Uncertainty surrounds the fate of the highly anticipated Museum of West African Arts (MOWAA) in Benin City, Nigeria. The museum’s inception was initially tied to the restitution of the Benin Bronzes; when plans for the new state-of-the-art institution were first revealed in 2020, the museum was promoted as the “most comprehensive display [of Benin Bronzes] in the world.“But due to questions of ownership, it has been clear for years that the bronzes would not land in the new museum.MOWAA’s focus is rather to serve as a powerhouse for contemporary African art, as well as a research and conservation center to train a new generation of Nigerian archaeologists and art conservators.But the fact that the museum is still often associated with the Benin Bronzes remains key to understanding a complicated dispute that has disrupted the inauguration of the multi-million-dollar project.Restituted bronzes now in custody of traditional rulerThe Benin Bronzes refers to several thousands of objects created by the Edo people from the 15th to the 19th century. They decorated the royal palace of the Kingdom of Benin, in what is now Edo State, Nigeria, until it was ransacked by British solders in an infamous 1897 raid.The treasures ended up in the collections of various Western museums — including the British Museum, Berlin’s Humboldt Forum and New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art.Following years of claims by Nigeria, several European museums signed agreements to return the artworks in 2022. The multi-stage restitution process is underway, with some objects already returned.In 2023, Nigeria’s then-President Muhammadu Buhari signed a law determining that the traditional king of the Edo people, the Oba of Benin, was the owner and custodian of the artifacts.Some critics fear that the treasures could be privatized by the royal heir.Currently, many of the bronzes are on display at the National Museum in Benin City, where a public exhibition of the treasures (which has been seen by DW) is being held from November 3-28.Oba of Benin offended by new museumThe supporters of Oba Ewuare II fear that MOWAA is plotting to take away the Benin Bronzes from the monarch, and they have therefore been protesting against the new cultural institution.“We consider the opening and the commissioning of MOWAA as illegal, as an insult on our revered throne,” Osaru Iyamu, one of the protest leaders, told DW.The protesters disrupted MOWAA’s opening week program, which was to be held from November 11-15, by forcing their way into the main building during a preview event attended by international guests last weekend.The guests — some 250 project partners, donors, diplomats and cultural institution heads — were evacuated and “safely escorted to secure locations,” the museum organizers said in a statement on Instagram. The opening of the museum has been postponed indefinitely.The director of MOWAA, Phillip Ihenacho, told DW that he was saddened by the disruptions and that the museum organizers were hoping to “have a dialog with all stakeholders, to see if we can find a way forward.”Oba Ewuare II reportedly wants to have the museum under his control and its name changed to the Benin Royal Museum. He claims that this was the original name used to promote and obtain funding for the institution.“There’s not one single institutional investor that has given us money that has any notion that we are anything other than the Museum of West African Arts. We have never pretended to be anything else,” says Ihenacho.MOWAA is a non-profit trust that was created to be independent of government influence.The project, which has an estimated cost of $25 million (€21.5 million), has been funded by a range of international bodies, including the French and German governments, the Getty Foundation, the Open Society Foundation and the British Museum, along with support by the Nigerian federal government and Edo state government.Fake reports complicate the matterEarly MOWAA plans promoted the project as the Edo Museum of West African Arts. Edo — which is both the name of the Nigerian state where the museum is located and of the people who are the descendants of the ancient Benin Kingdom — was dropped from the museum’s name, antagonzing some local authorities.Reports have been circulating that the Edo state government has reclaimed the land occupied by MOWAA and that it would restore its former use as the Benin Central Hospital.The German Ambassador to Nigeria, Annett Günther, posted on X, “This doesn’t seem to be true. Governor’s office assured me yesterday that re MOWAA nothing has been revoked, declares this a social media scam.”Modern infrastructures ‘part of the restitution process’Ahead of the opening of the museum, different news articles profiling MOWAA focused on the absence of the Benin Bronzes in its display, to the irritation of the museum’s director.The opening exhibition, “Nigeria Imaginary: Homecoming,” is an expanded version of the country’s celebrated Venice Biennale show, addressing Nigerian history, identity and current events. “For much of the Western press, preoccupied with the narrative of stolen objects being returned, it seems that the opening exhibition represents something else entirely: confusion and disappointment that we are not simply a receptacle of returned objects and an indication of the failings of Africans to fall in line with the narrative,” Ihenacho wrote in an opinion piece for Artnet.For Ihenacho, developing infrastructures such as MOWAA to promote new artistic voices and boost Nigerian expertise on cultural heritage is also part of Africa’s restitution process, he explains in his essay.But for now, the complicated dispute — in which politics, traditional royal culture and international donors are all entangled — is putting this ambitious vision on hold.
