FG Committed To Prisoner Transfer Agreement – Moro
The minister of interior, Comrade Abba Moro said yesterday that, the federal government was dedicated to implementing the Prisoner Transfer Agreement (PTA) it signed with the United Kingdom (UK ) earlier this year.
The minister gave the assurance in his office in Abuja, when he played host to a delegation from the UK, led by the director general of Crime Policing at the Home Office, Mary Calam.
LEADERSHIP gathered that the bilateral agreement which was signed by the minister of justice, Mohammed Adoke and the UK minister of prisons, Jeremy Wright, will allow the return of a prisoner to serve out his sentence in his home country where both jurisdictions are in agreement. This is even as statistics indicates that no fewer than 15,316 Nigerians are presently in various prisons abroad with the largest number of 752 in the UK.
Comrade Moro explained that the federal government was working on all the processes agreed to commence the prisoner transfer from the UK to Nigeria.
adding that the National Assembly had made necessary legislation for the implementation.
He however blamed the delay on the kick -off of the bilateral agreement on the on-going expansion and renovation project in Kogi, Ibadan, Illorin and Kuje prisons respectively.
According to the minister, “We have an outstanding project in Kuje and other prisons. As soon as the projects are completed, it would help commence the process”.
Responding, the leader of the delegation and the Director General, of Crime Policing , Uk, said she was in the country to find ways of better collaboration between Nigeria and the UK.
It would be recalled that Nigeria and the UK in January signed agreement on prisoner transfer to allow Nigerians who commit crimes in the UK to serve their sentences in their country- vice versa.
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