The inauguration of the Museum of West African Arts (MOWAA), originally scheduled for November 11, 2025, was postponed due to a dispute between the state and the local king over the return of the Benin bronzes to Nigeria. The project began in 2020, when the idea of a museum was put forward as an argument to convince Western museums holding the bronzes to return them. Some countries even supported the project financially and technically, for a total of 21.6 million euros. Initiated by Harvard-trained Nigerian Philip Ihenacho, the private venue is located in Benin City, capital of Edo State, formerly the Kingdom of Benin (not to be confused with the Republic of Benin).
The MOWAA project has revived the conflict between the Oba of Edo, traditional authority of the Kingdom of Benin, and the Nigerian public authorities. The museum, designed to accommodate works and in particular bronzes from Benin, returned by Western institutions, is supported by the federal state and that of Edo, which consider these objects as national heritage to be exhibited in a public institution. The Oba, on the contrary, claims historical and sacred ownership of these pieces, seen as dynastic property inherited before colonization and considers that their conservation should be the responsibility of a royal museum placed under his authority.
On November 5, 2025, around a hundred people demonstrated against the opening of the museum. Then on Sunday, November 9, during the private visit of the museum’s supporters and donors, around twenty people arrived, some armed with sticks, to disrupt the inauguration. Visitors had to take shelter in the building’s lobby while vandals ransacked the courtyard. Philip Ihenacho explained to AFP: “I think they were representatives of the palace (from the Oba) and that they demand more time to conduct consultations before proceeding with an official inauguration. » In a desire for appeasement Monday Okpebholo, the new governor of Edo State and close to the Oba, proposed to rename the museum to Benin Royal Museum and to settle this matter at the federal level directly with President Bola Tinubu.
The Benin bronzes come from the Oba’s royal palace in Benin City. They had been looted during a British punitive expedition in 1897. They were sold to many Western countries such as France, Germany, the Netherlands and the United States. Some have also returned their sculptures, such as Germany or, more recently, in 2025, the Netherlands, which returned 119 to Nigeria. France abstained (not to be confused with the 26 royal works of Abomey returned to the Republic of Benin).
A study published on October 30 in the journal Antiquity presents the results of the largest archaeological excavation in Benin City in the last fifty years. Between 2022 and 2024, the study of several strata made it possible to retrace the history of the Kingdom of Benin before colonial domination. In collaboration with the British Museum and the National Commission for Museums and Historical Monuments of Nigeria, archaeologists found fragments of metal objects, glass, pottery, enamel and beads, evidence of artisanal and cultural dynamism. The whole thing should be kept at MOWAA.
