Nigeria and the United Kingdom signed an
agreement on Thursday on the exchange of
prisoners between them.
Under the agreement, high-profile
prisoners like former Governor James Ibori
of Delta State, and other Nigerians in the
UK prisons will be transferred to Nigeria
to complete their jail terms.
The UK Minister of Justice, Mr. Jeremy Wright, signed on behalf of his country while
the Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation, Mohammed Adoke,
SAN, signed for Nigeria in Abuja.
Wright, who visited the Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs, Prof. Viola Onwuliri, and
the Minister of Interior, Abba Moro, added that the British government would give
the Federal Government £1m [about N280m} for a comprehensive reform of
Nigerian Prisons.
During the visit to Onwuliri, Wright told journalists that under the agreement, the
consent of a prisoner was not required before his repatriation could take place.
He said, “In relation to individual prisoners, there has to be a good deal of discussion
between our two countries about individual prisoners and the agreement of both
countries to be secured before individual transfers.
“The compulsory nature of this prisoner transfer agreement is that the prisoners’
themselves do not have to choose where they go or not but the respective countries
do still have an opportunity to discuss whether a transfer should be made.’’
In April 2012, a British court sentenced Ibori to jail for 13 years for money
laundering and associated crimes.
Ibori’s wife, Nkoyo, his sister, mistress and London solicitor were also convicted of
related crime.
Onwuliri, who described the pact as “historic,’’ said experts from both countries would
work out modalities for its implementation.
“We have been on the prisoners agreement for a long time and we are happy that we
are beginning the year on a happy note by signing this agreement,’’ the News
Agency of Nigeria quoted her as saying.
The minister expressed delight that the agreement would improve the condition of
Nigeria prisons based on earlier pacts reached before the signing.
She pledged that Nigeria would continue to improve the condition of its prisons.
Also, the Director of Consular and Immigration Services in the ministry, Mr.
Abdulazeez Dankano, noted that both countries were signatories to the Scheme for
the Transfer of Convicted Offenders within the Commonwealth.
Dankano stated that the scheme allowed for transfer of prisoners between Nigeria
and the UK where the consent of both states and the prisoner was obtained.
He said that under the Commonwealth Scheme, only one Nigerian had been
repatriated from the UK since inception.
After the agreement was signed, Wright stressed the importance of respecting the
agreement by the two countries, adding that there was a need for the prisons in
Nigeria to be improved considerably.
The UK minister, who led a five-man delegation to Moro said, although the prisoners
were paying for the crimes they committed, conditions in their detention centres
should be made humane and accommodating enough for them.
He thanked the Federal Government and Moro for making it possible for the two
countries to finalise the agreement.
“We believe that the agreement today is a positive step in furthering our mutual
relationship and partnership with Nigeria for prisoner exchange. Under the
agreement Nigerians in UK prisons will be repatriated to Nigeria to complete their
terms,”Wright said.
On his part, Moro promised to do everything within his powers to ensure that the
agreement became operative before the end of the year.
He said, “I think that it is in the mutual interest of the two countries that the
agreement reached should be implemented to the letter especially with the kind of
traditional historical relationship that Nigeria shares with the UK; we have no
reason to say one thing and do another.
“This government, anchored on transformation, is desirous of ensuring that we do
things very differently from the way we were doing them in the past which have not
given us results.”
He assured the visiting minister that even though Nigeria was grappling with prison
congestion, it would not hamper the new agreement.
Moro commended the British government for assisting in the reform and
transformation of Nigeria’s prison system, especially in the provision of necessary
facilities that would make the prisoner transfer viable.
There are 521 Nigerians currently serving jail terms in the UK and only one British
national in Nigerian prison .
According to officials, about 60 per cent of Nigerians in UK jails qualify for the
compulsory prison transfer agreement.
Posted via Blogaway
No comments:
Post a Comment