Speaking at the launch of the Yoruba World Centre, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo expressed the need for illegally looted Nigerian artefacts to be returned, especially those taken from Yoruba land.
The Yoruba World Centre is an initiative of Alao Adedayo, publisher of Alaroye Newspapers. It aims towards the promotion of Yoruba customs and traditions in Ibadan. The Vice President urged the centre to fight for the return of artefacts taken away from the Yoruba people.
Mr Osinbajo said that the centre should not function only as a place that showcases Yoruba crafts but also as a place that inspires the youth. He continued that the centre should also act as a place that educates on how the Yoruba culture could contribute to the betterment of Nigeria and bring people together regardless of their ethnic and religious background.
Also speaking at the event, the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi, stressed that Yoruba traditions were based on scientific and intellectual evidence. He on the entire Yoruba people to support the centre.
Retrieving stolen artefacts is an arduous task but is not impossible. The US has reportedly returned a treasure trove of looted artefacts to the Republic of Mali on November 22.
Among the repatriated artefacts were six large burial urns, a comb-printed red slip double-cup vessel, a high-necked polychrome vessel, and 913 stones of earth and linen and axe heads from the Neolithic Age.
