Nigeria and the United Kingdom Thursday signed a
Prisoners’ Transfer Agreement (PTA) that would
enable their citizens serving jail terms in the two
countries to be repatriated home to complete their
sentences.
Under the deal, prisoners such as former Delta
State Governor, Chief James Ibori, who was
sentenced to a 13-year jail term on April 2012, by a
Southwark Crown Court in London for embezzling
over $250 million public funds, would be sent back
to Nigeria country to complete their jail terms.
However, this is subject to the agreement between
the two countries to repatriate such convicts.
The terms of the agreement, which has been under
review since 2011, allow the two countries to
repatriate a convict with or without his or her
consent so long as the two countries have agreed
to transfer the prisoner.
In the past, prisoner exchange programmes
between the two countries could only be executed
with the consent of the prisoner.
However, not all 521 Nigerians serving jail terms in
UK prisons would be eligible for the compulsory
transfer.
At the signing of the agreement in Abuja, the UK
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice,
Hon. Jeremy Wright, said it would be immediately
difficult to be precise about the number of Nigerian
prisoners eligible for transfer of the 521 serving
time.
While Wright signed for UK, the Attorney General of
the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr.
Mohammed Adoke (SAN), signed for Nigeria.
He however noted that only those sentenced for 12
months and longer would be eligible for transfer to
their country.
He also disclosed that there is just one British
citizen serving a jail term in an undisclosed Nigerian
prison.
THISDAY however gathered that others who would
be exempted from being transferred to complete
their jail terms are Nigerians with British citizenship,
Nigerians who have a permanent residence status
in the UK, and those convicted for small crimes
such as parking ticket fines.
Commenting on whether Ibori would be sent back to
Nigeria to finish his jail term, Wright, fielding
questions from reporters after visiting supervising
Minister of Foreign Affairs, Prof Viola Onwuliri,
shortly before he signed the PTA, said although the
transfer did not need the prisoners’ consents, it
would still be necessary for both countries to agree
on each transfer.
“In relation to individual prisoners, there obviously
has to be a good deal of discussions between the
two countries about individual prisoners and the
agreement of both countries has to be secured for
individual transfers.
“The compulsory nature of this prisoner transfer
agreement is that the prisoners themselves do not
have the choice as to whether they stay or go, but
the respective countries still have the opportunity to
discuss whether a transfer should be made, so I am
not in a position to say whether individual cases
would be transferred or not,” Wright said.
He added that there would be discussions over
which prisons the prisoners would be sent to
complete their jail terms.
“What we anticipate is that the Nigerian government
would identify prisons, and we would look at those
prisons and provide some assistance to the
improvement of those prisons. That is a process
that would be ongoing, but I hope very shortly, we
would be able to identify the prisons and make that
investment for reforms,” he said.
By August 2012, the UK government had already
spent £500,000 on prison reforms in Nigeria to train
prison guards and to fund an exchange programme
for prison officials. An extra wing and a guard tower
were built at the Kirikiri Prisons in Lagos. The UK
also budgeted an additional £1 million for the
success of the PTA.
Wright described the agreement as good for both
countries and promised that by the end of 2014, the
meaningfulness of the agreement would have been
demonstrated.
Adoke, in his remarks, reiterated the commitment of
the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan
to the welfare of Nigerians residing in the UK.
“Even with the formal signing of this agreement, it is
therefore our expectation that in implementing the
terms of this agreement, the government of the UK
would continue to accord all convicted offenders
appropriate legal protection and remedies available
under UK laws and relevant international human
rights instruments, as well as ensure that all legal
remedies have been exhausted before the affected
offenders are transferred to Nigeria,” he said.
Adoke also reassured the UK of Nigeria’s
commitment to see to the removal from Nigeria’s
statute books, Section 22 of the NDLEA Act, which
gives the federal government the right to file
charges or prosecute a convict who has been
convicted in any other country of drugs or related
crimes. This, he added, negates the doctrine of
double jeopardy.
“However taking cognisance of the judicial
pronouncement in Nigeria that has declared that as
unconstitutional, I am prepared to send an
amendment to that law to the National Assembly to
remove it from our statute books. We would not rely
on it and we would respect the doctrine of double
jeopardy,” he said.
The review of the PTA was one of the highlights of
the meeting between Jonathan and Prime Minister
David Cameron during their 2011 meeting.
The agreement was hinged on the premise that it is
better for prisoners to serve out their sentences in
their home countries where they have a family
support structure.
thisday Nigeria

They want to come here to suffer and die. Nigeria prison authority will use or sell them for ritual and claimed that they died mysteriously. Nigerian prison is the worst in the whole world. If you ask me, I would say they are better off in the UK prison (with all its facilities) where they will be treated and regarded as human.