UK govt. sets to release £700,000 for 112-bed wing at Kirikiri prison in Lagos

Oredola Adeola with agency reports

Following the agreement reached between the ex- United Kingdom ex-Prisons Minister, Jeremy Wright and former Nigerian Minister of Interior, Comrade Abba Moro in September, in 2013, over prisoner transfer deal between the two countries, the two governments have agreed to build a prison in Nigeria to transfer more than half of the 534 prisoners from Nigeria currently in serving in UK jails to Nigerian prisons.

The UK government had earlier promised to build new prisons in some countries including Nigeria for the prisoner transfer deal.

The British government also promised to provide one million pounds to the Nigerian government to upgrade some prisons in the country including Kirikiri prison in Lagos and other prisons across the country.

The proposed 112-bed wing, built to United Nations specifications in the Kiri Kiri prison in Lagos, is to be built as part of a compulsory prisoner transfer agreement.

UK Foreign Secretary, Boris Johnson in a statement submitted on Wednesday evening to the Parliament disclosed that the deal will cost just under £700,000.

According to him, in the agreement, eligible prisoners serving criminal sentences in Nigeria and the UK can be returned to complete their sentences in their respective countries.

Mr Johnson said tenders for the planned Nigerian jail had been placed and suppliers identified, bringing the project's total cost to £695,525 including support, monitoring and evaluation.

The bill will be met by the CSSF (Conflict, Stability and Security Fund), he said.

According to House of Commons statistics there were 320 Nigerian nationals in prisons in England and Wales at the end of 2016.

UK Foreign Office spokesperson told Sky News that the Government believes that wherever possible foreign nationals should serve their sentences in their own country.

He said, "Helping Nigeria to improve its prison conditions and increase prison capacity will enable us to transfer more prisoners to Nigeria, which will in turn free up prison places in the UK."

Deals to transfer prisoners in UK jails to their countries of origin have been made with Albania, Rwanda, Jamaica and Libya, and well as Nigeria.

In 2015 the Government pitched an ambitious £25m project to build a 1,500 bed prison in Jamaica, with the aim of sending more than 300 Jamaican inmates with sentences of more than four years there.

But the Jamaican government rejected the deal, with local media quoting ministers as saying the offer was not beneficial to Jamaica and did not cover the prison's full cost.

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