Ibori, others to complete jail terms in Nigeria

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.’’