By Faith Anisiobi, The Sight News
The Federal Government has defended its recent Transfer of Sentenced Persons Agreement with the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, describing the arrangement as a humanitarian and diplomatic initiative aimed at protecting the rights and welfare of Nigerians serving prison terms abroad.
Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu, said the agreement aligns with the citizen diplomacy policy of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Administration, which places the welfare of Nigerians in the diaspora at the forefront of government engagement.
The minister dismissed as false a list circulating on social media claiming to contain the names and number of Nigerian inmates in Ethiopian prisons, insisting that Nigeria does not have 136 prisoners in the country and that several crimes attributed to those on the list were fabricated.
According to her, the agreement will enable convicted Nigerians in Ethiopia to return home and complete their sentences under more humane conditions.
Odumegwu-Ojukwu explained that negotiations for the prisoner transfer arrangement had been ongoing for several years due to difficulties in obtaining accurate records of Nigerian inmates held in Ethiopian prisons.
She noted that the affected inmates were detained in Kaliti and Aba Samuel maximum-security prisons, where many had repeatedly appealed to be transferred to Nigeria because of harsh living conditions.
“The inmates have been agitating for years to return to Nigeria to complete their jail terms due to challenges including poor living conditions, health concerns, inadequate medical facilities, poor feeding, denial of visitation rights, limited legal services and language barriers,” she said.
The minister revealed that four Nigerian inmates died while both countries were finalising the agreement, underscoring the urgency of concluding the process.
She expressed concern over the plight of many of the prisoners, describing them as young and vulnerable individuals who may have fallen victim to criminal syndicates and false promises.
Addressing concerns that the inmates would be released upon their return to Nigeria, Odumegwu-Ojukwu clarified that the agreement does not provide for automatic freedom.
She explained that one of the provisions of the Memorandum of Understanding prohibits the receiving country from granting pardon or amnesty to transferred inmates without the consent of the sentencing state.
The minister also rejected claims that the inmates involved in the transfer arrangement come predominantly from one region of the country.
According to her, the prisoners comprise Nigerians from different parts of the federation, stressing that criminal activity should not be viewed through ethnic or regional lenses.
“The list trending online is a made-up list. We do not have 136 inmates in Aba Samuel and Kaliti prisons. Those covered by this transfer agreement are 98 inmates. While many are from the South-East, there are also inmates from the South-West and South-South. Crime has no ethnicity. They are all Nigerian citizens serving jail terms in a foreign country,” she stated.
She added that the Federal Government remains committed to pursuing similar interventions for Nigerians facing difficult circumstances in other parts of the world.
