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