Nigeria has signed a Transfer of Sentenced Persons Agreement with Ethiopia aimed at repatriating incarcerated Nigerians, in line with the citizen diplomacy framework of President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Amb. Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu, disclosed this in a statement issued on Friday and signed by Dr Magnus Eze, Special Assistant on Communication and New Media in the ministry. She said the agreement prioritises Nigerian diaspora welfare and seeks to intervene in cases involving Nigerians detained abroad.
Odumegwu-Ojukwu dismissed reports circulating in some media platforms claiming that 136 Nigerians are imprisoned in Ethiopia, describing the figures as false. She insisted that Nigeria does not have such a number of inmates in Ethiopian correctional facilities.
According to her, the prisoners are held in Kaliti and Aba Samuel prisons, both maximum-security facilities, and efforts to secure their transfer have been ongoing for years despite challenges in verifying their exact numbers.
She explained that under the agreement, inmates serving sentences abroad can be transferred to their home country to complete their jail terms, adding that conditions in the Ethiopian facilities—such as poor healthcare, inadequate feeding, language barriers, and restricted visitation rights—make the transfer necessary. She also noted that four Nigerian inmates had died while negotiations were ongoing.
The minister clarified that the agreement does not imply automatic freedom for the inmates upon return, as it includes provisions preventing pardon or amnesty without the consent of the sentencing country. She further confirmed that 98 Nigerian inmates are covered under the arrangement, adding that crime has no ethnic or regional affiliation and describing circulating lists as fabricated.
Elijah Adeyemi
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