16,400 Nigerians languish in UK prisons


FROM the Senate came a revelation yesterday that not less than 16,400 Nigerians are languishing in United Kingdom (UK) prisons. Disclosing this during the debate on A Bill for An Act to Repatriate Nigerian Prisoners Serving Jail Terms in Commonwealth Countries, Senator Benedict Ayade told the Senate that it took the UK government about 1.6 million pounds to feed the Nigerian prisoners per day.

According to him, “in United Kingdom alone, Nigerians serving various prison terms are 16, 4000 prisoners and it costs the UK government about 1.6 million pounds per day to feed them.”

Senate President David Mark, who said he was not happy with the large number, while ruling on the debate, added that it is not a thing to be proud of, if the number is authentic.

He said: “There are safeguards in the bill, but I am shocked to hear that there are 16,400 Nigerians in various prisons abroad. This is a thing not to be proud of; we don’t know the authenticity of the figure, but it is a cause for concern. The lesson is that we should improve our prisons for the purpose of reformation, it is not right to transfer the responsibility of reformation to other nations.”

While leading the debate on the bill, which seeks to amend the Transfer of Convicted Offenders (Enactment and Enforcement) Act, Senate Leader Ndoma-Egba, who sponsored the bill that was read for the first time on Tuesday, July 20, 2011, stated that the bill is to give effect to the Commonwealth scheme on convicted offenders among the countries.

He added that the bill seeks to amend the provisions of the extant Act by removing the consent and verification procedure of returning convicted prisoners to serve out their terms in Nigeria.

Ndome-Egba noted that the present Act is replete with some deficiencies that if not adequately addressed would jeopardise its execution, adding that it is the recognition of the inherent shortcomings in the extant Act that necessitates the need to amend it.

To effectively streamline the law, the Senate Leader insisted that Sub-section 5(1)(d) and Section 8 of the Constitution, which seek the consent of the convicted offender and which has to do with the consent and verification of the convicted offender of the principal Act, are to be amended respectively.

He added that the amendments are in consonance with international best practices and underline the spirit behind the Commonwealth on convicted offenders, pointing out that the passage of the bill would facilitate Nigerian offenders convicted outside their country to serve out their terms at home.

Relying on the report from the Committee in Diapora, Senate Abdul Ningi said the bill is timely, as the report noted the inhuman treatment meted out to Nigerians in foreign prisons, adding that repatriating them to serve their jail terms in the country would serve as a deterrent to the prisoners.

Senator Wilson Ake said the passage of the bill would help to fight crime and added that if prisoners are giving comfort, they would not learn.

Others who supported the bill called for the transformation of Nigerian prisons, as the current state of the nation prisons is something to be worried about.

But, the senators, who opposed the passage of the bill said the present state of the nation’s economy does not encourage the passage.

Besides, they said the financial implication of transferring prisoners back home would be too much for the country to shoulder.


They also said that apart from the action being an infringement of fundamental human rights of the individuals, nobody would be convicted abroad, especially the UK, and would like to serve his jail term in Nigeria, even if it is just for a week.

The bill was, however, referred to the Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters, when it is constituted.


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God have mercy. Is 16,400 not too much. What's the population of Nigerians in the UK by the way.

I dey laugh o

i wouldn't say they are languishin compared to our prisoners here am sure more than 50% of dem would remain there dan face our overpopulated prisons

they spend about 584,000,000 pounds in a year

about N146,000,000,000 just about our yearly budget

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