CAMBRIDGE: To cheers and a trumpet fanfare, a Cambridge University college on Wednesday handed a bronze statue looted in the 19th century back to Nigerian officials, in the first such move by a UK institution.

Sonita Alleyne, the head of Jesus College, gave the elaborately carved cockerel known as “Okukor” to a Nigerian delegation.

Okukor was among thousands of African artefacts stolen from the continent during British colonial rule.

It was looted along with hundreds of sacred sculptures and carvings known as the Benin Bronzes by a punitive British military expedition in the former kingdom of Benin in southern Nigeria in 1897.

Jesus College is the first UK institution to hand back a Benin bronze, raising pressure on other establishments, including the British Museum, to follow suit.

“We are proud to be the first institution to simply act,” said Alleyne, hailing a “really historic occasion” as she formally transferred the cockerel’s ownership. “We are delighted that it is now with its rightful owner,” she added.

Jesus College was given the bronze in 1905 by the father of a student, and more recent students had been campaigning for its restitution. The Benin Bronzes are held in collections of numerous British, European and US museums and institutions.

The British Museum, which has the largest collection, has not agreed to return its bronzes.

It has long argued that its vast trove of foreign artefacts, such as the Elgin Marbles taken from the Parthenon in Athens, are best housed with explanatory notices in purpose-built premises.

Published in Dawn, October 28th, 2021