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.
Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone provided by Airtel Nigeria.
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